Sunbeam

GB, 1899 – 1937, 1953 to date

(1) John Marston Ltd, Wolverhampton, Staffs., 1899 – 1905

(2) Sunbeam Motor Car Co Ltd, Wolverhampton, Staffs., 1905 – 1935

(3) Sunbeam Motors Ltd, London W.11, 1936 – 1937

(4) Sunbeam-Talbot Ltd, Ryton-on-Dunsmore, Warwickshire, 1953 – 1970

(5) Chrysler United Kingdom Ltd, Ryton-on-Dunsmore, Warwickshire, 1970 to date

John Marston’s tinplate and japanware firm, which had been making bicycles since 1887, built its first 4hp belt-driven prototype Sunbeam car in 1899, followed by another machine with a twin-cylinder engine in 1901. The first model Sunbeam car to see series production was, however, the diamond-formation and allegedly skidproof Sunbeam-Mabley voiturette with 2¾hp De Dion engine, a number of which were sold for £130 in the 1901-1904 period. More conventional was the 12hp Sunbeam car marketed under T.C. Pullinger’s direction in 1903, which was based on a Berliet design and had a flitch-plate frame, chain drive with Sunbeam cars patent oil-bath chain cases, and a 2.4-litre 4-cylinder engine with automatic inlet valves. A 3.6-litre 6-cylinder Sunbeam car was on the market briefly in 1904, but Sunbeam cars soon progressed to Shaw-designed T-head fours, though another short-lived six Sunbeam car appeared in 1907. Sunbeam cars great years started in 1909 when Louis Coatalen joined the Sunbeam car firm from Hillman. In that season the Sunbeam car company was offering three L-head fours with chain drive, and capacities of 3.4, 4.5 and 6.3-litres, plus an odd 3.2-litre twin-cylinder Station Cart Sunbeam car. Coatalen’s first effort was a T-headed 14/18hp Sunbeam car, available with either shaft or chain drive. This Sunbeam car was followed a year later by a 2.4-litre 12/16 on similar lines, but with pressure lubrication and on overdrive gearbox, while overhead valves were tried out on a racing Sunbeam car, the Nautilus, at Brooklands in 1910. An improved 12/16 Sunbeam car of 3-litres’ capacity with monobloc engine ran in the 1911 Coupe de l’Auto race, foreshadowing an immensely successful touring development which Sunbeam car sold initially for £375. This Sunbeam car had an L-head engine and was made up to 1921. In 74bhp racing guise the Sunbeam car scored 1-2-3 victory in the 1912 Coupe de l’Auto, following this up with a 3rd place in 1913. In 1914 Sunbeam car company built Henri-inspired twin-ohc 4-cylinder racers both for the Tourist Trophy and for the French Grand Prix, and at the outbreak of World War 1 the Sunbeam car range consisted of the 12/16 in standard and sporting forms, a 4-litre 16/20 Sunbeam car of similar general design, and a 6.1-litre 6-cylinder Sunbeam car rated at 25/30hp, all offered with electric lighting. The Sunbeam car company concentrated on aero engines during the war years, though a 4.9-litre twin-ohc 6-cylinder Sunbeam ca  was sent to Indianapolis in 1916 and took 3rd place, while Rovers took over production of the 12/16 for the Flighting Services. Renamed the 16, this Sunbeam car reappeared in civilian form with full electrical equipment at £790, along with a smaller vesion of the pre-war 25/30 Sunbeam car powered by a 4½-litre engine.

The Sunbeam car company amalgamated with Talbot and Darracq in 1920 to form the STD combine, and the next five years saw an energetic racing programme of Sunbeam cars. Twin-ohc 108bhp straight-8 Sunbeam cars were made for the 3-litre formula of the immediate post-war years, followed by some unsuccessful 2-litre fours, and finally the twin-ohc 6-cylinder ‘Fiats in green paint’, designed by Bertarione, which won the French and Spanish GPs in 1923, and this Sunbeam car ran supercharged in 1924, as well as having a long and distinguished competition career in later years. Chassagne won the Tourist Trophy on a 3-litre straight-8 Sunbeam car in 1922, while one of the regular 3-litre sports Sunbeam cars finished 2nd at Le Mans in 1925. Sunbeam cars took the World’s Land Speed Record five times in the 1922-1927 period: Lee Guiness started with 133.75mph on the 350hp V12 sprint Sunbeam car, a figure which Campbell subsequently raised, first to 146mph on the 4-litre V12, a Sunbeam car which was also used for road racing, and the following year he became the first man to exceed 200mph on land with the twin-engined chain-drive 45-litre Sunbeam car. Sunbeam cars last record car, the Silver Bullet of 1930, was unsuccessful.

