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Sunbeam Alpine MkV

Sunbeam Alpine MkV

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Sunbeam Alpine MkVSunbeam Alpine MkVSunbeam Alpine MkVSunbeam Alpine MkVSunbeam Alpine MkV
Sunbeam Alpine MkVSunbeam Alpine MkVSunbeam Alpine MkVSunbeam Alpine MkVSunbeam Alpine MkV
Sunbeam Alpine MkVSunbeam Alpine MkVSunbeam Alpine MkVSunbeam Alpine MkVSunbeam Alpine MkV
Sunbeam Alpine MkV
Lot number 30
Hammer value £6,000
Description Sunbeam Alpine MkV
Registration JOP 762E
Year 1967
Colour Red
Engine size 1,725 cc
Chassis No. 395014749
Engine No. DTM61 76253
Documents V5; various old MOTs and bills

Sunbeam, now part of the Rootes organisation, first announced its Alpine sports model in 1959. The new car was a change of direction for Sunbeam and was aimed squarely at the younger MG/Triumph TR market – previous models being larger touring cars.

It was largely styled by the great industrial designer, Ken Howes, and was heavily influenced by the Ford Thunderbird which lent it oodles of Trans-Atlantic glamour. At first the car was powered by a 78bhp 1,494cc four-cylinder engine but in the MkII of 1960 this was replaced by an 80bhp 1,592cc unit.

In 1963 the MkIII arrived with larger front brake discs, a bigger boot and a revised interior. Power went up by another 2bhp the following year with the Series IV, easily recognised by its much smaller tail fins. The final model was the Series V which ran from 1965 to 1968 and had a 92bhp twin carb 1,725cc Holbay engine, enough to power the Alpine to an easy 100mph.

All were fine cars, being perhaps the most habitable, practical and everyday useable sportscars of their era. The driving position is excellent, the door apertures are wide allowing easy entrance and exit, the boot space is generous and the handling is exemplary thanks to a notably rigid structure. Great for shopping but also a real hoot on twisty B-roads, the Alpine is perhaps the ideal classic sportscar.

This April 1967 Alpine MkV was acquired by the vendor back in 1998 as a good driving car that was just a little scruffy round the edges. Thinking that it would make a nice toy to enjoy in his retirement, he set about having the car restored and over the next couple of years the bodywork was repaired and repainted, the interior retrimmed, the brightwork rechromed and new wire wheels and tyres fitted. It was then carefully stored away for that happy day when he could finally lay work aside and really begin to enjoy life.

Almost twenty years later and life was still as busy as ever, he had hardly even used the car, and to add insult to injury, his poor old bones were now getting to a state where he could barely even get in and out of the thing. Recently dragged out of storage, dusted down and got running again, he has now reluctantly come to the conclusion that his dreams of swanning around the lanes with the hood down on lazy summer days are probably never going to be realised. Hence its appearance in our sale today.

Supplied with both hard and soft tops and equipped with the handy additions of an overdrive gearbox and a Kenlowe fan, it also comes with a useful quantity of spares and sundry bills from earlier days. Various old MOTs back to 1992 show that the car has barely covered 200 miles in the last two decades, being last taxed and in use in 2001.

Due to have a fresh MOT in time for the sale, it now only needs an enthusiastic new owner who can give it the more regular exercise that it deserves.

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