My ride for the day..

This is a 1961 Austin-Healey Bugeye Sprite.
I had a love/hate relationship with this car. The owner didnt have the car very long.. He took it as a package deal to get a different car. There were some hood fitment issues that were never quite resolved so it spent a time in the shop getting sorted.
This was a very popular car among the guest drivers, so I only got a couple of drives in it.

The interior of the car is very snug and spartan. Door pulls are just an interior string to open the latch.. nothing on the outside. I believe this car was set up for racing at one point and converted back to a street car. The engine sound was loud and raspy and the feel of the pedals, shifter and steering is among the best of what I have ever driven. The car is a hoot to drive. It isnt especially fast but the steering is right-now direct and the small size made even speed limit driving an adventure. This particular car had constant sorting out issues.. I believe something broke or fell off every time we took it out.. We were always able to get it going again and make it home, but it was a hassle.

My adventure with the car was a longer drive to a large car show in the city (Chicago). The drive down was fun and uneventful. Midway thru the show it started raining, so we put the tops up on all the cars.. We seldom do this and each car had it's own complications doing that. The Sprite has a very low top and fixed plastic side windows so it is a tight fit top up. As we started to leave the show I went to make the first turn out of the parking area and the steering wheel turned but the car wheels didnt turn.. Fortunately I wasnt moving fast and not yet on the streets, I was at the back of our caravan and the rest of the group left without me. I was able to push the car to a safe out of the way area, but was not able to determine the issue on my own. Fortunately there were a few people still at the show with tools and one person familiar with Sprites. The issue turned out to be the nut behind the steering wheel (for real.. not the typical joke).. Turns out this aftermarket wheel was not splined and just held on with tension from the large nut that is accessed after removing the center cover. I was able to make my way back solo, but it was a bit intimidating with limited visibility, poor wipers, fogging windshield and constant drips on my leg from the leaking top and the nagging worry that the steering would loosen up again on the road. The Sprite was sold not too much longer after that. I both miss and not miss that car.

 

This is a 1951 Alvis A21.

There were only 80 right hand drive versions of this car built. This was originally sold in Holland to a Jazz singer Pia Beck.
It has a large 3 liter inline 6 engine with lots of low end power. The throttle is very sensitive at tip-in which makes for a very jerky start for people who are not familiar with the car. The shifter doesnt like to be hurried between gears and it is a long reach to 1st and 3rd gears.
The body was designed and built by Tichford, who also built some Rolls Royce models. The dash and door trim shown in the pictures was restored from black paint back to natural wood this past year, but I wasnt able to find any recent pics of it.

 

Yep.. that article was before it made it to the current owner.

 

This is a 1963 Sunbeam Alpine

This one grabbed me from the moment I saw it.. It is a rare Series III GT model. This version comes with no convertible top but does include a removable hardtop, and has an upgraded interior compared to the standard model. The Series III has the larger tail fins fom the older versions, but has a revised engine and dual fuel tanks in the rear fenders of the later versions. There were only a few thousand of this version made.

The car has the right combination of looks, sound and feel for a 1960's spots car, and was always my favorite from my friends collection. It isnt especially fast but it is light and zippy thu the gears. First gear is not synchronized, so extra care must be taken when starting. The gearbox works best when it is not hurried. The exhaust note is raspy and loud, but not too loud. Handling is ok and the brakes are weird.. There is an aftermarket power brake booster that was added and the vacuum seems to vary during stops leading to having different rates of braking at different times.
I wound up storing this car in my garage for a couple of years with occasional driving privileges. The owner offered the car to me for a deal I couldn't refuse about 3 years ago so I have been able to drive it often. I've been thru a round of fixing up and replacing items for ignition and cooling and it has been mostly reliable after that.. It isnt great on the highway but a ton of fun on smaller roads and local driving.
Part of the purchase agreement is that I am still primarily a guest driver for events he attends to drive his cars, but if there are too many guest drivers, I can then take this one out with the group.

 

Old stuff fills my garage up nicely..

 

This is a 1953 Sunbeam Talbot Saloon.

It was an elegant car, and it included a really nice interior with a rare factory sunroof and radio (which I never tried using) but the driving experience was less than the open top cars. Being a four-door the doors are smaller and it was a bit of a squeeze getting in and out with the large steering wheel. The gearshift lever is small and far forward and it tended to slip out of 3rd gear when gently rolling off the throttle.
Visibility was also reduced due to poor mirrors and the door pillars. All and all, it was interesting, but less fun than most of the other cars.

 

My friend originally started collecting Rootes group British cars that were seldom seen here, primarily convertibles, and not terribly expensive.
I really have no idea on the costs of any of the cars he owns (and I dont especially want to know )

He has been moving a bit upscale on the price points in the past few years to get items that are more unusual and in nice driving condition.

He enjoys talking about and sharing the unusual features of these cars with people who are interested.

 

Almost to the end of my list..
This is a 1966 Sunbeam Tiger.

The owner only had this car a year or so, but I got to drive it a good amount. There were some electrical and other issues during the sorting out time. This is the car everyone admires. This particular car had a replacement Mustang engine and was very fast and powerful.
It is loafing along at highway speeds with it's replacement 5-speed transmission. The V8 rumble at idle sounded like a cross between a race car and an old pickup truck. At cruising speeds it had a more ordinary sound which was a bit disappointing for me.

This car always ran on the hot side (Tigers were notorious for poor cooling) and would overhead/start spewing coolant on hotter days or sitting idle for too long. there was also a lot of heat that transferred to the passenger compartment. Steering was also much heavier and less communicative than on the Alpine. The extra engine weight made it a more front heavy car affecting the overall balance and handling.

All in all, a super fun car, especially when accelerating.. It always gets lots of admiration, but with the extra heat, steering and balance issues, I personally like the Alpine much better for local around town driving.




Here is a link to a short acceleration run

Sunbeam Tiger by Ernesto Vumbles, on Flickr

and a link to the Tiger at idle

Sunbeam Tiger V8 rumble by Ernesto Vumbles, on Flickr