Touring Sunbeam carss of the 1920s were cars of great refinement if not outstanding performance. The basic 16 and 24hp types Sunbeam cars were redesigned with push-rod overhead valves in 19222, ohc sporting versions being also listed, while a more modest 2-litre 14hp Sunbeam car with unit gearbox was available at £725. Front-wheel brakes arried on the 6-cylinder 16/50 Sunbeam car in 1924, and were optional also on the 14/40 Sunbeam car which replaced the 14hp model. An impressive 3-litre 6-cylinder twin-ohc sports Sunbeam car with dry-sump engine was made in small numbers between 1925 and 1930, but the Sunbeam car was ‘too fast for its chassis’ as well as being expensive to make and buy. A big straight-8 Sunbeam car with a push-rod engine, available in 4.8-litre and 5.4-litre forms, was introduced in 1926 at prices from £1.295 up and front-wheel brakes became standard on all Sunbeam cars. All Sunbeam cars had the V-radiator by 1927, when the fours were dropped, and the standard touring sixes were the 2-litre 16hp at £550, the 2.9-litre 20hp Sunbeam car at £750, and the 3.6-litre 25hp at £950, all with plate clutches, spiral bevel final drive, and cantilever rear suspension. Thereafter Sunbeam car design changed little, and sales of Sunbeam cars declined though quality was maintained. Semi-elliptic springs were found at the rear of the smaller 1930 Sunbeam carmodels, in 1931 the Sunbeam cars acquired hydraylic brakes and radiator shutters, and the 16’s engine was enlarged to 2.2-litres. The 1932 Sunbeam cars’ silent-third gearboxes gave way to synchromesh on 1933 16 and 20hp Sunbeams. That year there was also a 2.9-litre Speed Model Sunbeam car with crash box at £745, though its main competitor was STD’s other fast tourer, the Talbot 105. The old Sunbeam car firm’s last new model was a ponderous 1.6-litre ohv four, the Sunbeam Dawn of 1934, with preselector gearbox and independent front suspension. This Sunbeam car was offered again in 1935, along with the 20, the 25, and the Speed Model, but the collapse of the STD combine brought receivership and purchased by Rootes, and an ohv Roesch-designed 4½-litre straight-8 Sunbeam car announced for 1937 never went into production. There were no Sunbeams in 1938, and when the Sunbeam-Talbot range was announced for 1939 the Sunbeam car was based on the later Rootes Talbots.

The name of Sunbeam cars did not reappear until 1953, when it was given to a sports two-seater Sunbeam car of the 2.3-litre ohv 4-cylinder Sunbeam-Talbot 90, the Sunbeam Alpine, which sold for £1.269, and this Sunbeam car collected four Coupes des Alpes in that year’s Alpine Rally, following this up with a Gold Cup (for Stirling Moss) and a Coupe des Dames (for Sheila Van Damm) in 1954. In 1955 the basic 90 saloon Sunbeam car was marketed as the Sunbeam MK III, and further laurels included the Malling/ Fadum win in that year’s Monte Carlo rally. The type Sunbeam car was listed until 1957, being joined in 1956 by a Hillman Minx-based sports saloon, the Sunbeam Rapier, with a 1.4-litre square 4-cylinder 62bhp engine, unitary construction, and overdrive as standard equipment, at £986. This Sunbeam car did well in subsequent Alpines and Monte Carlo Rallies, as well as winning its class in the 1956 Mille Miglia, and by 1958 the Sunbeam car had grown up to 1½-litres and 68bhp, acquiring a less Hillman-like grill in the process, though overdrive was now an extra. A sports two-seater Sunbeam car, another Alpine, with integral construction, was listed for 1960, and subsequent evolution was on regular Rootes lines: diaphragm clutches in 1964, with the option of automatic on the Alpine, all-synchromesh gearboxes in 1965, and 1.7-litre 5-bearing engines in 1966. 1964 brought two new developments of the basic theme Sunbeam car, an Italian-bodied Venezia sports saloon based on the Humber Sceptre, and the Tiger Sunbeam car, which was an Alpine with rack-and-pinion steering and a 4.3-litre, 164bhp Ford V8 engine, this despite the Rootes-Chrysler conncection. In 1966, the Rapier V, Alpine V, and Tiger comprised the Sunbeam car name. A 51bhp Sunbeam car-version of the Imp was available in the home market in 1967, and this Sunbeam car was followed by the more sporting Stiletto coupé for 1968.

