1971-1973 Plymouth Cricket

The 1971 Plymouth Cricket four-door sedan weighed in at 890.4 kilos (1,963 pounds) and carried a base price of $2,115 before taxes.

 

The North American small car wars waned throughout the 1960s as domestic compacts grew larger and heavier with each passing season. Pint-sized vehicles were still offered by the Big Four automakers but they were all captive imports, sourced from abroad. At Chrysler Canada, that showroom-floor offering since 1959 had been the ‘imported from Paris’, Simca.

 

This  1963 black four-door sedan was the first Volvo Canadian to roll out of the factory in Nova Scotia.

The war quickly heated up at the end of the 1960s. Volkswagen had long led the way with its durable Beetle. Volvo was quick to set up an assembly plant in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. Subcompacts from Japan were gaining in popularity with Canadians.

1970 1/2 Gremlin from AMC.

North American manufacturers found themselves playing catch up. American Motors was first to market when it introduced its adorable Gremlin on April Fool’s Day, 1970. Ford’s Pinto and Chev’s Vega arrived hard on Gremlin’s heels for the 1971 model year.

While the trio was designed and built in North America, for backup, GM Canada continued to ship to our shores the strong-selling Vauxhall from its British subsidiary for Pontiac-Buick dealers and rebadged it as the Envoy for Chev-Olds dealers. 

The second line of defense from Oakville, Ontario should have been the highly popular Ford Cortina, also sourced from the UK. Not a single one was sold in Canada during the 1971 model year because of labour problems. It made a belated appearance on August 6, 1972. American Motors abandoned the subcompact market completely in 1962 when it dropped the Metropolitan, sourced from Austin.

 For round two of the tiny transportation battle, Chrysler took a different tack from its competitors because there were no plans to develop a domestic subcompact.  Corporate thinking was that there was no need, since Chrysler owned a number of international operations and could draw on them to fill that market segment.

 

1971 Simca

The ChryCo dealer body still fielded the French-built Simca to the faithful but it was no longer a popular seller and added little to the profit margin. 

 

1971 Hillman Avenger used halogen headlights in the British market.

So, subcompact sales would be bolstered by the addition of the stylish Cricket, imported from Britain, where it was known as the Hillman Avenger--part of Chrysler’s Rootes Group. Cricket would join the Plymouth gang, where the season’s sales slogan was, “Plymouth Coming Through.”

Designers gave the Avenger the latest styling. The 2 286-millimetre (90-inch) wheelbase carried a gently rounded, unitized-body envelope incorporating the trendy Coke-bottle swell at the rear, mated to a long hood. Flanks were accented with a full-length, sharp razor crease immediately below the safety-recessed door handles.  The car was easily distinguishable from others in its class with its unique, bold hockey stick taillights.

The instrument panel for the Plymouth Cricket was no-nonsense and strictly European in its layout.

The padded instrument panel was very European in flavour, with light and wiper controls mounted on the steering column. The two-speed heater/defroster was located front and centre, above the radio. 

The Hillman Avenger was assembled in Argentina and sold as the Dodge 1500.

 The pert little vehicle had already been modified to left-hand drive for the European and South American markets. It had been road tested for more than 1.6-million kilometres. For introduction to the Canadian market, there was little to do but ensure that the car to meet the federal Ministry of Transport standards.

To that end, side markers were affixed to the front and rear fenders, quad headlamps kissed the horizontal, blackout grille. Inside, ‘tombstone’ headrests were moulded into the front, bucket seats, stealing a page from AMC’s sporty Javelin.

The engine chosen for the Canadian market was the 1.5-litre (91-cubic inch) four-cylinder, 5-main bearing high cam mill. It worked in tandem with the fully-synchronized, four-on-the-floor, short-throw manual transmission. For an extra $228, one could zip around courtesy of Borg-Warner’s three-speed, automatic transmission, with the lever mounted in the centre console. 

Schematic details the Cricket’s three-box, unit-body construction.

Standard equipment was impressive. Rack and pinion steering, power front disc brakes, coil springs and an anti-sway bar set the Cricket apart from many of the others in the subcompact herd.

