Happy 50th Birthday Hillman Avenger!

[JoKer]

According to a post on the Sri Lankan Avenger Fan Facebook page the Avenger was launched on Feb 18th 1970


which makes the Model 50 years old in a few weeks


They are having a meet there to celebrate & wondering if any other Worldwide gatherings are taking place or worth kicking off a year of jubilation (LOL)

Sri Lanka is planned to organise an event to celebrate this Day on 16th February 2020 at parliament ground premises (Parliament Exercise Track 2) from 10.00a.m. to 5.00p.m

      Also, this is the first event we are organising in Sri Lankan avenger owners club. Specially, please bring your car on this day to celebrate this wonderful day and Hillman avenger fans are also Welcome.

                                                       Thank you🙂

[avenga]

We could try setting a meet up, it's a bit short notice but let me know if anyone is keen. Maybe have it up in Auckland. I could let the Hillman club know and see if they can do an email out.

Otherwise I'm going to the brit and euro show on the 1st of March, I could make up a sign for that, not sure how many other Avengers are coming though

[JoKer]

just seems odd : unless there's something I haven seen

that there's nothing (my ASOC membership has lapsed)

yeah the British car day is on in Wellington in a couple weeks too & Windsor Hawkes Bay

might be motivation to get mine out of the shed & on the road

[avenga]

We are planning a meetup at caffeine and classics on Sunday the 23rd, then a cruise. Let me know if anyone else is keen.

[JoKer]

The meet in the 1st post has been post-poned

but Happy Birthday the Avenger 50 years old today!



https://www.aronline.co.uk/cars/hillman/avenger

Another Avenger trademark, the J-Shaped rear lamps were clearly designed in from an early stage in the project



(I always called them L's!!! ~ Joker

[JoKer]

Shared to me via my IG last week


https://www.aronline.co.uk/facts-and-figures/raise-a-glass-to/hillman-avenger/


[the comments section on the Website is also worth a read]


and copy : paste here for posterity (sorry some links & formatting may appear funky due to this)


ps : also WOW @ the Coupe & Hatchback concepts that 'never' made production (Spoiler : the Sunbeam resurrected the Hatch plans)

Raise a glass to : 50 years of the Hillman Avenger
23 July 2020 Keith Adams 21


            The Hillman Avenger was an ambitious ground-up new car for the Rootes Group, benefiting from the development resources of parent company Chrysler.
In many ways, it should have been as successful as the Ford Escort ? and yet it wasn?t. The Avenger?s lack of ultimate success wasn?t down to the product, reckons Keith Adams.

Hillman Avenger: forever the underrated

The Hillman Avenger is one of those cars who?s tale doesn?t get told enough. While rivals, such as the Morris Marina and Ford Cortina are forensically re-examined on a regular basis, this solid British saloon tends to get overlooked. Perhaps that?s because it was never replaced at the end of its life, perhaps because its undoubted motor sport potential was never reached, perhaps because in a rapidly-changing world, this capable saloon was left behind by more capable and flamboyant rivals.
Whatever the reason, it?s time to reverse some of that and pause to reflect on this fine saloon. Launched in the UK and Europe in 1970, the Hillman Avenger was arguably the first Rootes Group car to benefit from a serious injection of time, resource and youth from parent company Chrysler. The US giant had gained a significant stake in Rootes since 1964 (following a failed attempt to buy into Leyland Motors in 1962), and the Arrow project was the first to benefit from the Chrysler cash. But this was an existing project, very much designed and conceived by the people who brought us the Minx, Rapier and Imp.
It would be the Avenger ? and its sister the Chrysler 180/2 Litre ? that would be born under Chrysler. That meant it was influenced, designed and engineered from the outset as a UK car to be built by the Americans. In 1966, and as the Chrysler B Car entered its clay model stages, Chrysler execs were being flown into Coventry and the American money was pouring in, rapidly changing the mindset of all of those who worked there. And that?s why the Avenger, especially in its earliest iterations on the drawing board, was such a flamboyant-looking thing.Watch the Pathe video
The aftermath of its launch
I?ll not go into too much detail about the convoluted production process. The Avenger was typically Rootes ? in that it saw a lot of transportation of sub-assemblies before production. Originally, it was built at Ryton using a Linwood-pressed body and powered by a drivetrain made in Stoke in Coventry. In later life, assembly moved to Linwood, as part of the Government bail out, but the drivetrains continued to railed up from the Midlands. No wonder it didn?t have great resistance to rust.
Instead, let?s concentrate on the market that the Avenger found itself in at launch in February 1970. The Ford Escort and Cortina Mk2 were considered rivals, as was the Vauxhall Viva HB. But, Escort aside, the domestic opposition looked tired. As for the recently-formed British Leyland?s offerings in this market, there was the Austin and Triumph 1300s.
So, this stylish Coke Bottle with distinctive hockey stick rear lights hit the market at a sweet time. Okay, so February has never been a good time to launch a new car, but whether Chrysler knew it or not, it would beat its 1970s sparring partner, the Morris Marina to market by almost a year. Even the Cortina Mk3 ? a similar Coke Bottle design ? would be beaten to market by the new Hillman by more than six months.
Although not many people appreciate it now, the Hillman Avenger was a clean-sheet design that was new from from the ground up. The platform was new, as were its overhead-valve 1250 and 1500cc engines. In an era of make-do-and mend, as well as interminable facelifting, this was a refreshing change for the British car industry. In 1970, things looked exciting for Rootes in the UK ? there was a thrusting dynamism coming from above, and a follow-up model on its way in the form of the Chrysler 180.The fast Avengers

