Thanks to Mike F for this intriguing find. Normally a posting on craigslist with so little information or pictures would not be very interesting, but $3,000 for these 2 Apine bodies with a lot of parts could be have a lot of potential. You can’t tell much from this picture but these Alpines seem to have more than a little rust.
This is the only other image provided. Do you think they had plans on converting the Alpines to V6 engines or did these just happen to be what’s in the warehouse? The transmission doesn’t look like anything you’d stuff in an Alpine does it? If the other pallets of parts are like these there’s not much hope. Without more information and pictures, there’s just no way to know if these Sunbeams might be worthwhile, but you never know.
I spoke with the seller a few weeks ago. Very nice guy who found these cars in a warehouse he purchased on the outskirts of Dallas. They are basically shells. The seller thought that the warehouse was once used by a company converting Alpines to V6 power. All of the spare parts will fit on three pallets and consist mainly of V6 parts. The shells are stripped clean of interiors and most everything else including tires. One does not have a rear axle but the seller does have access to a forklift for loading.Good luck!
99 Sunbeam Al-pines on the wall,
99 Sunbeam Al-pines,
Take one down
pass it around
98 Sunbeam Al-pines on the wall
Sorry, I’ll leave quietly.
bravo ! !
Always had a dream of rallying/making a prerunner out of one of these.
Series 3?
I see tiger replicas!
Mike and Ed just restored an Alpine on the new Wheeler Dealers episode that aired this week. I have always liked Sprites, but having roll-up windows sounds pretty good to me.
A V6 for a Tiger replica would be a disappointment. I’m fine with someone having a Tiger replica, but when I see a V6 in a car that came with a V8 there’s always a letdown.
So if I ended up with these…which I wouldn’t since they are shells, and life is too short—I would move the V6s along and source V8s instead.
But the bottom line here is that there’s too much parts chasing and work for me to be interested in this deal. Maybe if I had piles of Alpine and Tiger parts lying around…..
I remember when Sunbeam Tiger’s first came out with a 260 v8. A very good friend of my dads had an exotic used car lot at the time. His son that was a few years older than me had one. I think the narrow Ford small block v8 was about the only one that would fit without a lot of cut and fit.
they look like early versions with the nicest of the hard tops. There’s an immaculate powder blue one in Suffolk. For rebuilds: there are many parts from the following that will fit. : Hillman minx, Singer Vogue, Humber scepter, Hiilman Hunter. I’d look for a late Rootes engine which would have a little mor power than the original and would be a simple fit with overdrive gearbox and even a back axle.
Julian, is the Alpine in ‘Suffolk’ Wedgeblue? I bought one new in 1961 and it was a very good car.
Abarthbill
A v-6 with a turbo or supercharger might be just the ticket. Light but with far more power then the original 4-cylinder or even the V-8. Could be a near perfect blend and a lot easier to work on.
Shelby was asked to stuff a V8 into an alpine, he used the 260 because the distributor is in the front.
We love our 65 Tiger
The trans sitting on the pallet is a Th-2004R GM unit used in ’80’s GM cars like SS Monte Carlo’s, Cadillacs, Buicks, etc.
These are ‘white knuckle’ cars; front heavy, hard seats, hard to steer; and without posi-traction, squirrely to drive.