IT ALWAYS STARTS WITH THE FIRST DAY…

About a week ago now I was searching Craigslist as I usually do and I came across an add that caught my attention. It was for a 1966 Sunbeam Alpine V.

Now, I don’t mind British sports cars so I thought I would check out this project. It ended up that a lot of money was already invested. Body, paint, chrome, engine, and a new wiring harness were all new or rebuilt. The rest, well it was in boxes. It also came with a factory steel hardtop.

It seemed to be something worth checking out…

Upon meeting the current owner, I found out he was a total car guy with a 1967 Camaro SS being currently built beside the Sunbeam. The story was that he bought it off the son of the past owner. The past owner wanted to do a perfect restoration and spent a lot of time and money on it. However, he began to get dementia and was unable to finish the build. The son thought about continuing on, but after paying for the engine build he decided not to continue and instead sold the car.

WHAT NOW…

So the car is mostly in boxes and with painted parts I have to be careful that everything makes it here without damage.   I will be making few trips out to the previous owner’s place and taking various parts, engine, transmission, wheels/tires, windshield, hardtop, and eventually the hood (that is painted and needs to be transported in a super safe way).

As it gets here, we will organize all the parts and put them into parts racks to sort them out.  Last, but not least, we will flat deck the car here so we can get started.

Once here I will take a bunch of pictures and share it on this build diary — as well as our social media channels.  The idea is to show everyone the entire progress to first drive.

PLANS WITH THE CAR…

The plan is that we will likely sell the car once it is complete.  It is a very well documented car including the entire build process to where it is today.  I have a photo album of every part coming off the car and when it was stripped to the bare metal — where it had no rust and a super straight body.  Both rare attributes in a British car.

Now, sometimes you end up falling in love with the things when you build them and drive them — so who knows!  But we are addicted to building cars and will likely sell it then use the profits to find another project!

So, if you love Sunbeam Alpines, stay tuned to this build diary!  You may get a chance to buy one after a totally fresh rebuild.

DID YOU KNOW?…

In Dr. No, the Sunbeam Alpine was a Bond car?  How awesome is that – our first Bond car!  First this and then move on up to the Aston Martin by chance?…