1980 Talbot-Sunbeam Ti

First registered on the 9th of May 1981, this lovely Talbot Sunbeam Ti is still showing just two owners from new, the first of whom kept the car for a staggering 32 years. A bank manager who traded in his nearly new Sunbeam GLS against it, he clearly understood the financial importance of maintaining his car correctly, entrusting it to his good friend (and engineering legend) Skip Brown to maintain.

Still known to the firm, the car comes with a huge stack of paperwork from them, including one from 2014 that states: “It is nice to see a Ti in such good condition and driving so well with its fully re-bushed Bilstein suspension and M16 front brake callipers”.

Well known to the Avenger and Sunbeam owners’ clubs and displayed at the NEC in Birmingham and the MEN Arena in Manchester, this is an increasingly rare opportunity for the enthusiast to get their hands on a true rallying and hot-hatchback legend.

The bodywork has been refreshed over the years, though the vendor believes the car has never required rust repairs or welding, and paint as and when required. As a result, it still looks terrific and isn’t ringing any alarm bells whatsoever. Everything aligns very well and despite black’s propensity for showing up every blemish, mark and stonechip, it all still looks pretty darned good to us.

Free of any unnecessary adornment, only original-spec twin red ’go faster’ stripes along its flanks give the game away.

Well, that’s not strictly true because you’d need to be half-blind to ignore the four auxiliary Cibie driving lights – Super Oscar on the top and Iode foglamps underneath – that dominate the car’s front end, a front end whose purposeful looks are further reinforced by a deep-dam front spoiler.

And, shortly after noticing the menace in your rear-view mirror, you’re likely to have the chance to admire the huge spoiler and the all-important ‘Ti’ badge on the back, too. There’s also a rear wiper there for you to admire, which was quite the thing back then.

The Minilite-style alloy wheels are cutesy as hell being just 13 inches in diameter. Shod with matching 185/60R13 Yokohama A539 tyres, the car also comes with a full set of its original Amil alloy wheels and matching Bridgestone tyres as you can see in slide #39.

As we will never tire of explaining, our experience shows that matching high-quality tyres are an infallible sign of a caring and mechanically sympathetic owner who is prepared to spend the appropriate amount in maintaining their car properly. Their presence does not, of course, preclude the need for a thorough inspection - something the vendor would welcome, by the way – but it does perhaps give you a shortcut into their attitude towards maintenance.

Problems are insignificant. There are a few stonechips and marks of course, plus a little orange peel to the finish here and there. There are also some spots of surface rust to treat under the bonnet (#63), the nearside sill (#162 and #163) and inside the boot lid (#124 and #125),

Other work seems to be limited to dealing with a small hole in the gaiter on the offside door mirror (#70) and some marks to the rubber quarter caps on the bumpers (i.e. #105).

The standard striped interior is in fine fettle for a car that’ll never see 40 or 80,000 miles again. With firm and supportive front seats to hold you in place and a sporty three-spoke steering wheel for the driver to hang on to, like an aging actor only a little wrinkling gives their age away. Slides #135 and #139 will give you an idea of what we mean.

The gearknob for the four-speed manual gearbox also falls readily to hand and younger drivers will appreciate the novelty of having to wind the windows up and down manually.

The headlining is still in great shape too being taut and undamaged and free of the sort of water stains that glass sunroofs less well preserved than this can cause. It’s much the same case with the door cards and carpets, both of which are undamaged and wearing the decades lightly.

The Panasonic twin-spindle radio-cassette player looks like the original and the only modification we can see are a pair of switches for the front lamps.

The spare wheel is a steel jobbie painted red and fitted with a wonderfully of-the-period Pirelli Cinturato tyre. It sits in a clean and tidy boot whose metal floor is utterly solid and free of the corrosion and rot that’s robbed us of so many of these cars over the years. The plywood trim is in great shape too, and that’s not a detail you see very often.

Issues for you to sort out are so trivial as to be almost not worth mentioning but you’re going to need to pop a piece of trim back on (#110) and the parcel shelf could do with retrimming to bring it up to the same high standard as the rest of the interior (#118).