The Avenger Tiger was Hillman?s answer to the Ford Escort RS. Built in limited numbers, the Tiger I and Tiger II were developed by Des O?Dell, boss of Chrysler?s Competition Department to generate interest in Chrysler?s motor sport programme. Race on Sunday, sell on Monday, as they say. Both versions had a tuned 1498cc engine that produced, in standard form, around 90bhp at 6100rpm and 90lb ft torque at 4200rpm.
The engine differed from the standard Avenger GT unit in that it had a big valve, ported cylinder head fed by two Weber 40DCOE carburettors. Suspension was standard Avenger apart from heavy-duty rear dampers and lowered front springs. Today, despite there being only 20 or so left, they?re seriously undervalued ? and underrated ? the story of the Avenger?s life.
Like all Avengers, the Tiger drove far better than you might think, given its lack of a footprint in modern car culture.Britain loses out to France
In the sunlight of the early 1970s, Chrysler was aiming to be a European powerhouse. As well as taking control of Rootes, it had also done the same at Simca in France and Barrieros in Spain. And by 1970, it was looking to rationalise the three and create a product plan that would suit all corners of its European outpost. But in the background, the UK was doing itself out of being central to Chrysler?s plans ? the unions had exploited the company?s need to put the new car into Ryton and Stoke, severely affecting the Avenger?s profitability. That soured the US parent?s view of Rootes, and as a consequence, it pulled all significant investment in the UK to try and bring the workforce into line.
That had a serious knock-on effect on future model development, with France, not the UK, taking the technical lead. Chrysler UK didn?t give up without a fight ? the C6 project was originally conceived in the UK to be a more upmarket rear-wheel drive model. It was to be based on a widened version of the Avenger estate model?s platform and powered by uprated twin-cam engines via a five-speed gearbox. Fashions were changing, though, and the European market was rapidly moving to front-wheel drive.
Chrysler took the view that the it would struggle to sell a RWD model in this market sector across Europe, and FWD was still a tough sell in the UK. British Leyland hedged its bets with the split Marina/Allegro strategy ? and for a short time, it looked like Chrysler might do the same with a FWD C6 for Europe and a RWD one for the UK. But something had to give, and Simca?s FWD 1100 range was taken as the technological basis for a model range over and above the Avenger?s still-recent RWD platform ? meaning what was to become the Chrysler Alpine was underpinned by Simca and not Rootes.A little help from friends in high places

And that was that. With Chrysler making the shift away from RWD, it lost interest in the Avenger, cancelling the coupe and hatchback versions along the way, and leaving it to fight on with its increasingly UK-centric two- and four-door saloons and five-door estate.
The Avenger?s meaningful development was over. Except it wasn?t. By the time the Alpine was heading for production at Ryton, the company?s finances were in a perilous state ? and in a situation similar to BLMC?s 1974 bailout, Chrysler went cap in hand to the government, asking for financial aid. As part of the agreed terms of ?162m state intervention in December 1975, Chrysler would introduce a new British-made supermini.
It also used some of that government money to give the Avenger a facelift. As CAR said at the time, it was a fairly far-reaching update of the Avenger, that had it been launched by anyone else, ?it would be ballyhooed as an all-new model.? Not sure in retrospect that view looks particularly accurate, but the new front-end styling and interior certainly brought it more up-to date. But the world was moving on, and the Avenger wasn?t keeping pace.
In July 1977, Chrysler rolled out the Sunbeam after one of the shortest gestation periods for a UK volume production car in the post-war period. But it was far from an all-new car ? under its smart suit, Chrysler?s supermini was all-Avenger. Good job they had still that hatchback version on ice from a few years? before.Watch Bruce Forsyth try to flog the Avenger
<span data-mce-type=bookmark style="display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;" class=mce_SELRES_start></span>Conclusion: death by a thousand cuts
The Avenger faded into obscurity from that point to the end of days in 1981, when it died with Linwood. By then, the aged saloon and its hatchback relative were well past their sell-by dates anyway, and even the great George Turnbull who was running Talbot (nee Chrysler) UK by that time couldn?t see a future for the Scottish factory?s products. Unlike the Cortina, Marina and Cavalier, the Avenger wasn?t replaced as such and its classic following is limited as a consequence.
Over the years, the Avenger was sold far and wide. It was retailed as the Plymouth Cricket in the USA, as well as being assembled in New Zealand. You could also buy it in Argentina as the Dodge 1500 and in Brazil as the Dodge 1800/Polara (above). And just to prove that it wasn?t just British Leyland that delivered brand confusion in spades, in Europe, the Avenger was sold as a Sunbeam.