An entirely new Rapier Sunbeam car on Hillman Hunter lines was announced for that year, its fastback styling inspired by Plymouth’s Barracuda. It had an 88bhp engine, a close-ratio gearbox, and overdrive as standard.

During 1968 the old Sunbeam Alpine was discontinued (the Tiger had already gone), and the Rapier range was rounded out, first by the H120 of 1969 with twin-carburettor Holbay-tuned engine giving 105bhp and Rostyle wheels, and then by the Alpine, a simplified version of the basic theme introduced for 1970. These three fastback Sunbeam cars were still being made in 1973, along with the Sunbeam Sport based on the Imp saloon. The Stiletto was discontinued during 1972.

Source: Georgano, encyclopedia of motorcar; MCS

The information is written with the greatest of care. However, if you have any suggested amendments please contact us at office@prewarcar.com

Panhard (et Levassor)

France, 1889 – 1967

(1) Panhard et Levassor, Paris, 1889 – 1898

(2) Société des Anciens Etablissements Panhard et Levassor, Paris, 1899 – 1965

(3) SA André Citroën, Paris, 1965 – 1967

One of the greatest names in the history of motoring, Panhard et Levassor car sprang from a woodworking-machinery firm founded by Périn and Pauwels in 1845, which passed into the hands of René Panhard and Emile Levassor on Périn’s death in 1886. In the same year Levassor’s friend Edouard Sarazin acquired the Daimler patents rights for France; he died in 1887 and his widow subsequently married Levassor.

A Panhard et Levassor car with a centrally-mounted V-twin Daimler engine was running successfully in 1891, and after experiments with rear engines the partnership settled for what was to become the classic automobile layout – engine at the front, gearbox amidships, and driven rear hweels, though as yet the gears were exposed, and final drive was by central chain. These early Panhard Levassor cars had 4 speeds forward and reverse, and sold for 3.500fr. Solid rubber tyres were adopted on Panhard Levassor cars in 1892, and in 1894 a Panhard Levassor car was fitted with a Maybach float-feed carburetor in place of the surface type, an improvement standardized in 1895. A Panhard Levassor car was awarded joint 1st place (with Peugeot) in the 1894 Paris-Rouen Trial, and the following year enclosed gearboxes were used for the first time on the Panhard Levassor car. Emile Levassor was the moral (if not the technical) victor of the Paris-Bordeaux-Paris Race that year with a Panhard Levassor car, when wheel steering and the 2.4-litre vertical-twin Phénix engine also made their appearance. On all Panhard Levassor cars up to 1900 the side-brake was inter-connected with the clutch. 4-cylinder engines were used in 1896 Panhard Levassor racers, and made available to the public in 1898; the Panhard Levassor car marque’s win in the Paris-Marseilles-Paris Race was, however, clouded by Emile Levassor’s death as the result of a spull during the race.

Gradually the classic Panhard Levassor car configuration took shape; aluminium gearbox casings were first seen in 1897, as was the rear-mounted G and A radiator. Wheel steering and pneumatic tyres came into general use on Panhard Levassor cars in 1898, and frontal tubular radiators in 1899. By 1900 the touring Panhard Levassor car had crystallized into the archetype of the medium-sized Panhard Levassor car: armoured-wood frame, quadrant change, automatic inlet valves, drip-feed lubrication, final drive by side chains, plus such features as piano-type pedals (dropped in 1907), and cylindrical controls on the steering-wheel (still founded in 1911). Makers like MMC and Star in Britain, and Dürkopp in Germany produced near- Panhard Levassor cars, and Montague Napier installed his first car engine of 1899 in a Panhard Levassor car chassis. In 1899 Commandant Krebs of the Panhard Levassor car company’s board produced a rear-engined single-cylinder voiturette of retrogressive design, with centre-pivot steering, but the licence was quietly sold to Clément.

So far only Mors had challenged Panhard Levassor cars racing supremacy. 1898 victories included the Marseilles-Nice Race, Paris-Amsterdam-Paris and the Paris-Bordeaux Race, in which last Charron averaged 26.9mph with a Panhard Levassor car. A year later Girardot (later to partner Charron in the CGV venture) was averaging 32.5mph with a Panhard Levassor car to win the Paris-Ostend Race. Though 1900 was a Mors year apart from Charron’s victory in the first Gordon Bennett Cup with a Panhard Levassor car, and in 1901 was little better, apart from the exploits of the voitures légères with 3.1-litre 4-cylinder engines, Panhard Levassor cars did well under the 1.000-kilogram formula of 1902 with their 13.7-litre 70: this Panhard Levassor car retained automatic inlet valves and the flitch-plate frame, but recorded wins in the Circuit des Ardennes and the Circuit du Nord. Mechanically-operated inlet valves were seen on the 1903 racer Panhard Levassor cars, while in 1904 the Panhard Levassor car firm was using 15.4-litre engines, vast V-radiators, and shaft drive on their competition Panhard Levassor cars, being awarded with victories in the Circuit des Ardennes and the Vanderbilt Cup, the driver of the Panhard Levassor car in both races being the American, George Heath, Mercedes, Brasier, and FIAT were, however, in the ascendant, and though Panhard Levassor car continued to race up to 1908 (trying dashboard radiators in 1907) they never regained their former position.

