{"id":501253,"date":"2023-01-10T15:06:04","date_gmt":"2023-01-10T23:06:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportscardigest.com\/?p=497274"},"modified":"2024-07-07T22:51:38","modified_gmt":"2024-07-07T22:51:38","slug":"thermal-efficiency-1962-sunbeam-harrington","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/thermal-efficiency-1962-sunbeam-harrington\/","title":{"rendered":"1962 Sunbeam Harrington – Thermal Efficiency"},"content":{"rendered":"

When someone says \u201cSunbeam,\u201d most car people immediately think of the \u201cTiger.<\/a>\u201d Sunbeam was much more than just that one model, and the subject of this profile is much rarer than the V8-stuffed Tiger.<\/p>\n

Origins of Sunbeam<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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John Marston created what would become the manufacturer of some very nice British sports cars.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

John Marston created the Sunbeamland Cycle Company in England, in 1887. In 1899, Marston\u2019s assistant, Thomas Cureton, designed and built a single-cylinder car. Marston was impressed enough to fund the second car, this one with a horizontal engine. As his interest grew in automobiles, he became impressed with a design by Mr. Mabberly-Smith. Its four wheels were arranged in a diamond shape. There was a single, chain-driven wheel in the front, then two wheels in a more \u201cnormal\u201d arrangement, and a single wheel in the back. The front and rear wheels were offset from each other \u2013 not in line \u2013 and the driver steered both with a tiller. It was powered by a 2\u00be Hp DeDion-Bouton engine and had three seats facing sideways. Named the Sunbeam-Mabley, it sold well \u2013 150 in its three years of production.<\/p>\n

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Odd as it was, the Sunbeam-Mobley sold reasonably well during its three years in production. Louwman Museum Collection<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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By 1903, Sunbeam’s autos were more conventional.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Sunbeam 12 Hp replaced the Mabley. It was a more conventional design done by Thomas C. Pullinger and was based on a Berliet. The year 1905 saw a name change from John Marston Ltd. to Sunbeam Motor Car Co. Ltd. and a move to producing cars with larger engines. Designed by Angus Shaw, the new cars had a 3400-cc engine and was designated the 16\/20 Hp model. The arrival of French engineer Louis Herv\u00e9 Coatalen saw some significant changes to the company\u2019s products and, eventually, to a new focus on competition. Coatalen became Sunbeam\u2019s designer, supervisor of manufacturing, and test driver for all the cars the company produced. His first effort was to redesign the 16\/20 Hp and enlarge the engine to 3825-cc. He saw the need for a model with less power and designed a 12\/16 Hp, which would provide the majority of Sunbeam sales in 1910. In 1912, Sunbeams came with a Monobloc engine with an L-head replacing the previous T-head. Coatalen also designed two six-cylinder cars for the company. Sunbeam\u2019s lineup at the beginning of WWI included the 12\/16 in standard and sporting models, the 16\/20, and a 25\/30 six-cylinder. It was through Coatalen\u2019s efforts that company profits increased by a factor of 100 between 1909 and 1913.<\/p>\n

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Sunbeam’s first racer, “Nautilus,” was not successful.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Coatalen saw another way to promote the products he was designing \u2013 competition. He raced in sprints and hillclimbs, but his most significant effort was designing and building specials for racing at Brooklands and would eventually lead to the company\u2019s pursuit of speed records. The first special, \u201cNautilus\u201d was not successful. \u201cToodles II\u201d came along in 1911 and won three races with Coatalen driving. Toodles II had a single overhead cam engine and shaft drive and turned a mile at 86 mph. \u201cToodles IV\u201d had a side-valve engine producing 30 hp. Dario Resta used it to set a world hour record at 92.45 mph. Coatalen developed a three-liter car for the Coupe de l\u2019Auto in 1911. It was a two-seater with a streamlined body and a Monobloc engine with four-speed transmission with overdrive. It retired from the race, but Coatalen came away with ideas for the car in 1912. The redesigned car had a narrower body, pointed tail, and an engine now producing 74 bhp. The Coupe de l\u2019Auto was run together with the French Grand Prix, and the Sunbeams finished first through third in the Coupe and third through fifth in the Grand Prix, beating cars with much great displacement engines. A spin-off from racing was a new 12\/16 with a 3016-cc, race-derived engine. It was available in touring and sporting versions.<\/p>\n