Popular options included an AM push-button radio for $85; white sidewalls for the standard radial ply tires cost $35. Air conditioning was offered and those who did were required to a $100 luxury tax to the federal government.

Stylists gave the Plymouth Cricket hockey stick taillights.

For $100 one could deck out a Cricket with the Décor Package upgrade. That included dual horns, a glove box light and lock, a cigar light, gauges for oil pressure and the alternator, front door storage pockets, a day/night adjustable mirror, deluxe carpeting, brightwork moulding around the windows, dual paint stripes on the sides, bumper guards, deluxe carpeting and wheel covers, courtesy lights, an upholstery upgrade and an instrument panel light controlled by a rheostat.

Crickets hopped out of the factory in Ryton-on-Dunsmore, England clad in “happy colours”. Exterior hues that made the Cricket cut were Polar White, Firebrand Red and Oasis Green. Then there were the metallic finishes comprised of Sunset, Tangerine, Aztec Gold, Electric Blue and Golden Olive. Regardless of finish, each body went through a seven-step, dip-and-spray rust protection process, designed to thwart the twin curses of the Canadian highway—corrosion and rust.

Five could be seated in comfort--according to sales hype. Cabin colours selected for the tough-wear vinyl upholstery were Black, Vellum, Tan, Olive and Blue. The boys at Plymouth were given the task of colour-coordinating exteriors with interiors for maximum good taste.

In Canada, the marketing boys opted to forgo the cartoon cricket used in the States and hired  orchestra leader and CBC-Television star, Bobby Gimby, the Pied Piper of Canada, to ‘blow his horn’ for Plymouth. Bobby and his trumpet did the job proudly, in both official languages.

While Plymouth’s Cricket never sold in big numbers, records show that in the 1971 calendar year, 2,995 of them chirped their way home to consumers. It brought up the rear of  Plymouth dealers’ sales. Cricket ranked 49^th in domestic registrations, behind the Chrysler New Yorker and ahead of the Dodge Colt in nameplate sales pie.

The price for the four-door sedan rose to $2,324 for 1972 and the wagon was introduced at $2,737. New car registrations for 1972 show that number of Cricket dropped to 51^st place as only 2,480 sets of taillights zipped out the dealers’ doors. Canadians passed by the imports and bought more North American-built cars than ever before.

The British auto industry found itself in deep trouble at the beginning of the 1970s. Union and management clashed, resulting in severely compromised product quality. Whether it was the Austin Marina or Ford Cortina, many of the vehicles shipped to Canada from the UK arrived with major defects. The Firenza from Vauxhall was so shoddily built that angry owners sued GM Canada in the nation’s first-ever class action suit. 

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Sadly, Cricket suffered the same shameful indignities as its other British counterparts and was withdrawn from the Canadian market in mid 1973. 

The name lived on as Chrysler immediately rebadged the successful Dodge Colt—already sourced from Japanese automaker Mitsubishi—as the Plymouth Cricket. With that change came a two-door hardtop model. A total of 4,807 Crickets found favour with Canadians during the 1973 calendar year. 

Thanks to Kevin McCabe, Chrysler Canada historian, for the Plymouth Cricket price list. He can be reached at k_mccabe@cogeco.ca

 

Copyright James C. Mays 2015 All rights reserved. 

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1960 Sunbeam

The 1960 Sunbeam family was made up of the ritzy Rapier and the snazzy Alpine models.

It was in 1948 that Sunbeams from Britain’s shore began to arrive on Canada’s fair domain. A cornerstone marque of the long successful Rootes Group, the Sunbeam-Talbot concern, located in Ryton-on-Dunsmore, not far from Coventry, kindly shipped us modest numbers of the Sports Saloon and the Sports Convertible Coupe. They were a pretty pair but the hefty $3,445 and $3,800 (respectively) price tags attached prevented Sunbeams from spreading throughout the Dominion like a wild summer brush fire. Folks bought in moderation.

