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

Austro-Daimler

Austria, 1899 – 1936

(1) Österreichische Daimler Motoren AG, Wiener-Neustadt, 1899 – 1934

(2) Steyr—Daimler-Puch AG, Wiener-Neustadt, 1934 – 1936

Austria’s most famous motor car, the Austro-Daimler, was born when Daimler of Cannstatt established a factory in Vienna for the manufacture of about 100 of its Daimler cars annually. The Austro-Daimler was a copy of its German parent. In 1906 the Austro-Daimler concern became a separate financial entity, and a year earlier, Ferdinand Porsche had replaced Paul Daimler at Wiener-Neustadt as director. A new era began, for Porsche was a designer with original ideas. He did not exercise them at once; the two 1909 Austro-Daimler models for sale were large well-made fours with side valves in a T-head and a choice of chain or live-axle drive. World-wide fame came to the Austro-Daimler company with their 1910 models, especially the Austro-Daimler 22/80ps model originally designed to win the Prince Henry Tour of that year. It accomplished this very convincingly. The five large valves per cylinder – one inlet, four exhaust – were actuated by a single overhead camshaft. A combination of well-shaped combustion chambers and light reciprocating parts made for an engine of an efficiency never before seen in a catalogued, non-racing car. Its 5.7-litres produced 95bhp. Even Porsche, however, felt that so much power could not be safely transmitted by a live axle, and chain drive was used initially. The Austro-Daimler 22/80’s small brother, the Austro-Daimler 16/18ps, had a side-valve L-head engine. After it had swept the board in the Austrian Alpine Tour of 1911, the Austro-Daimler 16/25ps Alpine variant was also for sale. In 1914 the range consisted of these three cars, the sv Austro-Daimler 20/30ps, and the luxurious Austro-Daimler 35/60ps also with side valves. Both Austro-Daimler and Daimler sold the Lohner-Porsche, the name given to the electric and petrol-electric cars designed by Porsche before he went to Wiener-Neustadt. The Vienna Austro-Daimler firm was Austria’s largest manufacturer of motorcars.

Immediately after World War 1 a few cars were assembled in Liège from pre-war Austro-Daimler parts by M. Klinkenhammers, and sold under the Alfa-Legia. On their home ground the company returned to high-grade fast tourers. As well as the old ‘Austro-Daimler 16/18’ and ‘Austro-Daimler 20/30’, they made the new Austro-Daimler AD617 for sale, a 6-cylinder car of 4.4-litres with a single overhead camshaft, that was succeeded in 1923 by its development, the Austro-Daimler ADV17/60ps for sale, which was the same but for its front wheel brakes. Four years earlier, Porsche had maintained his reputation for really exciting design by producing the Sascha-type Austro-Daimler, a 1100cc – later 1½-litre – racing voiturette. Its four cylinders, like the six of the Austro-Daimler AD617, were of aluminium, with detachable steel liners. There were two overhead camshafts, however, and dry sump lubrication. The power output was 50bhp. Four-wheel brakes were, of course, fitted.

Although Porsche left Vienna in 1923 to return to Daimler, he was mainly responsible for the new ADM type, which was offered alongside the Austro-Daimler ADV17/60 from that year. The Austro-Daimler ADM1 was basically similar, but had a smaller engine of 2½-litres, and its rounded radiator was a departure for the hitherto traditional Austro-Daimler V-shape. It was sold in sports from in 1925 as the Austro-Daimler ADMII. After 1926, the old Austro-Daimler ADV17/60 was dropped and the ADM engine was enlarged to three litres by increasing the bore. This Austro-Daimler ADMIII in sports form developed 100bhp at 400rpm, and could do more than 100mph. Porsche’s successor, Karl Rabe, designed the even more advanced ADR type. Its tubular backbone chassis and swing-axle independent rear suspension so resembled that of the Tatra that legal action was taken against Austro-Daimler. The Austro-Daimler ADR was available in sports or normal form. At first, the Austro-Daimler ADR used the old ADMIII engine, but the Austro-Daimler ADR6 Bergmeister of 1929, one of the most glamorous Austro-Daimler built, had a new 3.6-litre power unit providing 120bhp. This car was made until production ceased shortly after the Steyr-Daimler-Puch amalgamation in 1934. The Austro-Daimler ADR8, the firm’s first and last 8-cylinder car, designed for more formal bodies, had disappeared in 1933 after a life of three years.

Source: Georgano, encyclopedia of motorcar; TRN

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