It’s been a long summer and I suspect I’m not unique in suffering. Given the lack of car shows (I’ve been to one, just one!), we’re all suffering from ESC(CorO)SDS, on Enforced Spontaneous Classic (Curbside or Otherwise) Spotting Deficiency Syndrome. Heck, I even took some shots of a Ford Capri with furry dice on the mirror the other week.
So, these were quite a sight and a boost for the spirits. Not one Sunbeam Alpine, but three, all in red. So, decisions, decisions.
I’ll resist saying this looks like a Rootes dealer’s lot, circa 1969, but it’s not often you’ll see three such cars lined up together, undoubtedly deliberately. This was in the car park for an English stately home on a sunny Sunday, not a car show. (The word “sunny” tells you it wasn’t 2020’s car show…)
So, from right to left, based on the photo above.
A 1967 Alpine Series V in Carnival Red, first registered in May 1967. This is effectively peak Alpine, with the 1725cc Rootes engine that found its way into everything from the Minx, Alpine, Rapier (Sunbeam Alpine GT), Hillman Hunter (Sunbeam Arrow) and Commer 2500 Spacevan and the trimmed tailfins, compared with the Series I, II and III Alpines.
Next along is a 1960 Series I – the first version of the Alpine.
Those tailfins…..I thought you’d ask. Yes, they were, what’s the word, prominent, at least when seen directly from the rear. And yes, any resemblance in the style of the Alpine to the 1955 Ford Thunderbird is understandable and explainable. Ken Howe worked on both, the Ford first. And Rootes’ love of American style is well established. If, after spending the best part of thirty years aping American trends, you ask the guy who styled the Thunderbird to do you a British sports car, I think you can be pretty sure what was going to happen, and I suspect Billy Rootes was not disappointed.
The Series I had a 1494cc engine, direct from the contemporary Sunbeam Rapier and Hillman Husky, a sort of AMC Gremlin based on a cut down Hillman Minx. Maybe not the most glamourous start for a sports car, but is that actually less than the MGB being based on an Austin Cambridge, one of Britain’s more plodding saloons of the time? And, remember, the extra glamorous Triumph TR4 shared its engine with a tractor.
This one gains for the metal finish, rather than wood finish, dash. Personal taste. YMMV.
And on the far left, a 1966 Series V, a match for the first car, apart from the aftermarket alloys.
So, which do want? 1494cc, 78bhp, metal finish dash and significant tailfin action or 1725cc, 92bhp and wood finish dash and trimmed tailfins?
Your call. Any preference is a good answer after this summer.
I’ll bite. My heart lies with the ’60 because, well, those fins. The newer renditions with the lopped off fins just look like they’re missing something, especially when viewed side-by-side with the “complete” version.
I will concede that I’m a sucker for a classic British wooden dash treatment though, but a bit of timber isn’t going to sway me from those fabulous ’50s American holdout fins on an otherwise very ’60s British roadster.
I do notice that the earlier car apparently was not equipped with pivoting vent panes. I never noticed that before, but from a usability standpoint that might factor into things if this was a real-world decision.
The quaterlight vents were added from series 3.
I used to prefer the trimmed wings but in recent years I’ve come to prefer the original version. Somehow the lines have a more sculptural feel to them.
Either look much better than an MGB.
I’m not sure the 1494cc motor of the series 1 was ever offered in the Husky, I think it stuck with the 1390 version to ensure it was suitably ‘lower class’.
All nice cars, but I’ll go with the last one, the Series V with those nice period alloys please – I went off chrome wire wheels when I heard the comments from Norman Dewis (?) about how sloppy they would be after 24 hours on the LeMans circuit.
I know I´ll get some rotten tomatoes, and I’m well aware of the differences with the Tiger, but the child in me can’t help to say, please Get Smart before commenting 🙂
I like them all. Although I prefer the front of the 60 and the back of the series V.
But for me to drive I’d like the 66 with the alloy rims, although just checking now there is a nice 1960 for sale locally for $15k. Hmmm
My brother owned two of these. One to drive and one for parts.
