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1970 - The Hillman Avenger Introduced in February 1970 , the Avenger was significant as it was the first and last car to be developed by Rootes after the Chrysler takeover in 1967 . Stylistically the Avenger was very much in tune with its time; the American-influenced " Coke Bottle" waistline and semi- Fastback rear-end being a contemporary styling cue, although from an engineering perspective it was utterly conventional, using 4-cylinder all-iron Overhead Valve Engines in 1.3 L or 1.5 L (later uprated to 1.6 L) capacities driving a Coil Spring suspended Live Axle at the rear wheels. Unlike any Rootes design before it, there were no " Badge-engineered " Humber or Singer versions in the UK market. The Avenger was available in 2-door and 4-door Saloon or 5-door Estate body styles. The Avenger was widely regarded in its time for particularly good handling characteristics, it was considered a significantly better car to drive than rivals such as the Morris Marina . The engines and transmissions were in fact, all new and owed nothing to its larger brother, the Hunter or "Arrow" series. The Hunter engine utilised just three Main Bearings whereas the Avenger has five, providing a stiffer crank support. The Avenger was a steady seller in the 1970s , going head-to-head with the Ford Escort and Vauxhall Viva . Chrysler wanted the Avenger to be a "world car", and took the ambitious step of marketing the Avenger as the Plymouth Cricket in the United States , but poor build quality, unreliability, plus American apathy towards small cars at the time, saw it being withdrawn after only two years. 1972 - Introduction of more bodystyles The existing Avenger models were joined in February 1972 with the basic fleet Avenger, which was offered with either 1250 or 1500cc engines. The fleet Avengers did not even have a sun visor for the front seat passenger! In March 1972, the five-door estate versions of the existing 1250 Deluxe, '''1250 Super,'''''' 1500 Deluxe''' and '''1500 Super''' were now offered alongside the existing four-door saloon models. A two-door saloon version was then introduced, and its trim would follow that of the four-door. Interestingly, its side-profile was less of a "Coke-bottle" shape than the four-door's! The car was also extensively marketed in continental Europe, first as a Sunbeam . It was without the Avenger name in France, where it was known as the Sunbeam 1250 and 1500; later the 1300 and 1600. Some northern European markets received the car as the '''Sunbeam Avenger'''. Chrysler's South American operations also built and marketed the car. In Brazil it was known as the Dodge 1800 / Polara (it utilized a larger stroke 1800 cm³ version of its motor), and in Argentina, where it was the Dodge 1500 . The station wagon was known as the Dodge 1500 Rural, while 1800 cm³ versions there were badged as the Dodge 1500M. Other countries to market the car were South Africa (where it used Peugeot engines) and New Zealand . Despite the humble underpinnings, the Avenger was a successful car in Motorsport ; it was a frequent strong achiever in the British Touring Car Championship owing to the "tuneability" of its engine. The road-going version of the race car, the 4-door Avenger Tiger, is now a sought-after Classic Car . 1976 - A rebadge to Chrysler and a facelift In 1976 the Avenger was rebadged as a Chrysler. It also gained a comprehensive facelift which included a new frontal treatment and a new dashboard. Both treatments looked similar to that of the Chrysler Alpine . The largest change was at the rear where on the sedans, the distinctive "hockey-stick" rear lamp clusters were dropped in favour of a straight 'light-bar' arrangement. The top of the former "hockey-sticks" had body-colour metal in their place. In 1977 , a Hatchback variant was spawned, the Chrysler Sunbeam or known as the the talbot sunbeam lotus, which was based on a shortened version of the Avenger's floorplan.With a lotus 2 litre 907 engine in the first 50 or so cars, then the lotus 911 2.2 litre twin cam 16 valve engine. This was intended to compete in the lower "supermini" class, and later became a successful Rally car, after it was treated to an engine transplant courtesy of Lotus . 1979 - The Talbotization and the end Towards the end of the 1970s , the Avenger was being increasingly outclassed by the new generation of modern front-wheel drive hatchbacks such as the VW Golf , Renault 14 and Fiat Ritmo/Strada . In 1978 , Chrysler Europe went bankrupt and was taken over by PSA Peugeot–Citroën , which rebranded Chrysler models as Talbot s. The Avenger survived, rebadged once again, although unlike other Talbot models, it still had the Chrysler 'pentastar' badge, instead of the Talbot logo featuring a letter ' T ' inside a circle. Production continued until 1981 , when Peugeot closed the Linwood production plant. Post 1981 - An Argentinian Afterlife Remarkably, production of the model would continue in Argentina until 1990 , as Volkswagen acquired the tooling from Chrysler when it withdrew from South America, and re-badged the Dodge 1500 as the VW 1500. While under Volkswagen, it received its last facelift, gaining a sloping front grille that was more in vogue in the early 1980s. This vehicle was very popular with Taxi drivers, but by the end of 2001 they had all met the 10-year age rule on Argentine taxi vehicles. An Avenger based pickup truck called the Dodge 1500 Pickup was made in Uruguay , but the conversion failed to properly account for structural rigidity and they literally fell apart. EXTERNAL LINKS
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