The same conservatism permeated their touring Panhard Levassor cars. In 1900 the Hon. C.S. Rolls’s Panhard Levassor car was by far the fastest machine in the 1.000-Miles Trial, and the 1.7-litre 7hp twin Panhard Levassor car of 1901 (still with tube as well as low tension electric ignition) was a good seller at £340. That year brought the Krebs automatic carburetor and the Centaure engine governed on the inlet, while the Panhard Levassor car company briefly took up the manufacture of the De Boisse 3-wheeler. Tube ignition was still available as a standby on a Panhard Levassor car in 1902, in which year Dr. Lehwess tried to drive round the world in a 25hp Panhard Levassor omnibus weighing 3 tons – he got no further than Nizhni Novgorod. Sales were still a respectable 1.200 Panhard Levassor cars in 1904, but the Panhard Levassor cars were hard to sell, and the Hon. C.S. Rolls gave up his London agency for this reason. A chain-driven 3-cylinder 8/11hp Panhard Levassor car with a 1.8-litre engine at £425 was hardly the answer (though this Panhard Levassor car was still catalogued in 1908), but in 1904 the bigger Panhard Levassor cars went over to shells for their tubular radiators, mechanically operated inlet valves, and high-tension magneto ignition.

At the top end of the range in 1905/ 1906 were the Model Q Panhard Levassor car, a 50hp 4-cylinder of 10.5-litres with 5-bearing crankshaft at £1.580, and an even bigger 11-litre 6-cylinder with a bonnet 5ft long which sold for £1.400 in 1906. Multiplate clutches arrived on Panhard Levassor cars in 1907, and shaft drive (on the smaller Panhard Levassor cars) in 1908, in which year compressed-air starters were alo available, and the range of Panhard Levassor cars included a 1.2-litre twin and a 5-litre chain-drive six. Pressed-steel frames at last ousted armoured wood, and though a monstrous chain-driven 4-cylinder Panhard Levassor cars could still be bought in 1909, a true sign of the times was a monobloc 2.4-litre 12/16 with high tension magneto ignition. Gate change was standard on Panhard Levassor cars in 1910, and the biggest model Panhard Levassor car was not a chain-driven 6-cylinder 6-litre. 1911 was the last year of the twin, and also the first production year for the Knight sleeve-valve engine introduced on a 4.4-litre 25hp Panhard Levassor car with separate cylinders, a choice of chain or shaft drive, and a chassis price of £580. 42bhp and 59mph were claimed for this, and a smaller Knight-engined 2.6-litre 15hp Panhard Levassor car was available in 1912, when Panhard Levassor cars had all their brakes on the rear wheels, the classic V-radiator (used Panhard Levassor cars until 1936) made its appearance on de luxe versions, and wire wheels were available. V-radiators and 4-cylinder engines were universal in 1914; only the small Panhard Levassor cars had poppet valves, and the big sleeve-valve 4.8-litre and 7.4-litre Panhard Levassor cars were seen with skiff-type bodywork of great elegance.

Though 2.2-litre poppet-valve Panhard Levassor cars were made from 1919 to 1922, Panhard Levassor settled down to a long association with the Knight engine, and managed to extract some performance from it by the use of light steel sleeves from the middle 1920s. Other oddities on Panhard Levassor cars were expanding-band brakes, a push-on handbrake, and a peculiar X-gate gear change which took some learning. In 1922 the sleeve-valve range on Panhard Levassor cars was extended at both ends by a rather ponderous 1.2-litre ten with central change, left-hand drive, thermo-syphon cooling and a cone clutch instead of the usual wet-plate, and by a big 6.3-litre straight-8 Panhard Levassor car with front-wheel brakes, twin magnetos, and twin carburetors, which Panhard Levassor car was made until 1930.

