Sunbeam began building cars in 1899, but it was 1901 before
a rather unconventional production car was offered by the company.
There are too
many models from this era to list them all here, but they were renowned
for their 'Gentleman's sporting' flavour. The Sunbeam name was made
famous during this time by Sir Henry Seagrave's attempts to break the
World Land Speed Record using Sunbeam cars. In 1936 Rootes took
over Sunbeam and after unsuccessfully trying to build a luxury car,
dropped the name
altogether until 1938, when they added it to the 'Talbot' name to
distinguish their cars from the French Talbots. The Sunbeam-Talbot
range started out with the 1938 'Ten', which had
an 1185cc side valve, four cylinder engine. The 2-Litre, 3-Litre and
4-Litre cars followed in 1939, but the second World War halted
production of the cars until 1946. After the war only the Ten and
2-Litre production was resumed.
Russell Maddock's site has a list of all the models with photos of
many of the pre-war cars.
In 1948 the Sunbeam-Talbot 80 and 90
was introduced with saloon or drop-head coupe bodywork available. The
'80' used an overhead valve version of the engine from the 'Ten', while
the '90' used a similarly derived engine from the 2-Litre. 3500 '80's and
4000 Mk I '90's were built. The '80'
model was dropped in 1950 and the '90' Mark II was released. Notable
features were the independent front suspension and increase in engine
size to 2267cc. 5493 Mk IIs were built. The 90 Mk IIA was introduced in
1952, identified by
the deletion of the rear wheel spats. In 1954 the Mark III was
introduced and the 'Talbot' part of the name was dropped. In 1953
a two-seater convertible version of the car was introduced with the
name 'Alpine' to commemorate the marque's success in the Alpine rally.
It received an upgrade in 1954, in line with the release of the Mark
III Saloon which sold until 1957, however production of the Alpine ceased
in 1955. About 3000 Alpines of this type were built.
More information on the Sunbeam-Talbot 80, 90 and Alpine can be found
at
Ian Hobbis' Talbot 90 page.
The Rapier was part of Rootes' 'Audax' range of cars. It featured
a two-door body shell, a 4-cylinder 1390cc overhead valve engine and
was introduced in 1955. 7,477 examples of the first Series were built.
In 1958 the Sereies II was introduced with a larger 1494cc engine.
A convertible version was introduced and total Series II Production
was 15,151 units. The Series III was introduced in 1959 sporting new
front disc brakes instead of drums and a new wooden dashboard. 15,368
cars were built. In 1961 the engine size was increased to 1695cc and
the production run of 17,354 cars was designated Series IIIA. In 1963
the Series IV was introduced with new front bodywork and grille and 13
inch wheels to replace the 15 inch wheels on earlier models. The
convertible model was dropped from the model line, and 9,700 cars were
built. The last model of the 'Audax' bodied Rapier appeared in 1965
with a new 1725cc five bearing engine. 3,759 cars were built before
production ended in 1967. An all-new body style was introduced, now
called the 'fastback' Rapier, part of the 'Arrow' range of Rootes cars
(ie. the Hillman Hunter models). It
used the 1725cc engine, but the engine was mounted leaning to one side
to clear the lower bonnet line of the new range of cars. This model
continued until 1976, by which time 46,204 cars had been built.
More information on these cars can be found at web site of the English
Sunbeam Rapier Owners Club.
The Alpine entered production in 1959, fitted with a 1494cc 4
cylinder engine with alloy head and twin Zenith carburettors. Major
selling points were the 'Trans-Atlantic'
styling especially the American-style tail-fins, and the traditional
Sunbeam fit and finish, including luxury items (for the era) like
wind-up windows and a folding convertible top. 11,904 cars were built
before the Series II came along in 1960. The Series II had a larger
engine of 1592cc, and included small refinements to the car. 19,956
examples of this model were built. The last of the 'finned' Alpines
was the Series 3, introduced in 1963. It was a transitional model,
incorporating many of the
features of the later models, but retaining the early body style. New
items included an adjustable steering column, 3-way adjustable seats,
a much roomier boot, and the addition of a 'GT' version which sold
alongside the existing 'ST'. The GT had no convertible top, but came
standard with a removable hardtop and more luxurious iterior trim,
including a wood dash and carpets instead of the standard rubber floor
mats. The
Series 3 model was sold for 11 months, during which 5,863 cars were
built. In 1964 the Series IV was introduced, with a new body style
which included much smaller rear fins and a new one-bar grille, and an
optional automatic gearbox. An all-synchro gearbox was introduced
during the model run of 12,406 cars. The last of this series of cars was
introduced in 1965 with a new 1725cc engine. By this time Chrysler was
buying the parent company, Rootes, so some of the later cars had a
small Chrysler 'Pentastar' badge added to the front mudguard. The
metal covers over the stowed convertible top on earlier models were
replaced by a more conventional vinyl cover for this model. 19122
Series V Alpines were built before production ceased in 1968.
There is a whole web site devoted to the Alpine at
www.sunbeamalpine.org
Tiger
The Tiger is one of those cars with a story full of cunning,
deception, unrealised potential, untimely death and of being
under-appreciated by the public. It was created out of a desire by the
US dealers and racers to add more power to the Alpine. Unknown to the
parent company in England, two Ford V8 powered prototypes were built
in the US, one
by motoring legend Carroll Shelby, before being accepted for production.
It is also reputed that Enzo Ferrari was approached to help with
engine development for the Alpine but an agreement was not reached.
Eventually the Tiger was born in 1964 with a 260ci cast-iron V8 and
4-speed gearbox. The car used the same body shell as the SIV Alpine,
but the drive-train was installed by Jensen Motors in England.
3,763 cars were built, and a Mark 1A model was designated when the body
shells changed to the Alpine V model. 2,706 Mark 1A Tigers were built.
In 1967 the Tiger Mark II was introduced with a new 289ci engine and
an 'egg-crate' style grill, however only 536
examples were built before Chrysler stopped production of the car. Some
say they couldn't stomach a Ford-engined car in their model range, but
the Alpine disappeared too, and it had no such dark secret. The design
was of 1950s origin and impending changes to US car safety laws
looked like making it much harder to make convertible cars comply.
Whatever the reason, the combination of a small car and a 4.7 litre
engine made for a seriously quick car.
A web site dedicated to Tigers can be found at
www.corpdemo.com/tiger