1948 Sunbeam Talbot Sports Saloon was pricey. 

The next season, the Model 90 replaced the Model 80. Sales continued to be modest, but those Sunbeams looked sharp on showroom floors as they gleamed next to their more economical Hillman kin. Engineers and stylists cleverly turned the sedate Model 90 into an exciting two-seater Alpine. The sports car was added to the Sunbeam lineup in 1953-54. With a $3,177 price tag, it the most expensive Sunbeam one could buy.

A 1955 Sunbeam Mark III Sports Saloon won the Monte Carlo Rallye.

The Sunbeam Mark III Sports Saloon and Convertible were introduced in 1955 and the Alpine joined the fresh-faced pair; though the sports car was in its final year. The next season, the Mark III Sports Convertible was dropped in favour of the stylish Rapier two-door hardtop. The latest Sunbeam offering was introduced with a list price of $2,575. Though the hardtopped Rapier was the sole Sunbeam offered in 1957 much was made of the fact that the marque was 700 dealers strong throughout North America.

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A convertible joined the two-door hardtop for the 1958 season. The ragtop was billed as having “sports-car comfort combined with family-style comfort.” The pair of Sunbeams continued to dazzle folks in 1959 with their tasteful, updated looks. Sunbeams weren’t just pretty faces, they continued to rack up impressive victories in European rallies. Advertising focused on those wins the spotlight shone brightly on the rugged and reliable 1.5-litre Rallymaster engine. Luckily for consumers here at home, prices stood pat at $2,545 and $2,680 f.o.b. Toronto, respectively. 

For 1960, a sleek and seductive two-passenger Alpine Sports Roadster joined the Rapier. The three automobiles were billed as the “great sports car trio.” This latest unibodied beauty was truly corporate sleight-of-hand magic, using the Hillman Husky station wagon’s floorpan as its starting point and borrowing its running gear from Rapier.  Rolling on an 86-inch wheelbase, it could brag of being the only totally new sports car being offered for 1960.

For a mere $2,595 one could have all the power and performance, comfort and convenience money could buy. The Alpine, like all Sunbeams, boasted front wheel disc brakes. It featured windows that rolled up in full-sized doors, which prevented milady’s hair from being windswept. Following the styling dictates of the day, a wraparound windshield was incorporated into the envelope  as were tasteful fins. The four-cylinder, 1.5-litre engine had a cast aluminum cylinder head that permitted delivery of 83.5 horsepower to the close-ratio, four-speed manual transmission.

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Options for Alpine included a detachable aluminum hardtop, wire wheels, a padded centre armrest with a lockable compartment, an ammeter and a clock. Colour choices for Alpine were Carnival Red, Embassy Black, Glen Green, Moonstone and Thistle Grey.

The Rapier Coupe de Sport was designed to satisfy the sports car cravings inherent in every family man. With a 96-inch wheelbase, it did seat four comfortably, after all. The 1.5-litre engine delivered 78 horsepower, more than sufficient to move the 2,360-pound vehicle at speeds guaranteed to attract the interest of Mounties, OPP and QPP on highway patrols. The Rapier’s tastefully finished walnut-veneer instrument panel carried genuine sports car gauges. The centre-floor mounted gearshift was exceptionally short—evoking a sports car driving feel. “If you want an economy-minded sports car that the whole family can enjoy,” then the hardtop Sunbeam Rapier Coupe de Sport was clearly the choice at $2,565.

1960 Sunbeam Rapier convertible 

The four-passenger Rapier Convertible shared all the desirable attributes of the hardtop including the prize-winning Rallymaster engine. The fabric top adjusted to open, closed and the unique half-open Coupe de Ville position as well. This Sunbeam’s price tag was a cool $2,695.

Sunbeam did well in 1960, racking up 1,212 units arriving at ports in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver for delivery throughout the country during the calendar. The entire Rootes Group did equally well.  Sales of 3,296 Hillmans; deliveries of Singers and Humbers added to the bottom line, making the folks at Rootes Motors (Canada) Limited beam from ear to ear, indeed. With the catchy slogan, “Rootes—it’s a better buy because it’s better built,” the world looked bright for next year’s Sunbeam sales. Unfortunately, the corporate smile would not last long; unhappy workers would lay down their tools and walk off the job in 1961.

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Copyright James C. Mays 2005 All rights reserved.