Dick Nyquist writes:
> The only Sunbeam Alpine GT that I remember is the
> Sunbeam LeManns Herington. These were fairly pretty
> and fairly rare. If you the one you are looking
> has a fair body and if the price is reasonable it
> might be a nice project.
There were at least 3 vehicles called Sunbeam Alpine GT:
1) The Harrington LeMans GT mentioned above. This was a glassfibre
GT based on the Alpine IV, designed & built by Harrington, in honor
of the Alpine successes at LeMans. [In addition to actually
finishing the race a time or two, an Alpine won the Index of Thermal
Efficiency Cup (i.e. best fuel mileage) one year.] Not many of these
GTs were built, although I can't remember if "not many" is in the
hundreds or thousands.
2) Rootes marketed a version of the Alpine as the Alpine GT. This
was a standard Alpine with a hardtop but no soft top. The soft-top
version of the Alpine was known as the Tourer. (Oh boy! In addition
to roadster, drop-head coupe, and convertible, now we have tourer!)
3) The Chrysler/Sunbeam Alpine GT, described by Jayson Tipp in SOL
digest #1185:
jt> The second model, questioned by D. Stone, was a running mate to the
jt> later model Rapier. Chrysler had taken over and the design is often
jt> compared to the Barracuda. I've been in a few, and seen a few more.
jt> It still carried the Sunbeam 1725 with some modern modifications, and
jt> was comparable to the early Dodge Colts, and other imports in
jt> fittings. Nice examples are,...well...Nice! Nothing fancy.
jt>
jt> There's a Rootes group book a few years old now which explains some
jt> of this stuff. This later-model of Alpine in varying degrees of body
jt> changes continued until the early 80s as a Talbot-badged vehicle
jt> after Talbot-Peugeot took over from Chrysler. Other Rootes car
jt> similarly continued for awhile- the Hunter is a good example.
I believe the vehicle described by Jayson may also have been badged
for a time as the Sunbeam Arrow.
> If the 4 cylinder was to far gone to rebuild you
> might consider a Mustang engine.
If it is a real Harrington LeMans GT, this would be criminal IMHO.
These are fairly rare pieces of history, and should not be
significantly modified. Parts are readily available for the Sunbeam
1725cc. There were a very few Tiger Harrington LeMans GTs built, and
they are worth serious $$$.
--
T.J. Higgins | tjhiggin@ingr.com | (205) 730-7922
Intergraph Corp. | Mapping Sciences Division | Huntsville, AL, USA
|