Sunbeam Alpine (1966) – Into the Wild

A long weekend and nice weather; that is of course fodder for a lot of classics on the road. The past few days have been a feast for the classic enthusiast. Also for ‘Afentoe’, who encountered this beautiful Sunbeam Alpine in a meadow that has been transformed into a parking lot. Not to be missed if only because of its bright red polish.

You can bet that the Alpine only got that paint layer a little later in its existence, this is almost certainly a neatly restored copy. It shines at you, especially with its sturdy reflective bumpers. We’re dealing with a Sunbeam Alpine Series V, the fifth iteration of the 1959 roadster based on the Hillman Minx. So a car with a humble origin. Nevertheless, Sunbeam, like Hillman part of the Rootes Group, managed to make it a relatively sporty thing. For example, the Alpine Series I already had disc brakes and independent suspension at the front. It only got really sporty with the Sunbeam Tiger, essentially a Sunbeam Alpine with a V8 in its nose.

Anyway, it is not such a spectacle in this case, because we are dealing with a Sunbeam Alpine here. Yet such a Series V also gave you a reasonably spry roadster with its roughly 100 hp 1.8 four-cylinder at a weight of just over a ton. 0 to 100 km/h took just over 13 seconds and the top speed was 160 km/h. That was very fine in 1966 and you bet it felt downright fast with the hood down. Nowadays, driving is probably a bit quieter with this Alpine, which was delivered new in our country 57 years ago. Nice detail: the current owner has only owned it for about two weeks. The previous owner owned the Alpine for no less than 13 years and before that even 26 years!