The Sunbeam Alpine was Rootes Group’s small British roadster, built to compete with cars like the MGA, MGB, Triumph TRs, and Austin-Healey Sprite/Midget. Power would originally come from a 1.6-liter Rootes four-cylinder, paired with a 4-speed manual. It is not a big-power car, but it is light, simple, and properly old-school British sports car in […]
Forget your polite British roadster fantasies—this Sunbeam Alpine is not here to sip tea and discuss the weather. Nope, this one’s been possessed by a Mazda 13B rotary and screams like a chainsaw at a bee convention. Backed by a 5-speed manual and a narrowed 9-inch Ford rear end, it’s basically a Tiger that spent […]
This next car comes as a tip from Rock On who writes: Not my first choice for a rotary engine! I think that isn’t entirely fair, because I think that a lightweight British classic 2-door convertible IS the right car for a rotary swap because the torqueless spinny wonder is properly matched to something without […]
The Sunbeam Alpine was designed by Kenneth Howes and Jeff Crompton in the late 1960s, using the Hillman Minx as the platform for a simple sports car for the USA market. Styling was simple and classy — at least until the customizer of this Alpine huffed a bunch of marker fumes and designed that hood. […]
If you want to add a classic British roadster to your car collection, you might be tempted to get an MGB, Triumph TR (or Spitfire) and maybe a Jensen-Healey…and any of those cars would be a perfectly good choice, if there wasn’t something from the Roots group called the Sunbeam Alpine. Why? Because tailfins. End of story. Find this 1962 Sunbeam Alpine offered for $13,500 in Burlingame, CA via craigslist. Tip from FuelTruck.
I get it. You’ve got to find room for the big Ford V6 that you’ve found to power your small British roadster…and that means a bigger hood. Never mind that Carroll Shelby was able to shove a 260-V8 (and later a 289) under the hood of a Sunbeam without resorting to proboscis monkey styled hood, but you’ve got the fiberglass skills and the time to kill. Find this 1967 Sunbeam Alpine offered for $13,500 in Stockton, CA via craigslist. Tip from Rock On!
Out of the common British roadsters from the ’60s I have to declare that the Sunbeam Alpine is the prettiest of the crew. It also has the added benefit of being less common than an MGB or Triumph TR (or Spitfire) or Jensen Healey on the street, so if rarity, cool factor, and beauty are […]
I really want to like this next car because it is a rare and cool looking etc etc…but I just can’t shake my first impression…which was that it looked like something that Herman Munster built after binge watching the entire 4 seasons of the original Transformers cartoon while exceptionally high on barbiturates. It cool…but I’m […]
The Sunbeam Alpine was originally engineered and produced by the UK based Rootes Group (Sunbeam, Karrier, Commer, Humber, Hillman, Talbot & Singer), and around the time this Alpine was built, the Sunbeam marque was acquired by Chrysler Corp. The Alpine design work was done by former Ford employee Ken Howes, and coincidentally it looks a […]
There was a time when V8 powered Sunbeam Tigers could be found for the price of this next basic inline-4 powered Alpine…but we can’t dwell in the past like a bunch of Neanderthals…right? Anyway, I still love a good manual gearbox equipped sportster with a basic overhead valve powered 4-cylinder. Find this 1965 Sunbeam Alpine IV […]