He drove a white 1960 with the wood dash, LHD of course.
Only time I ever saw a motor swap in a driveway of
a residential neighborhood.
This was 1969-70.
I was a little kid, I’m sure the neighbors weren’t so impressed.
Fins all the way, both because I like the looks better and because the one I was the care taker of for a summer. My friend moved back to CA and couldn’t take it with him at the time. So he left it with me until he could return.
I wouldn’t turn any of them down, but that Series I is hard to resist… the combination of a British sports car and prominent fins awfully captivating.
Below is an excerpt from Road & Track’s 1960 test of the Alpine, comparing its design to that of the Thunderbird. Both are outstanding designs, in my opinion.
In May of 1984, I bought a ‘late’ Series V – supposedly produced in the last two months production in early ’68. They typically came with painted, hooded headlight trim, except the last few months, which had painted, flush headlight trim rings, same as used on the series II Tiger. I’ve only seen the hooded chrome on the earlier Sunbeam Rapier. My car had the hooded headlight trim installed, but the original flush-rings stored in the trunk.
Other features of very late-production Alpines included British Wipac back-up lights, a special trunk-mounted rear tag-bracket with tag-lights mounted a-top the rear bumper. One important detail on ’60s Rootes convertibles, was a massive ‘X’ frame welded under the car to make for an exceptionally solid unibody structure. My car also had the little Chrysler penta-star badge mounted low, on the front fender.
My Alpine was a second car for many years, mostly needing just normal repair and maintenance. Weather permitting, I made frequent trips from Northern Virginia to visit family in Virginia Beach, relatives in Western PA, and numerous car shows and Sunbeam Club events, including my awesome ‘Canada or bust!’ 1700-mile, road-trip to the October 1990 Sunbeam United meet in Toronto. A decent ride and reliability, proper heating and ventilation, and frills uncommon in inexpensive 1960s British sports-cars – such as power-brakes, telescopic steering adjustment, alternator, factory oil-cooler, and an easy to operate top – made it the perfect top-down sports-car for me. A job change, advancing rust, and the inability to find decent 13-inch replacement tires, finally took her off the road in the late ’90s.
Happy Motoring, Mark
Either of the later cars for me, please, there’s still plenty going on around back and I prefer the front. But if it’s the other or nothing, well, I can be persuaded to part with my money for any of them.
I owned a late production Series V Alpine. In addition to a larger 5-bearing 1725cc engine, Series V Alpines were better equipped than the early cars, including a much bigger trunk, telescoping steering adjustment, factory oil-cooler, power-brakes and an alternator.
The ‘vent-panes’ on the later Alpines didn’t open, but the Series V cars got very effective (while moving) footwell-vents.
Also, only the Sunbeam Tigers, and Series IV ‘hardtop-only’ Alpine GT came with a wood dash. Later Alpine roadsters had a bakelite dash-panel covered in a grained black laminate.
Happy Motoring, Mark
P.S. Apparently, my previous post here 20 minutes ago has been dumped in the spam-can!
Apologies. My previous post has now appeared.
I wish there was an edit feature.
Happy Motoring, Mark
For me, it’d be the 1960 Series One because of the fins. There were more of them in the USA and they are what I remember, so the chopped-off ones look, well, chopped off!
Would probably go for the later Sunbeam Alpine with the trimmed tailfins, that said would have preferred an attractive coupe bodystyle as well as uprated 1.6-2.0-litre engines more along the lines of the related Isuzu G unit as used in the Bellett and Florian/117 Coupe.
Such a model featuring a similar 118+ hp 1.6 Twin-Cam as fitted to the Isuzu Bellett 1600 GT-R would have largely negated the need for the Ford V8 powered Sunbeam Tiger as well as not given Chrysler a headache when the latter realized their own LA V8 engines could not be fitted to the Tiger or the Humber Sceptre.
