Sports car from long-forgotten brand that went extinct is on sale for under £10k – with only 103 left on UK roads
A RARE sports car from a little-known company has been put on auction for less than £10k despite it being just one of over 100 left on UK roads.
The classic speedster was produced 60 years ago by a once booming British car manufacturer but has since become a rare sight on roads across the country.
The car was produced by the Rootes Group but carried the name of the then defunct Sunbeam Motor Car Company.
Sunbeam were founded in Wolverhampton, Staffordshire in 1905 and went on to produce a string of well-regarded cars and even aero engines for WWI aircraft during its 29 year history.
However, by 1934 a long period of particularly slow sales had brought continuing losses.
Sunbeam was unable to repay money borrowed for ten years in 1924 to fund its Grand Prix racing programme, and a receiver was appointed.
There was a forced sale, and Sunbeam was picked up by the Rootes brothers who intended to sell luxury cars under the Sunbeam name.
Between 1938 and 1954, they produced vehicles under the Sunbeam-Talbot name before dropping the name Talbot from the brand.
Sunbeam continued to appear as a brand on new cars until 1976, including on the Sunbeam Alpine series, first produced in 1959.
The convertible roadsters went through five versions before production ceased in 1968.
Over those nine years, nearly 70,000 of the cars were produced, of which just 18% were the Series IV type.
The Series IV version of the vehicle boasts a top speed of 100 mph and does 0-60mph in around 13 and a half seconds.
One of these rare motors has been put up for auction with an asking price of just £9,000.
It’s currently listed on site Car & Classic at its eye-catching price tag.
The ad states that the car has “very good bodywork”, “lovely paint” and an “excellent interior.”
It also describes the vehicle as “super-solid” and “well protected underneath.”
It estimates the car’s value as between £9,000 and £12,000 but eager eyes will note that it features an “uber-rare factory fitted automatic gearbox” as well as “highly original matching numbers”.
The classic vehicle is one of just 103 of the type left on UK roads, and its red colour is found on less than a third of those.
Other prices for the vehicle have varied in recent years depending on the condition of the car as well as whether it had undergone any refurbishment in its lifetime.
While one of the racers sold for just over £4000 at auction last year, others have been listed for up to four times that amount.