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" Heard of the Talbot Sunbeam Lotus? With its name a combination of three separate brands, the rear-drive hot hatch from 1979 was a purpose-built rally machine. Built for only a couple of years with gravel battle in mind, the cars are nothing if not rare today \u2013 yet a survivor remains on the Finnish historic rally scene. And it&amp;#039;s not sitting still, either.  In the Finnish coastal town of Kokkola, Olli Lindell keeps and races older rally cars. In his stable are an older Lancer Evolution, an Audi Ur-quattro and a Sunbeam Imp \u2013 but it&amp;#039;s this boxy little car that caught my eye this winter. The 1981 Talbot Sunbeam Lotus he was readying for an event the following weekend is finished in glossy and correct Embassy Black with wide silver side stripes, a quintessential color combination for the rally hot hatch. In the photos, it wears transport wheels in lieu of rally items.  Olli&amp;#039;s car originally came to Finland via Sweden in the 1980s. According to him, it was in horrible condition when he got it, but has undergone advancing restauration ever since. But Lindell respects his cars, and despite taking them to events doesn&amp;#039;t beat on them. They deserve better than being flogged to pieces.  The Sunbeam Lotus was based on the humble mid-Seventies Chrysler Sunbeam R424, which itself was originally designed on a shoestring budget by Chrysler Europe. With the initial performance model, the Ti, known to be rather quick, the base car was developed further with the 2.2-liter Lotus Type 911 engine. Lotus had been supplying Jensen-Healey with Type 907 engines, and since Jensen Motors closed their doors in 1976, Lotus had plenty of available engines to develop and sell on.  The finished Sunbeam Lotus was built to beat Ford&amp;#039;s RS Escorts and Vauxhall&amp;#039;s HS Chevettes \u2014 bold task;but as the 1980s advanced, the rally scene developed further. Despite the tiny Sunbeam Lotus looking light next to the 1980-onwards Audi Quattro, the car won the World Championship for Talbot in 1981 \u2013 and in the 1980 RAC Rally, Sunbeam Lotuses finished 1st, 3rd and 4th with the young Henri Toivonen taking the top podium spot. Since then, no two-wheel-drive car has won the RAC Rally.  With the Sunbeam Lotus shelved after the 1982 season, the project development team headed by the honorable Des O&amp;#039;Dell packed up their bags and moved to Paris. Their next post? Peugeot Talbot Sport, and the Peugeot 205 T16. The 1980s had only just begun. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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