Sunbeam models

Sunbeam was a British car maker from Wolverhampton. John Marston's firm built its first car in 1901, and the Sunbeam Motor Car Company was set up in 1905. In 1920 it became part of S.T.D. Motors with Talbot and Darracq; after receivership in 1934 it was sold to the Rootes brothers.

Before the Second World War Sunbeam was famous for land speed records. The Sunbeam 350HP reached 133.75 mph in 1922 with Kenelm Lee Guinness and later topped 150 mph with Malcolm Campbell, and the Sunbeam 1000HP reached 203.792 mph in 1927. Under Rootes the name moved to sporting versions of family cars: the Rapier (1955–1967), the Alpine roadster, the Imp Sport (1966–1976) and the Sunbeam Tiger of 1964–1967, an Alpine with a Ford V8. Chrysler, which bought into Rootes in 1964, ended the Sunbeam marque in 1976; the name survived as a model, the Talbot Sunbeam, until 1981. See also Talbot and Hillman.