Thing is, the Avenger was a car that drives far better than most people give it credit for. It?s a tidy handler with nice steering, a comfortable ride and as you can read in a head-to-head, it beats the Morris Marina hands down. You might say that an electrified wheelchair can beat a Marina hands down, but the Marina seriously outsold the Avenger, so it can?t have been all that bad at everything.
So, there you have it ? the Avenger is gone, but definitely shouldn?t be forgotten. Designed from scratch to reboot Hillman into a thrusting part of the Chrysler empire, and originally planned to be extended into a more upmarket five-door hatchback with twin-cam engines and a five-speed gearbox, but soon it was retired to the sidings to be overtaken by its cost-cut French half-cousin. It was left to whither on the vine, and whimpered its quiet death in 1981.
Should we care today? Yes, because it was probably Rootes? last gasp as a volume carmaker, and a rather good one at that. Time to raise a glass to this most underrated part of British automotive history.

[JoKer]

ICYMI : the Coupe Prototype from the post above

https://www.aronline.co.uk/concepts-and-prototypes/hillman-avenger-avenger-r429-coupe/

Concepts and prototypes : Avenger R429 Coup? (1969-1971)
19 June 2014 Matthew Hayward 37

Ryton’s Capri

Whitley designed a Coup? version of the Avenger, which would have topped the range and gone head to head with the ultra-successful Ford Capri and Opel Manta. It bears a striking resemblance to BL’s Condor project, under development at the same time. Sadly, it was not to be…

The R429 was a fascinating might-have-been. This car was designed as Chrysler UK’s answer to the Ford Capri (and, little did they know, the very similar Condor project, produced by BL at Cowley) and had that similar trans-Atlantic feel which made the Capri such a hit with middle-aged men everywhere.
Unfortunately, the design department could not convince Chrysler management that the cost of producing this car would have justified the extra sales.


Colour pictures supplied by Roy Axe

By extrapolation that would make the 2 Door Avenger a "2 Door Sedan" no? (yes they exist & I have the mental scars to prove it read ; drunken fire side discusions @ Oldschool.co.nz Nationals Rotorua

[JoKer]

And the Hatch-back

https://www.aronline.co.uk/concepts-and-prototypes/hillman-avenger-liftback/

Concepts and prototypes : Hillman Avenger Liftback (R424)
10 December 2019 Keith Adams 8


           
In 1970, with the launch of the Hillman Avenger in two- and four-door saloon form, as well as five-door estate, it looked like Rootes-Chrysler had a ready-made range of cars to go head-to-head with Ford in the UK and Europe. The Chrysler B Car, as it was known, was an ambitious project, which cost the company lots in development resources being effectively, an all-new car from the ground up.
Interestingly, the range as know it, was far from complete. We already know about the Ford Capri and British Leyland?s Morris Marina-based Project Condor-rivalling Chrysler R429 Coupe. This car would have built on the Avenger?s undoubted good looks and excellent drivetrain by adding a serious dose of sex appeal, and hopefully gone on to sell at a handsome profit. However, even before the Avenger was launched in the UK, parent company Chrysler was feeling the pinch, so reduced its spending and canned the project before it made it into production. More?s the pity.
But as well as the Coupe, there was also a shorter Avenger in development, known as the Liftback, and known by the codename R424. And in 1970, when the project was well underway, this new smaller model (which was still rear-wheel drive) was being conceived for the urban smart set that wanted practicality in a city-friendly package.So, what was the Hillman Avenger Liftback?
According to Chrysler UK expert Graham Ariss, the Liftback was conceived early in the Avenger?s development programme. ?Before Chrysler pulled the plug on the UK investment in the early 1970s, there was plans that the Avenger would spin off a whole range of variants,? he said. ?Included in this interesting lineup was a compact liftback variant, which would retain the front of the Avenger, but have a cut short liftback tail.?
Chrysler clearly wanted to make the most of its extensive investment in the Avenger, and this seemed like a logical extension of the range that could have been an early winner in the fledgling supermini market. ?If you look at the Sunbeam pages on this site, you can see one of the styling proposals (top) was released in the launch brochure for the Chrysler Sunbeam, which is essentially a facelifted Avenger hatchback,? he added.
Initially, the project didn?t get very far. ?That was the original intention of the Avenger Liftback. It was proposed as an Avenger spin-off variant before investment from Chrysler was cut in the early-1970s,? Graham added. That is not to say that this abandoned hatchback project wouldn?t see the light of day long before we gave it an airing on AROnline.The work didn?t go waste, though
Chrysler UK hit trouble in 1975, and ended up being bailed out by the UK Government, on the understanding that it would be able to produce a new supermini in order to improve its competitiveness. So, at the end of 1975, project R424 was dusted off and the Whitley Design Team, under the leadership of Roy Axe, penned a new body for this older design.
This is one of the main reasons why Chrysler UK was able to get the Sunbeam into production in such a short space of time. It was because they had already done the preliminary work years before on the Avenger liftback, so used this as a starting point.
However, as Graham noted, the newer R424 (which became the Chrysler Sunbeam) shared rather a lot with its earlier forebear. ?The Sunbeam used a lot of Avenger pressings, including the two-door version?s door skins, but featured all-new glass with a different windscreen angle and a larger glass area ? when compared to the Avenger, the Sunbeam had a light and modern interior. The Sunbeam therefore ended up fitting neatly into the range alongside the upcoming front-wheel-drive Chrysler Horizon.?

