Concepts and prototypes : Heuliez Chrysler 180 Break
January 2, 2013
· 
Keith Adams · 
13 Comments
Keith Adams, Picture: Andrew Elphick
The French coachbuilder, Heuliez, products has slipped its way into these pages before. Who could forget the inappropriately (for Anglophones) named Talbot Wind, a cut-price funky alternative to the Matra-Rancho? By the time this sketch of the 180 Break was penned in the early 1970s, the company was already in the process of carving itself out an interesting niche versions of mainstream cars built in France.
The idea of building an estate version of the Chrysler 180 was really quite obvious to take for Heuliez. For those customers loyal to their local Simca dealer, and who wanted to upgrade to a larger estate than their current 1501, there was no option, other than to defect to Peugeot or Citroen. The car that emerged in Heuliez’s sketches is certainly handsome, and it also looks usefully large – and knowing the company’s intelligent construction methods, it would not have cost a significant amount of money to produce.
If it would have been made in the same way as the subsequent Citroen BX Break, partially completed cars would have been sent directly to the factory from Chrysler, and Heuliez would have added its own bespoke rear panels nd tailgate before finishing off the car. It worked well in the medium volumes required for Citroen, and there’s no reason to believe the same case wouldn’t be true for the 180. However, Chrysler chose not to take up the Heuliez option (or the Coupe, either), instead limiting itself to the standard four-door saloon.
Interestingly, the Chrysler 180 Break makes an interesting comparison with the equally still-born Princess Countryman.
Related posts:
- Concepts and prototypes : Chrysler C Car
- Concepts and prototypes : Chrysler Alpine/SIMCA 1307/1308
- Concepts and prototypes : Chrysler Horizon
- Concepts and prototypes : Chrysler Sunbeam
- Concepts and prototypes : Projet 929
13 Responses
Handsome, if a little bland… I suspect Australia would have liked it as a Centura wagon.
I agree with Richard… the car has an “Australian” look about it. One wonders if, had it been produced, would it have generated more interest in the saloon versions also?
Reminds me of the P76 estate.
Attempting a range of models should have helped the 180.
This wouldn’t have been so bad as a Humber estate; a lot of Chrysler Europe’s trouble was in having so many models so close together (Avenger/Hunter/180)
It also looks better than the Spanish version which was actually produced!
Ouch…
What Richard Kilpatrick said.
Surprised that the BX estate wasn’t completed ‘in house’- seemed to sell quite well, so taking half-built ones elsewhere to be finished didn’t appear to make a lot of sense. It does, however, explain the somewhat awkward styling- forgivable when the hatch version wasn’t exactly pretty (although the 16v with their subtle styling addenda was a bit kinder to the eye- much like the Delta Integrale vs its plainer basic incarnation).
I actually prefer the basic BX to the 16v. The estate is not the best conversion cosmetically – mainly due to retaining the hatchback’s rear doors.
They did a high roof BX van too
The Heuliez conversion looks better than an Abbott Zephyr conversion too.
OK, so I’ve admitted elsewhere that I’m a Vauxhall fan, but I have to say that the car in the picture has a distinct FD Victor look aboout it, especially the doors…
It also has similar lines, especially the doors and roofline to the Hunter estates too.
Other manufactures outsourced their estates as well, such as the Triumph 2000 which was done by Carbodies.
I am not surprised the 180 / 2 Litre was not taken up by Chrysler Europe. The car was simple unloved by both Roots and Simca having effectively been forced on them by the US management insisting on taking the weakest elements of each companies C car plans.
For the French the Roots styling, car was ovely large and too american in styling and for Roots the french oily bits and interior was too low rent to go head to head with Ford let alone the Rover P6 / SD1.
Result was the only market that developed it was Spain who created a Diesel Taxi version.
One wonders what could have been if the US management had taken the best of the C car plans, so taking the more compact Bertone styled body from Simca and the Roots V6 and De Dion suspension.
Certainly that body with the Simca running gear would have made a good Hunter replacement and much quicker to maket than the Alpine. The plans for wood and leather and V6 engines etc from Roots would have made some interesting high line Humber and Sunbeam derivatives and gone head to head with Triumph and Rover offerings of the early 70′s.
The 180 was a total stodge bucket. IMHO, one of the bottom 20 of all mass produced cars. From memory, they didn’t handle, accelerate or brake particularly well, the interiors were poor even by 80s standards and early rust was endemic. Never mind that fact that the outside looked like a bloated Avenger, an estate would have made no difference to the fundamental issues that the basic car had.
Evidently there are only 2 left in 2012 according to “http://www.howmanyleft.co.uk/?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=chrysler+180″. Hopefully these will be consigned to a museum somewhere as an example of the worst of car design from the 1980s. Equally, there are no Talbot Tagoras left on the road. I wonder why?
Tony
The 180 of course was outdated by 80′s, but it was a 1971 car and its performance, finish was no worse than the similar offerings from Ford and GM and its engine was better than their mid-sized 4 cylinder units of the times. The same unit in 505 GTI was still spot on the market in 83.
Not an exceptional car, but like the Tagora, adequate for the task but badly positioned in the UK and French markets and unsupported by its owners.
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