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‘When I passed driving test my driving test forty years ago, my first car was an Avenger 1250 De Luxe’ remarks John Gordon. ‘I’ve driven at a lot of classics since that Hillman – but I was unable to resist the call of the Sunseeker’.

And this is quite understandable, as SPW 816 N is no ordinary 1600 De Luxe, but a limited version with ‘sports wheels, coachline, wing mirrors, side repeater flashers, reversing lamps’ – plus ‘lush carpeting’ and ‘reclining front seats’. 

As John notes, there was also a ‘factory-fitted push-button radio’ – ideal for ambitious sales reps. to listen to Terry Wogan on Radio 2 as they sped towards that appointment near Eastleigh.

The Sunseeker was not the first special edition Avenger, for that honour goes to the 1972 “Top Hat”. John ‘was led to believe they were made for the UAE market but the deal through, and so it was made available in the UK for one year only’.

Sales commenced in 1973, and few discerning motorists would have been able to resist the lure of the vinyl roof and the ‘unique pattern black upholstery’. Chrysler UK offered the Sunseeker in two and four-door forms, the former in “Apricot” and the latter in “Orange Blossom”.

Some (i.e. - me) compare SPW’s colour to an Orange Mivvi whereas Mr. Gordon refers to it as ‘burnt custard’. The four-door was also fitted with automatic transmission as standard – ‘the changes feel quite sharp compared with a modern box’.

John kept his original De Luxe on the road for seventeen years ‘as an everyday car’, and by the late 1990s, he noticed how ‘rare the Avenge was becoming’.

He came by SPW in 2017 which was originally ordered by a Mr. Thompson of Norfolk in 1974. Shortly afterwards, the Sunseeker was sent to a garage for rust-proofing – and it remained in storage for the next four decades, with 2,500 miles on the clock.

The Hillman was recommissioned and MOTed and when John bought the Sunseeker ‘it was pristine and still had its 1975 tax discs in the windscreen’ while the milometer read just 3,000 miles.

‘When I took the Avenger to a long-established garage, they said it was the lowest mileage car they’d ever MOTed on these premises. The only modification I have made was replacing the 1974 Michelin ZX tyres as they had cracked after 45 years’.

Today, John finds the Sunseeker ‘a pleasure to drive’, and it even served as his wedding car on the Orkney Islands.  When on a rally with the ASOC ‘it did not let me down once’. To state that SPW is rare is quite an understatement as it is believed to be the only one left on the road.

‘It’s a very big head-turner, especially because of the colour – people seem to take a second look’.  Few people recognise the Avenger as a Sunseeker while possibly the most lubricous comment heard by John is ‘it’s a shame the vinyl doesn’t cover the entire roof’.

Such is the fame of SPW it is now a Corgi die-cast model. And perhaps most importantly of all, ‘when you get into the door and close the door, the car feels like new’.

The Gordon Sunseeker is ‘as good as the day it rolled out of the factory’ – and, as the advertisements stated, ideal to ‘drive to the sun’. Preferably with Slade’s Far Far Away playing on the radio.

With Thanks To John Gordon, Buckie Classic Car Show - https://buckieclassiccarshow.co.uk/ and the Avenger and Sunbeam Owners’ Club - https://www.asoc.co.uk/

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