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Even Louis Chevrolet raced a Sunbeam at Indy!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the few years before WWI Sunbeam racers had some successes, but 1912 was the apogee. That may have been partly because of Coatalen\u2019s focus on aero engines starting in 1913. While some of these engines were installed in automobiles for land speed record attempts, the company primarily built aero engines in support of the war effort. Production of the 12\/16 continued through the war, although the car was constructed by Rover.<\/p>\n

With the war over, the company returned to building automobiles. In an attempt to expand, in August 1920, the Sunbeam Motor Car Company joined with A. Darracq and Company, Ltd, which had acquired the Clement-Talbot Company. The new group was called S.T.D Motors, Ltd., for Sunbeam, Talbot<\/a>, Darracq. Darracq, though, continued to produce cars in France, which resulted in money being siphoned off from the English side to support French production. Worse, Coatalen eventually returned to France, in 1926, to work. The company continued to build versions of its pre-war cars with improvements such as optional four-wheel brakes, more power, and an engine with four valves per cylinder.<\/p>\n

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In the mid-1920s, Sunbeam produced some stunning tourning cars.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The first truly new Sunbeam had appeared in 1922. It had an overhead valve four-cylinder engine of 1954-cc displacement. This model was improved over the next few years and was joined by two six-cylinder models. In 1925, four-wheel brakes were made standard. That year, Sunbeam produced its \u201c3-Liter\u201d sporting model. It was a significant automobile. Its engine displaced 2916-cc, was a dual overhead cam engine with hemispherical combustion chambers, and produced 90 bhp at 3800 rpm. While it was expensive compared to other Sunbeams, a second place finish at Le Mans in June 1925 resulted in a boost in sales.<\/p>\n

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When not doing land speed attempts, Sunbeam was racing on tracks like Le Mans, where they finished fourth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It wasn\u2019t only at Le Mans that Sunbeam saw success in competition. The company was quite active in motorsports during the first half of the 1920s in both track racing and land speed record attempts. In 1922, the four-cylinder, two-liter Sunbeam engine was redesigned for competition the following year. With a DOHC six-cylinder engine in the 1922 chassis, Sir Henry Seagrave won the French Grand Prix, the first win by a British car in a European Grand Prix. Sunbeams also finished second and fourth in France. Lee Guinness, who had finished fourth in France, won the Spanish Grand Prix. The decent finish at Le Mans, in 1925, was one of the last good finishes by the British team as racing was transferred to Talbot in France after that.<\/p>\n

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Henry Seagrave used the V12 “Sunbeam Tiger” to raise the record to 184 mph.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Even though it was no longer track racing, Sunbeam had made a name in setting land speed records, and that continued. Several drivers used the same car to set, then raise records between 1920 and 1925. First it was Ren\u00e9 Thomas with a Fastest Time of the Day at Gaillon. In 1922, Lee Guinness used the car to set a record of 133.7 mph at Brooklands. Then it was Malcolm Campbell\u2019s turn. During 1923, he raised the record twice, he set a new record of 146.2 mph in 1924, then raised it again to 150.88 mph in 1925. By 1930, Sunbeam had set more than 30 land speed records. Seagrave<\/a> used the 296 hp supercharged 3976-cc V12 \u201cSunbeam Tiger\u201d to raise the record to 184 mph in a car that looked like a normal racecar. The 1927 \u201c1000 HP Sunbeam\u201d was run at Daytona Beach and raised the record to 203.79 mph. The car had two Sunbeam aero engines displacing about 45-liters. One engine was in the front and one in the back of the car, which was chain driven. That record was broken three times over the next two years, and Sunbeam made an attempt at it with their \u201cSilver Bullet,\u201d a 48-liter V12 machine, but it was unsuccessful. There was a period when Sunbeam held every record from the 50 to 1000 mile distance.<\/p>\n