Oh, and there’s small tear to the base of the rear seat (#157). This is small and we think it could probably be professionally repaired in situ.

Amazingly, its service history across the past decades makes fascinating reading with the following having been recorded:

• 17.07.1981 and 949 miles – first service by Poplar Garage

• 11.01.1982 and 4,711 miles – oil change by Jack Thomas Ltd

• 05.10.1982 and 10,382 miles – ‘A’ service by Jack Thomas Ltd

• 16.05.1985 and 29,482 miles – ‘A’ service by Jack Thomas Ltd

• 17.05.1986 and 41,900 miles – ‘C’ service by McKinnon Motors

• 29.11.1986 and 45,660 miles – oil change by Skip Brown Cars

• 05.03.1988 – oil change by Skip Brown Cars

• 20.03.1992 and 61,011 miles – ‘B’ service by Skip Brown Cars

• 02.02.1994 and 64,337 miles – oil change by Skip Brown Cars

• 02.02.1995 and 65,994 miles – oil change by Skip Brown Cars

• 21.02.1997 and 69,072 miles – ‘A’ service by Skip Brown Cars

• 21.02.1998 and 72,948 miles – ‘A’ service by Skip Brown Cars

• 24.02.2001 and 76,259 miles – oil change by Skip Brown Cars

As you’d expect given its pampered life and regular, albeit limited, use it fires up straight away with a lovely rasp from the induction system. Newbies will enjoy the demands of juggling a choke to get it to run cleanly when it’s cold but once warm it revs beautifully and drives very well.

The underbonnet is neat and purposeful rather than detailed and prissy but that’s okay because you’re going to be climbing the walls pretty soon when the summer lockdown strikes, and getting it up to the same condition as the rest of the car will give you a much-needed excuse to get into the garage and away from the family…

The underside itself is clean and solid with only the odd patch of peeling underseal to demand your attention, most noticeably on the rear trailing arms (#249 and #250).

It also comes with a few spares; please see #115 for details of what is included.

The MOT certificate, which is valid until March 2022, was gained without a single advisory point, something it’s been doing since 2009.

It has a large number of expired MOT certificates plus a thick sheaf of invoices and bills dating back to the early 1980s from chaps like Skip Brown and Jack Thomas to confirm the work that has been done since it was new.

It also still has its original owner’s handbook, stamped service history booklet, the rest of the book pack and storage wallet plus two sets of keys and the original sales invoice from Poplar Garage showing the purchase price of £4,574.

Please visit the documents section of the gallery of this listing where you will find photos of this and other paperwork to support our claim that this car has been maintained to a very good standard.

If you’d like to inspect the car prior to placing a bid – something we would encourage – then please use the Contact Seller button to arrange an appointment.

When was the last time you saw a Sunbeam Ti being offered for sale? Much less one in this condition and with such a well-documented history? Never? Once or twice in the past decade? Quite.

Because the reality is that many cars, including these, have to go through a bit of a slump before they’re eventually recognised for what they are. This means they limp from MOT to MOT, being bodged and neglected until they often give up the ghost in a crumbling pile of ferric oxide and a pool of treacle-like engine oil.

Which makes this one unique. Owned for more than three decades by a friend of Skip Brown, it has been properly looked after since it was new allowing it to enter the hallowed virtuous circle whereby it’s never been left wanting for anything.

And yet, despite this, we believe you could buy this rally legend for as little as £12,000 but it could cost you in excess of £16,000. This has to be one of the very best examples remaining, and it is an opportunity that doesn't arise everyday.

So, if you’ve ever had even half-a-mind to buy one, you’d be well advised to pop in a bid on this one because who knows when you’ll next get the chance…

Viewing is always encouraged (within Govt. guidelines of course), and this particular car is located with us at The Market HQ near Abingdon; to arrange an appointment please use the Contact Seller button at the top of the listing. Feel free to ask any questions or make observations in the comments section below, or try our ‘Frequently Asked Questions’.