All 1924 Panhard Levassor cars had front-wheel brakes, dynamotos, and 4-speed gearboxes and the smaller ones had splash lubrication. The 4.8-litre 4-cylinder Panhard Levassor car was quite a fast car which took the World Hour Record at 115.3mph in 1925, and in its 5.3-litre 1929 form the Panhard Levassor car could exceed 90mph. The straight-8 Panhard Levassor cars with bored-out 7.9-litre engines also had a long career in record work which did not until 1934, but another aspiring record-breaker – an ultra-narrow 1½-litre single-seater Panhard Levassor car steered by a hoop around the cockpit – came to nothing.

The first 6-cylinder sleeve-valve Panhard Levassor car was the 3.4-litre Panhard Levassor 20/60 of 1927, soon followed by the 1.8-litre 16/45 and the 2.3-litre twin-carburettor Panhard Levassor 18/50. Silent-3rd gearboxes were adopted on Panhard Levassor cars in 1929, and a year later an all-silent type had been evolved – in 1931 this was fitted to 3.5-litre 6-cylinder Panhard Levassor car and 5-litre 8-cylinder cars were centralized chassis lubrication coil ignition, a sheet steel platform between the rear cross-members of the frame, but still having wood wheels and the X-gate. This Panhard Levassor car range continued until 1936, though later Panhard Levassor cars had free wheels, automatic clutches and wrap-round windscreens reminiscent of the Arrol-Johnstons of the early 1920s; the Panhard Levassor cars were expensive, the big 8-cylinder Panhard Levassor 8DSR costing 95.000fr or 15.000fr more than the most luxurious Renault.

For 1937 there was the startling Panhard Levassor Dynamic, still a sleeve-valve six (it came in 2.5-litre, 2.7-litre and 3.8-litre sizes) but this Panhard Levassor car was with backbone chassis, hydraulic brakes, worm drive, and all-round rosion bar independent suspension. Faired-in headlamps, wheel spats front and rear, and a central driving position completed a bizarre ensemble, though a reversion to left-hand drive was made with the 1939 Panhard Levassor cars.

There was a complete volte face after 1945, and the Panhard Levassor car became a utility car of considerable performance with the advent of the Dyna series. These Panhard Levassor cars were air-cooled front wheel drives flat-twins of 610cc based on a Grégoire design, in which torsion bars served as valve springs for the ohv gear; the light alloy bodywork of the Panhard Levassor car was by Facel-Métallon, front suspension was independent, rear suspension by a live axle and torsion bars, and the 4-speed gearbox had an overdrive top and dashboard change. The original version of this Panhard Levassor car was followed by a 32bhp 750cc version in 1950, and two years later there was an 850cc 5CV Panhard Levassor car as well. Specialist cars using Panhard mechanical elements were D.B. (from 1948), Veritas (1950), Marathon (1954), and Arista (1957). Even faster Dyna Panhard Levassor cars were evolved and the special Monopole of Hémard and de Montrémy won the index of Performance at le Mans three years in succession (1950-1952); further wins in this category were scored in 1953 (with a Panhard Levassor car works-sponsored streamliner designed by Riffard) and again in 1963. Rally successes of Panhard Levassor cars included a Coupe des Alpes in the 1952 Alpine Rally, a class win in the 1954 Monte Carlo Rally, and an outright win in 1961. The Panhard Levassor car company offered their own sports variant, the Panhard Levassor Junior, in 1953; this 38bhp roadster was followed a year later by a supercharged Panhard Levassor car, the 62bhp version.

Far more ambitious was the 1954 Panhard Levassor Dyna saloon, a bulbous and ugly machine in alloy (no castings were used). Both the engine-transmission group and the dead rear axle were removable as units, a petrol heater was standard, and the Panhard Levassor car could carry six people at 80mph with a 40mpg petrol consumption. The Panhard Levassor car was expensive in England at £1.055, but it pushed sales up from around 14.000 in 1951 to 30.000 Panhard Levassor cars in 1957, and it survived in the range for ten years. All-steel bodywork was standardized on the Panhard Levassor car in 1958, and from 1961 there was a high-performance (over 90mph) version, the 60bhp Panhard Levassor Tigre at £1.127. Over 100mph was claimed from the hotter Panhard Levassor 24CT and CD sports coupés introduced for 1964. In 1955 Citroën took an interest in the Panhard Levassor car company, and ten years later the old-established Panhard Levassor car concern was fully integrated into the SA André Citroën, thus giving its new owners greater factory space. In 1967, Panhard Levassor cars last year, only the coupé versions of the Dyna were being manufactured, in 50bhp and 60bhp 850cc forms, the 24CT with all-round disc brakes.

Source: Georgano, encyclopedia of motorcar; MCS

The information is written with the greatest of care. However, if you have any suggested amendments please contact us at office@prewarcar.com