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Seagrave raised the land speed record on the \u201c1000 HP Sunbeam\u201d to 203.79 mph at Daytona Beach.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sunbeam\u2019s production vehicles suffered after Coatalen\u2019s departure. He was replaced by Hugh Rose, who was more interested in commercial vehicles and left in 1932. After Rose\u2019s departure, it was two years before H.C.M. Stevens was named Chief Engineer. Stevens was an innovative designer but was constrained by a lack of funds for the development of new models, and especially larger cars. He did design and produce the Sunbeam \u201cDawn,\u201d which included a number of new features. It had a four-cylinder, 1627-cc overhead valve engine with an aluminum block that produced 49 hp. It used a preselector gearbox and had an independent front suspension. Unfortunately, it was more expensive than the competition, and few were sold. By the spring of 1935, S.T.D. was in receivership, and the company was bought by the Rootes Group<\/a> and renamed Sunbeam-Talbot Ltd. As the world moved toward WWII, the cars were renamed Talbots, but they were models based on the Hillman Minx and Humber Super Snipe. The Talbot models were revived after the war and were now built in the Rootes plants where the Hillman and Humber models were produced.<\/p>\n

A Sunbeam After the War<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Sunbeam-Talbot, as a marque, was back with the Alpine in 1953. It was based on a touring car design, so it was heavier than sports cars like the Healey 100 and TR2, but it proved to be a very sporty two-seater. It had a high compression engine producing 80 hp and was graced with higher geared steering. The Alpine turned out to be a very successful rally car. It was driven to wins in Europe, at the Coupes des Alpes and Monte Carlo Rally, as well as at events in the U.S. and Australia. One of the drivers was Stirling Moss, who became the second driver ever to win the Alpine Gold Cup for winning three events in a row without a penalty point.<\/p>\n

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The firts Sunbeams to be called Alpines were very successfull in rallying, especially in the hands of Sir Stirling Moss.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It is said that competition improves the breed, and it was certainly true for the Alpine. Rallying resulted in improvements to the car\u2019s brakes, cooling system, and chassis. The MK III Alpine, now badged simply as a Sunbeam, certainly benefitted from the improvements, including a new cylinder head, increased power, competition brake linings, and an optional overdrive. A total of 2250 Alpines were built through February 1957. It was eventually replaced by the Rapier, essentially a Hillman Minx with a much nicer body, apparently penned by Raymond Loewy. The Rapier<\/a> was also a successful rally car, winning the 1958 RAC Rally overall. It had racing successes as well, finishing second and third in the Mille Miglia in 1956, and taking Peter Harper to the BRSCC Saloon Car Championship in 1961.<\/p>\n

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The MK I Alpine of 1959 had fins.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A New Alpine<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The Alpine known to most of us, and the model which is the subject of this profile, began in production in 1959. The new Alpine Series I used the floorpan of a Hillman Husky and its 1494-cc engine with dual downdraft carburetors. It was a parts bin car, as it used many bits from other Rootes Group cars. The driveline was mainly from the Rapier. Girling disc brakes replaced the Rapier\u2019s drums on the front, and the car was given an independent suspension with coil springs at the front and a live axle with semi-elliptic springs at the back. The body was designed by Kenneth Howes and came with the first wind-up, side windows in a British sports car. One part of his design was certainly a popular element of the time \u2013 rear fender fins.<\/p>\n

When it came out in late 1960, the MKII Alpine received a 1592-cc engine making 80 bhp and a revised rear suspension. The MKIII had the shortest production life, from March 1962 – January 1963. It came in two models \u2013 a GT with a removable hardtop and an ST with a soft top. The GT had no soft top. This was the last of the \u201chigh fin\u201d Alpines; the MKIV (1964-\u201965) had the fins mostly removed from the rear bodywork. An automatic transmission was offered as an option, but it was not a popular option, especially after a new manual with a synchro first gear was introduced. Series V Alpines (1965-68) were the last of the line. There was no longer an automatic transmission option, and the engine was now 1725-cc and producing 92 bhp. The MKV is probably the most desired of the Alpines. There was one other Alpine, a four-seater called the \u201cVenezia\u201d designed by Carrozzeria Touring. Only 145 of the Venezia were built from 1963 to 1965.<\/p>\n

Alpines on Track<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The Alpine<\/a> proved to be a popular race\/rally car. There were wins at the RAC Rally, Tour de France, and Scottish Rally. An Alpine also won the Index of Thermal Efficiency at Le Mans in 1961.<\/p>\n