By Andy Bannister 11.08.2007 Think of Iran and you probably don’t immediately associate it with car manufacturing, but in fact this Islamic country has a rapidly growing industry founded on the unlikely success it made out of one humble British saloon car. Known as the Paykan, (Farsi for “Arrow”) this Rootes/Chrysler vehicle put millions of Iranians on the road and only recently ceased production. A pick-up version, the Bardo, is still offered by the manufacturer, Iran Khodro. The Paykan... Read Full Story
By the mid-1960s, Rootes was progressively taken over by the Chrysler Corporation of the United States, following huge losses amid the commercial failure of the troubled Imp. Chrysler was also only too keen to take control of the struggling firm as it wished to have its own wholly-independent European subsidiaries like arch rivals Ford and GM. Chrysler took over Simca of France at the same time, merging it with Rootes (now renamed "Chrysler UK") to create Chrysler Europe. The Rootes name had... Read Full Story
In 1963, Rootes introduced the Hillman Imp, a compact rear engined saloon with an innovative all- aluminium OHC engine, based on a Coventry Climax engine design (originally used for a fire pump). It was intended to be a response from Rootes to rival BMC's popular Mini, and a massive new factory in Linwood in Scotland was built for its assembly The move to Linwood was forced upon the company by the British government, which had introduced the principle of "Industrial Development Certificates... Read Full Story
The first Rootes model to be killed under Peugeot's ownership was the Hunter in 1979, and its production tooling subsequently went to Iran, where the Paykan went into local production, which continued until 2004. It remains a common sight throughout the Middle East, especially as a taxi. The closure of Linwood in 1981 spelled the end (in Europe at least) for the Avenger. Chrysler had retained the rights to the car, and continued its production in Argentina. The Simca-based models (the Horizon... Read Full Story
Alfred Hitchcock's 1955 film “To Catch a Thief” featured Francie Stephens (played by Grace Kelly) driving John Robie (Cary Grant) to a romantic picnic in a Sunbeam Talbot convertible. The film features then innovative aerial photography of the car being driven along the Riviera coast. In the opening credits of each episode of the 1960s TV show Get Smart (except its final series), Maxwell Smart (Don Adams) – CONTROL’s top secret agent – arrives at the spy agency's secret headquarters driving a... Read Full Story
