Above : Late nineteen fifties Sunbeam Alpine ---------------------- Below : Sunbeam Tiger

Founded in England in 1899, Sunbeam produced their first car in 1900. Down through the years the company had a proud record of sporting and record breaking activities, as well as a reputation for quality. Indeed many looked upon the Sunbeam as a poor man’s Rolls-Royce ! From 1908 to 1929 they were the most successful car maker in racing. They were the first manufacturer to exceed 200 mph and for thirty two years they were the last British manufacturer to win a Grand Prix race. That record was established in 1923 when they won the French Grand Prix at Tours and remained in place until 1955.
Besides cars the company also produced marine and aircraft engines. Sir Henry Seagrave used two of their aircraft engines in his Sunbeam Special in 1927, when he became the first man to exceed 200 mph. Other activities included the manufacture of buses and trolley buses. Sunbeam who had become associated with Talbot and Darracq, went into liquidation in 1935 and was taken over by the Rootes Group, who built Humber and Hillman cars. They ceased making Sunbeams and Talbots, but produced a new more sporty version of the Humber, which they called a Sunbeam-Talbot.

Above : Late nineteen fifties Sunbeam Alpine with detachable hardtop

By the middle nineteen fifties open two seater roadsters had become very popular in Britain again, with names like MG, Truimph, Austin-Healey, Daimler, Lotus, AC and others, all producing modern shapes and styling. Morgan, however, remained committed to their pre-war styling. By this time the Rootes Group were very committed to American influenced styling and thus many of their models had pronounced tailfins. Their cars were well built and the emphasis was on luxury, style, comfort as well as performance. As the North American market was a lucrative export market, developments there were watched with interest.

Above : Beautifully finished Sunbeam Alpine interior

During this period, most of the popular British sports roadsters, had four cylinder engines of between one and a half and two litres in capacity. In the United States, however, the philosophy centred around the concept that “Bigger is Better.” General Motors tried to get into the lucrative roadster market in 1953, with their Chevrolet Corvette, powered by a 3.6 litre six cylinder engine. This was not all that successful, so in 1956 they produced a new model with a 4.8 litre V8. Ford had also entered the roadster market in 1955 with their Thunderbird, also powered by a large V8.
When Carroll Shelby persuaded AC to fit the 4.2 litre Ford V8 engine into the AC Ace to make the AC Cobra, especially for the North American market, the Rootes Group decided to try the same idea with the Sunbeam Alpine and in 1964 created the Sunbeam Tiger, using a 4.2 litre Ford V8 in place of the Alpine’s 1592 cc, four cylinder engine. Unfortunately in 1967, the Rootes Group was bought by Chrysler, who were understandably unwilling to use a rival manufacturer’s engine in their car, so the Sunbeam Tiger was discontinued. Interestingly, although the Ford V8 had a much larger capacity, overall performance was not all that dramatically improved. Indeed, technology rather than cubic capacity, was still the most important factor in delivering a scintillating performance. The MG series MGA Twin Cam demonstrated that most convincingly.

Make and model ---------- Engine capacity ---- Top speed ----- 0-60 mph ---- Average mpg
Lotus Elite ----------------- 1216 cc ------------- 111 mph ------- 11.4 secs ---- 40 mpg
MGA Twin Cam ------------ 1588 cc ------------- 113 mph ------- 9.1 secs ----- 27 mpg
MGA 1600 ----------------- 1588 cc ------------- 96 mph -------- 13.3 secs ---- 29 mpg
Sunbeam Alpine ---------- 1592 cc ------------- 98 mph -------- 13.6 secs ---- 31 mpg
AC Ace --------------------- 1971 cc ------------- 116 mph ------- 9.0 secs ----- 21 mpg
Triumph TR3 -------------- 1991 cc ------------- 109 mph ------- 11.4 secs ---- 34 mpg
MG series MGB ------------ 1798 cc ------------- 104 mph ------- 12.9 secs ---- 27 mpg
Daimler SP 250 ----------- 2548 cc ------------- 123 mph ------- 8.9 secs ----- 25 mpg
Austin-Healey 3000 ------ 2912 cc ------------- 115 mph ------- 11.7 secs ---- 21 mpg
Sunbeam Tiger ------------ 4261 cc ------------- 120 mph ------- 9.4 secs ----- 18 mpg

In the early nineteen sixties, a styling revision for the Sunbeam Alpine reduced the size of the rear fins and, as this change came before the advent of the Tiger, all Tiger models had this less conspicuous rear end. The slatted grille also gave way to a new design with just the one cross bar, which also carried a Sunbeam badge. Initially it was only available in left hand drive, but in 1965 right hand drive versions became available as well.