One of 2020’s numerous anniversaries that we haven’t yet covered (though we have remembered a few) is for one of the less celebrated cars in our classics world, and one that fits very neatly into our “any classic is better than no classic” mantra – the Hillman Avenger turned 50 years old this year.
The Avenger is one of those everyday, unexceptional family cars that sold in very respectable volumes back in the day, with 638,631 built, but now so few remain that it’s very rare to see one in day-to-day driving on the road, although they do show up at events. It also changed it’s name more than once, though Avenger was always part of its name – what changed was the name of the company that made it, but we’ll come to that in due course.
Introduced in February 1970, both the design and the engines were completely new for Hillman, and it was the last car to be designed and developed under the Rootes umbrella – even though the company was already owned by Chrysler at that time. It was a fairly straightforward, rear-drive small family saloon, with a slight fastback element to it that implied some sportiness in its genes, something which would become much more overt later in its life. It also featured quite distinctive “hockey stick” tail light clusters (well ahead of Maserati’s use of similar, though inverted, shaped rear lights for their 3200GT).
Hockey stick, or boomerang?
Among its rivals were the likes of the Morris Marina, Ford Escort and Cortina MkII and Vauxhall Viva HC and as was usual at the time, it came with a variety of trim levels – DL, Super and GL and a couple of engines; a base 1248cc and a 1498c 4-cylinder power unit that put out 53bhp and 72bhp respectively. Performance for the smaller-engined car was quite modest, being able to reach a maximum speed of 135km/h or 83mph, but corresponding figures of 145km/h or 90mph for the 1500 were not bad for a small family saloon at the time.
The press considered it a competent car, better than the Marina, but that was almost damning it with faint praise. However, there is an interesting and detailed head to head comparison with the Marina – made several decades after both cars had ceased production, so with the benefit of hindsight – to be found here.
The first addition to the Avenger range came later in 1970 with the launch of the Avenger GT, which was given twin-carburettors to boost power to 75bhp and enabled it to reach a top speed just under the magic 100mph (162km/h) mark. It also looked faster than a standard Avenger, with the go-faster styling accoutrements of the day, go-faster stripes and twin headlamps – almost, but not quite as cool as the later Tiger.
Further changes to the range were made with the introduction of a base model, intended to try to take a share of the fleet market, dominated by Ford at the time, and the GT was replaced by the GLS.
Estate versions were added in 1972, the following year saw the introduction of 2-door saloons, and that same year saw the engines upgraded to 1298 and 1598cc, improving power output slightly to 58bhp and top speed to 86mph (138km/h) and 69bhp and 95mph (153km/h) respectively.
The Avenger was sold outside the UK, as a Sunbeam Avenger in most of Europe (except France), and in the USA as the Plymouth Cricket – whether that was meant to reflect its Britishness by linking it to the game of cricket, or to imply it had the characteristics of a small insect that rubbed its hind legs together, I don’t know. In any case, it was not a success, and was withdrawn just two years later.
Meanwhile, back in the UK, the disappearance of the GT gave rise to the only serious performance version of the model, the Hillman Avenger Tiger. Born out of Chrysler’s Competition Centre, this came with the usual go-faster stripes and also a bonnet bulge that covered an uprated 1498cc engine that developed 92.5bhp and gave the Tiger a top speed of 108mph and it took less than nine seconds to hit 60mph, better than an Escort Mexico, but at the cost of a heavy thirst for fuel.
Initially available only in Sundance Yellow, after about 200 examples had been sold, an upgraded version was put on sale with black bonnet (without the bulge), four headlamps instead of two and also available in Wardance Red (you’ve got to love the name!), and around 400 of these were sold. Unsurprisingly, the Tiger is by far the most sought-after Avenger, and we wrote about it here.
It’s worth pointing out that having a performance halo model was more than just a marketing exercise – the Avenger was campaigned quite successfully in motor-sport, particularly the British Touring Car Championships, which it won in 1974, 76 and 77 with Bernard Unett behind the wheel, as well as competing in rallying.
Back in the world of the more prosaic, mass-produced Avenger, things were changing, principally the disappearance of the Hillman name and its replacement with the corporate brand of Chrysler which had taken over the Rootes business back in 1967. This coincided with a slight redesign, as part of which those hockey stick rear lights were replaced by much more boring rectangular clusters – a shame.
Interesting……………………………………Boring
Production meanwhile was moved in its entirety from Ryton to Linwood, which remained the case until the model came to the end of its life in 1981.
Things got more complicated for the Avenger with Chrysler’s collapse in 1978, with ownership transferring to Peugeot-Citroën, who re-badged the Avenger as a Talbot, although it retained the Chrysler badge. However, this was a short-lived change, as Peugeot decided to close the Linwood plant in 1981, which also signalled the end for the Avenger, which was losing ground to more modern hatchbacks such as the VW Golf and in-house rival the Chrysler/Talbot Horizon
Besides the UK, the Avenger was also built in plants around the world, in New Zealand and South Africa, as well as Argentina, Brazil and even, for a few years, Iran, although some of these markets had their own version of the UK car, with detail differences in the headlights, engines and trim levels among others.
I think it’s fair to say that the Avenger was a reasonable success, certainly in the UK, its main market despite being made and sold in various markets around the globe. Unfortunately, as is commonplace with mass-produced cars of the ‘60’s and ‘70’s, the number of survivors is small and shrinking – just 260 remain on UK roads with another 285 SORN. That 20 of the 260 are Tigers is testament to their desirability. Unfortunately, in common with just about every car manufactured in the UK at the time, quality control and industrial relations issues plagued the Avenger, with rust in particular being a major problem, and the reduction in numbers was helped along by government scrappage schemes.
Nevertheless, it was – and is – a reasonably competent car, and if you can find one, an inexpensive route into membership of the classic car club. Carandclassic is currently showing only one standard Avenger – a Sunbeam badged 1250 – available, for £5,300… in Finland. The same dealer is advertising a 1976 Avenger rally car for £19,900. There is one in Scotland, for just £3,000, and that’s all I can find at the time of writing.
If your budget runs to it, the one to get is obviously the Tiger, again with the caveat of if you can find one of the 20 remaining examples for sale. It would likely be a lot of fun and something a bit different from the hordes of fast Fords that show up at most shows. This is reflected in recent prices for good condition Tigers (our Prime Find Tiger had a price tag just under £20,000).
If the Hillman/Sunbeam/Talbot Avenger were a footballer, it would have had a “decent career at a few clubs”, without ever setting the world alight. It’s not a car that has ever had much appeal for me, but I would definitely not say no to a Tiger, though, as long as it was in yellow…
