Sunbeam Classic Cars for Sale

After its establishment the British car manufacturer Sunbeam produced bicycles and motorcycles. Sunbeam bikes were very popular and the company name stood for good quality in the first place. Later, the company expanded its product range to include automobile and aircraft engines.

The history of Sunbeam

In 1899 Sunbeam produced the first motor car, first a single-cylinder model, which was produced in 1901 as a series. Two years later the company produced six-cylinder and as off 1909 two-cylinder models. From 1910 onwards Sunbeam manufactured popular race cars. Extra engines with larger displacements were produced for car racing. In the 1920s the Sunbeam racing car models have made it to establish five world records. The cars of the automobile manufacturer could impress particularly with its large output power. At the end of the 1910s Sunbeam was bought up and it was founded a merger of British and French cars manufacturer. This resulted in the emergence of the grouping STD in the early 1920s, short Sunbeam - Talbot - Darracq. The brand names Sunbeam and Darraq were continuously produced in the UK market, while in France it was marketed under the name Talbot. The prospectively constructed models were a great success. However, in 1929 the crisis came, and ten years later the company was taken over by Hillman and Humber. The new owners sold the French share of the car manufacturer and used only the brand name Sunbeam - Talbot. Only in the early 1950s the name Sunbeam was used alone again, without any addition. In the mid-1960s, the company was acquired by Chrysler, and in the late 1970s it was eventually bought up by Peugeot, which had the effect that the brand name Sunbeam has not been used since 1982.

Sunbeam classics

Due to Sunbeam’s long history some popular and well known classic cars emerged. Thus, in 1954 appeared the Sunbeam Alpine which won first place in an Alpine Rally and thus received its name. The model remains very exclusive to this today, since its production was discontinued only one year later. About ten years later Sunbeam presented the Sunbeam Venezia, which was produced exclusively for the Italian market and first shown to the common ruck in front of the Doge's Palace in Venice whereby the model received its name. What is special about this car is that the body was produced in Italy and the tubular frame mounted on a steel frame, which was covered with aluminum sheets. One year later the Sunbeam Tiger I was introduced which was sold in Europe under the name Alpine 260. For this model Sunbeam took over the body of the Alpine model, but installed a different engine. The Sunbeam Tiger I was the sportiest and most powerful model in the company's history.