The body colored headlight bezels have more of a visual impact to me than the fins do, so I’ll take the 66 series V. Plus I don’t like wire wheels
Back in the 1980’s in Palo Alto CA there were several alpines that had Mazda rotary engines and the 5 speed transmission swapped by the Fimber Brothers shop
Don’t think the chromed headlight bezels are original.
Older version for me. Fins, steel dash, bigger overriders, smaller front indicator lights. I would give up the extra power of the later versions for the styling of the earlier version.
I looked at two or three early Alpines before making my decision what old British 2 seater to buy, back in 1994. In the end I choose a TR4 which to me is the ultimate British 2 seater. Still have and use it 🙂
I’ll go late model since I dislike tail fins, alloy wheels and a Holbay tuned 1725.
An early blue Alpine was driven by Sean Connery in the first ever car chase in an official Bond movie – Dr No.
I like all Alpines, but I prefer the latter types with the cropped fins owing to another entertainment icon – Maxwell Smart, who drove a red Tiger I in Get Smart. Save for the chrome body side moulding and Tiger badges, it was pure Alpine on the outside.
A white series V was in Get Carter
No “Sunbeam Alpines in films” discussion would be complete without mentioning the 1960 Series One that Elizabeth Taylor drives and, uh, “takes flying” in BUtterfield 8.
The car is practically a supporting cast member…it appears in several scenes and is referred to throughout the movie.
Bonus: the ’57 Mercedes Adenauer that Larry Harvey pilots!
The principal Husky connection was the shared floorpan. The wheelbase was the same for both, and for the Alpines the floorpan got what some referred to its roof welded onto its floor, which worked very well – got the necessary stiffness and lowered the CG besides. Never had an Alpine myself, but did have two Huskys, the second having a badly-done Alpine engine transplant. That was the short-WB version of the larger estate car (station wagon in our native tongue), and while that would be a more practical car for a family, the Husky (even with its stock 45 hp or so) was a very nice little back-road toy, which was what almost every Alaskan road was on the mid-60s. The Husky lived up to its name, except for its differential, whose ring gear (just two-pinion, as I recall) was very un-husky. I broke mine just backing out of a snowdrift I’d gotten into. Upside: the Alpine rear axle fits too, and can be had with limited-slip.
As for the posed question, I’ll take the later profile, please. Never really did care for the pointy fins, and was glad for the change. 5 mains would be welcome, too!
Coincidentally, I just watched ‘The Haunting’ on TV, a 1963 horror film, starring Julie Harris, along with the 1960 Hillman Husky she drives, ultimately into a tree!
Other notable Alpine movie appearances, all from 1968, include ‘Pretty Poison’ starring Anthony Perkins and Tuesday Weld, ‘The Impossible Years’ starring David Niven, and ‘Panic In The City’ starring Howard Duff and Nehemiah Persoff.
Aside from owning a very rusty $50 ’62 Hillman Super-Minx convertible during my teens, my inspiration ten years later to find an Alpine was watching ‘Butterfield 8’ on TV.
If I had some of Jay Leno’s garage-space & money, I’d have my Series V restored, and a red Series I just like Liz Taylor’s!
Happy Motoring, Mark
Since any preference is acceptable, I will order mine with the early front half for the grille (and no quarter vents) but the tail of the late one AND the painted dash. And wires sans chroming, and the 1725 engine.
If stuck in reality, the later one. Those early fins look like a small man wearing gigantic shoulder pads in some failed attempt to upsize himself.
A Series 1 with a Series V engine. Combine with (subjectively) better looking with more power, which is always a winning combination.
While I’m sure it’s totally coincidental, the look of patient resignation on the face of the blond lady in the MX-5 is uncannily comparable to what I’ve seen on my wife’s face upon a fantastic automotive find.
That flipping mx5 gets everywhere Jason.
(Mark V Sunbeam please)
Hehe!
Noticed that flipper meself, but stayed mum, I did.
I’m a Tiger junkie but have had 3 Huskys, and currently have a LHD ’66 Tiger and 2 Alpines, ’65 & ’67..