Last modified August
4, 2000
Sunbeam Alpine Sports
(1953-1955)...Images
This color in the photos above, despite
the digital variations and your monitor is very close to the original
"Alpine Mist" . This standard color is often mistaken
for the darker "Sapphire Blue" used in the the Technicolor
"To Catch a Thief" car. Alpine mist is available as
an early '90's Ford color...I'll look it up if you need it.
Girls just wan'na have fun!
I won't say The Sunbeam Alpine Sports
is "a woman's car" as is said of some of the
junior Mercedes models of the era, but it is certainly not a threatening
"macho" machine. A guy who would buy his wife a Viper
(or a Hundai for that matter) just doesn't get it. Women look
great in this car and they know it. It's like a fine piece of
jewelry that says to rivals "Hey girlfriend, somebody loves
me...a lot!" I don't know how many guys have bought
this car saying it is for their wife or sweetheart. And hey, what
greater compliment can a man pay to a woman than to say in effect,
' only a car of this stature and rarefied glamour is capable of
framing your beauty and eleganance dear'...or, if you're broke,
or can't find a Sports, you could give her a foot massage.
Grille on views. R to L: An original
red Sunbeam Alpine Sports in front of a castle in England; and
another red one by a stone wall..probably in Lake Country somewhere.
Another blue right hander over there on the green somewhere,
and finally Norman Marshall's very sporting white one up in Vancouver,
B.C. The English in their typically understated way seem to favor
black walled tires for these cars, perhaps evoking the memory
of the rally cars. The American versions generally seem to sport
the wide 2+ inch white sidewalls popular with "personal
cars" at the time. Visually I think the white sidewalls
are a must to bring out the period "elegance" of the
cars and go well with for instance the red leather seats with
white piping. I imagine the sidewalls were one of Lowey's little
touches.
(Above) This is one of those rare
automobile designs that looks great from any angle, and it's
a bit fortuitous too as the car was never drawn up from scratch
but is really just a customized 4 seater. From the side (see
'Girls' top) the roughly equal lengths of the front hood (bonnet)
and rear deck (boot area) placing the passengers right in the
middle looks just right (and is just right since the boot
holds lots of gear) for a touring car. Think of the Auburn boat-tails
for similar proportions. There are those of us who appreciate
a rear view, and this car has it all...a long beautiful expanse
of smooth, gently sloping sheetmetal from the back seat to under
the rear bumpers...we know these panels spent a lot of time being
gently massaged back and forth in an English Wheel by a couple
of experts :~) To make a proper, bondoless repair of this deck
is going to cost you big time so don't park under any balconies
with flower pots! The beauty on the far right is for
sale!
The dash. L to R: Here's Norman Marshal's
again. Note the racy Brooklands folding windscreens (which were
apparently a factory option). The tachometer is low in the center.
This car has been converted, as most Sports have been, to a floor
shift (turn the tranny 90°). In the middle is a right hander
showing the column shift and the rather rare original radio.
Not sure if this is the original way to mount one or not. On
the right, another shot of a lefty with an apparently different
treatment on the radio. And, on the far right (links to another
site...come back:~), this car has a Tiger engine and is for
sale!
Below are some snaps and links of
Sunbeam Alpine Sports that people have sent in, or I have found
on the net.
Here is Bob
Hamilton's pretty white Sunbeam Alpine Roadster. You can see
other pictures of it and its beautiful stablemates. on
his page... If you are in North America and you wind up with
one of these cars, you are certainly going to meet Bob Hamilton...the
"Man of Many Sunbeams."
Here's a very interesting car...apparently
very correct on the outside, but with a V-8 Tiger enine inside.
This is a Mark III 1955 version...and, it's for
sale! Looks like a deal to me! It's in Palo Alto, California.
Let's hear it from you...Got
any poictures I can use? Comments? Corrections?.....bill@wmspear.com