   
• Read more: Chrysler UK, a missed opportunity

1977 Chrysler Sunbeam

[JoKer]

Happy 50ths Dodghino! First produced by "Chrysler do Brazil" in 1973

https://www.aronline.co.uk/cars/hillman/avenger/dodge-polara/

Undoubtedly, the most stylish Hillman Avenger derivatives were the Brazilian ones. The Dodge Polara looked almost like a two-door Coupe, such was its roofline.

The cars : Dodge Polara
21 December 2022 Keith Adams 12
Undoubtedly, the most stylish Hillman Avenger derivatives were the Brazilian ones. The Dodge Polara looked almost like a two-door Coupe, such was its roofline.



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In Brazil, this nameplate didn’t last very long and, unlike in Argentina, where Volkswagen continued production, it was pulled in 1981.

Dodge Polara: The Latin take on a new Avenger
Dodge Polara

The Hillman Avenger was also built by Chrysler do Brasil from 1971 to 1980 as the Dodge 1800 and later as the Dodge Polara. This was almost identical to the Argentinean Dodge 1500 and 1800, right down to the sleeker-looking two-door body and revised rear lamps.

For the Brazilian market, the Dodge Polara would end up augmenting the Dart in popularity, and proving to be something of a sales success – though that wasn’t the case straight out of the box for the more sober looking Dodge 1500 and 1800. In Brazil just the two-door version was offered, which also featured a different style of rear side window to that used on the European model and identical to its Argentine cousin.

Called Dodginho in Portuguese, the 1500 and 1800 were not initially a sell out despite a relatively nice interior, partly because it was not well adapted to local driving conditions. However, local development and a shift in marketing soon turned around the stylish car’s fortunes.

Change name for more success?
To increase sales, its name was changed to Polara, which had a relatively good image thanks to its connection with Chrysler’s long-lived full-sized model bearing the same name in the USA. The model range was shifted upwards and, along with a number of small technical changes, made all the difference.

In 1980, the Polara range was expanded to include the GL and GLS (above) models, which both sported an attractive new dashboard design and some bold new colours.

This would end up being the first Brazilian production vehicle to be offered with an automatic transmission as standard. Sales were never stellar, being steady at best for its last six years, but it was an improvement over its earlier years at about 13,000 per year. In 1981, production of the Dodge Polara ceased, when Chrysler pulled out of the Brazilian market, and the line came to an end.

Graham says:
21 DECEMBER 2022 AT 11.51 AM
As I recall it was only sold as an 1800 and followed the same architecture as the smaller engine. The engine was stroked to 2 litre for competition purposes and Des Odell who ran the competition department commissioned BRM to develop a alloy twin cam head to mount on it for competition purposes. This was raced first in 1800 and then stroked to 2 litre in the hope of making it competitive which it never really was. It involved some “creativity” by Des Odell to get in homologated, because of their nt being a production version.

Marcos says:
12 MAY 2013 AT 3.51 PM
Hi guys, I’m from Brazil and have a 1980 Dodge Polara GL, (and my english is terrible) some points, all the Brazillian Avengers where produced with 1800 engine, the dodges/volkswagen 1500 was produced at Argentina only, we only have the coup? model.