At first glance, the Sunbeam Alpine GT bears more than a passing resemblance to the Plymouth Barracuda of 1964-66. But that may just be coincidental, as this car was built by the Rootes Group in the UK and sold the vehicle domestically as the Arrow. In the U.S., they were marketed as the Alpine GT from 1969 forward, but estimates are that only 4,000 of them found buyers (at Chrysler dealers; still a coincidence?). As a probable runner, this Sunbeam can be found in Los Angeles, California, and is available here on craigslist for $7,400 (trades considered). Our thanks to Rocco B. for turning us on to another interesting tip!
Two variants of the Alpine were built as both an open roadster and a fastback coupe. The latter was in production for seven years starting in 1969. The cars used a 105 cubic inch inline-4 that was rated as 70 hp with dual carburetors and a 4-speed manual transmission. The seller bought this Alpine “a while back” with plans of restoring it, but that doesn’t seem to be in the cards now. The odometer reads 40,000 miles.
Before his/her acquisition, the seller says this car spent 40 years off the road and the previous owner did finally get it running again, despite that parts aren’t the easiest to find in the U.S. For now, it should be considered a project as the paint is faded and we don’t know the status of the interior as only three photos are provided. Do you remember the Sunbeam Alpine sports car driven by Maxwell Smart in the 1960s TV show Get Smart?
So much for honesty – how about a few more pictures – a grand for each say yee…good looking car for the day.
Down 40 years, you say? I wonder what sidelined it, electrical perhaps?Always liked these, and coincidental or not, to us, it was the mini-Barracuda. To compare this to Agent 86s car, isn’t even close however. Sunbeam was a highly respected make, this however, I believe was a knee-jerk reaction to the up and coming Asian cars, and failed miserably. There are literally pages of people describing problems, front to back. It was a poorly designed car and the seller surely has a slug on their hands. And the real kicker is, they think it’s worth $7500 BUCKS,,,that my friends, is incredible!
I owned one back in ’69. Drove it from SF Ca. to Alberta Canada and back and all over the Bay Area. It drove great, 30 mpg, plenty of power with the 2 Stromberg carbs, 18 gallon gas tank, seating for 4 and a big trunk. I really liked the car.
On the east coast, I maybe saw one of these in their day! They were not highly rated. I agree with your kicker…..anything in relatively good shape and over 40 years in California is considered gold these days on the car sites. I might take a chance on a something like this if I got it to my doorstep under $2K…. not $7500……..but…. there is a seat for every Butt!
Most probably the electric’s, Lucus, the Prince of Darkness.
Very Nice! Aussie Dave…Bravo, and yet so true…What’s even more than a coincidence is that Plymouth Resurrected the Arrow name in a Japanese powered fast/hatchback in the late 70s. I owned a ’78 Hemi Orange 5spd version that was at least fun to drive.😎
Didn’t Maxwell Smart (Don Adams) Drive A Sunbeam Tiger In Get Smart? Which Today Is Quite Valuable
I actually owned one… but it didn’t run and I let it go. After browsing a lot of car pages I finally saw this! Wow. Always wondered if I should have kept.
$7k hahaha. What are people thinking. This car is $3k car in this condition. There is one in Maryland for sale at $5,500, which is a far better car and only needs a few more items to complete a full restoration. My money is on that one.
The write-up is incorrect in one detail. This model was not sold domestically in UK/Europe as the “arrow”. “Arrow” was the company development/project name for this platform in general, which included the 4-door sold as the “Hillman Hunter” and badge engineered versions under Rootes Group’s other brands, such as the “Humber Scepter”. The 2-door fastback as featured here was called the “Sunbeam Rapier” in the UK.
Subsequently also as an Alpine in the UK, with a lesser drivetrain.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunbeam_Alpine
Jensen Jr.
I thought Maxwell Smart drove a Sunbeam Tiger…
Yes, it was a Tiger — not an Alpine. It was Don Adams’ personal car. Had the Ford 289 which was a strange situation since it was imported by Chrysler.
There were several cars. A genuine 1965 260 powered red Tiger for beauty shots. A look alike red Alpine, dressed up to look like a Tiger (including a retractable cannon under the hood which could not fit under the Tiger hood, and I believe machine guns).
A factory Tiger equipped with a 289 would be a ’67 Mk.II, which was not on the show. By that time it, Max was driving a Karmann Ghia and an Opel Kadet.
Only imported by Chrysler at the very end… after they got controlling rights to the Rootes Group, which didn’t happen until ’67. They finished production with the existing stock of Ford V8s, then that was it. Chrysler’s 273 wouldn’t fit.
Rootes group was controlled by Chrysler at the time, but not when Sunbeam sourced the Ford V8 for the Tiger, this lead to embarrassment for Chrysler HQ.
And why there was no V8 version of this series Alpine/, the small block LA V8 was too big. So it is no coincidence this Alpine is a mini Barracuda.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rootes_Group
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunbeam_Tiger
I never considered how much that grille looks like a ’61 Lancer until I saw that elevated 3/4 view.
What the author also missed was the singe carbureted version of the Sunbeam Arrow with an iron head, I know because I owned one for several years. Contrary to the comments above, it was a reliable car and pleasant to drive, which I did all over Oregon on a regular basis. The GT was the performance version of the Arrow and had the same drive train as the Sunbeam Alpine, while the standard Arrow had the motor from the Sunbeam sedans and their badge engineered derivitaves.
FYI British cars were popular, and very common, in Canada in the post WW 2 period, as they got preferential import tax treatment.
A Commonwealth benefit to the UK.
Detriment to other European auto manufactures.
And especially to USA manufactures, until the signing of the Canada–United States Automotive Products Agreement in 1965.
It has a very slight resemblance to the Opel Manta my mom owned when I was 18. I liked that one. This would be pretty cool turned into a V8 drag/street car. Something with more back tire under the back than rear end. Know what I mean? Could be fun.
Wow… I haven’t seen one of these in almost 50 years… Waaay back in high school a friends family had one sitting in their driveway… hadn’t seen the road in a couple years. We needed a summer ride, so with our Briggs and Stratton and Tecumseh mower experience, we nursed it back to roadworthyness… barely. It was a beater, and always left a trail of steam and boiling coolant, but it got us around for a bit. When summer was over and school started, they had it hauled to the scrap yard never to be seen again.
The only one of these I ever saw was in the back of an AMC dealer’s used car lot in the distant past. It was a small midwestern dealership that also dealt in IH products…it was defintely out of place and had been there for for quite a while. Story was they felt they had to take it in trade but wished they hadn’t.
I had one, problems too numerous to mention. I fixed nothing and sold it 6 months after I bought it and made a few bucks on it.
Looks (to me) much closer to the Marlin than the 64/65 Barracuda – other than the C pillar.
But that front and dead on backside looks little like the Barracuda.
5.0, 5spd, modern front & rear suspension, cut down 9” rear, Tubbed, Painless wiring and have Fun
Chrysler should have made this a Plymouth, use American electrics and a decent 2 barrel carb and compete with the Capri. The Roots 4 cylinder was a good solid engine. The car looked good and if it was treated as a domestic car it would have sold like hotcakes.