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i am thinking about getting a sunbeam rapier convertible restoration project, 1962 series 3, so i was wondering if anybody used to have one, please no daft remarks, i just want an opinion about the sunbeam.
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Yes I had one, it was Moonstone and Powder Blue. I thought it was very glamourous at the time but it was easily the worst car I ever owned. Mine was a 1961 3A and I owned it in 1967 when it was 6 years old.
It could win prizes for rust, I ended up a wizard at reconstructing sills from expanded aluminium and David's Isopon. The floor around the handbrake had to be plated in order to use said handbrake.
Performance was extremely mediocre and I twice ran big ends when revving the engine quite mildly attempting to overtake fairly slow moving traffic. as a result removing the engine was a fairly regular pastime and boy it was a pig to work on. Top bellhousing bolts could not be reached from under the bonnet but had to be tackled with long socket extensions from underneath the transmission tunnel along the top of the gearbox.
Removing the cylinder head involved taking off the cam follower cover on the side of the crankcase and guess what, one of the fixing bolts was behind the distributor so this had to be removed also, so of course the engine had to be retimed.
Understeer was abominable and the scuttle shake was dreadful, the body having all the torsional rigidity of a wet bus ticket!
Mine was a 1600cc with three bearing crank and I believe the later 1725cc five bearing engines will drop straight in. These were very much better, the extra capacity helps performance and the bottom end is much stronger.
For all the above I loved it. It looked so much better than all the Mostin Oxbridges that abounded in those days and it was a great babe magnet. I still remember cruising through Newquay on holiday with the roof down to the sound of the Beach Boys. Ah nostalgia is not what it used to be.
My next car was a Cortina Gt, what a revelation. It was like a rocketship after the Rapier, it handled, it was so easy to work on, spares were typically half the price of the Rootes items but I have to say the Rapier still had a certain something.
Hope I haven't put you off
Best of Luck
Peter Bowman
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The earlier Rapier's were like some of those glamorous women who turn our heads from a distance and, close up, or, on close inspection, make us wish we hadn't bothered. Peter has splendidly outlined their multitude of faults (we used to cut holes in the already rusting floor to get at some of the bolts) and there were many. I think the Rootes group, with the Rapier and Hillman Californian, found that many motorists, in the late fifties, not too long after the austerity of war, were longing for something sleek and glamorous. It's just a pity that Ford (or Colin Chapman) were not called in to advise on what should be under that seductive, albeit rusty, skin. However, to bring one back to concours condition would be an interesting challenge but, that old saying about making a silk purse out of a sow's ear, does come to my cynical, elderly mind.
I used to work on one that was fitted with those "new fangled" Michelin X radial tyres. We were convinced that tyres which looked half flat, would not catch on !!!
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My dad had one of these from new, a 1725cc one I think. It was hailed by my dad and his motor-club chums as a great improvement over the MkIIZephyr it replaced. But, it was hugely rusty when he sold it.
It was prone to flooding when hot, needing a certain starting technique (floor the throttle) and I recall dad getting very agitated when it was to be driven onto the Bristol Freighter plane at Lydd airport. It only just started when the battery was about to give up. My other favourite memory is taking the car for a blast over Holy Island sands aged 12:-)
May have contributed to the rust problem, who knows?
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Chris
A friend of mine had a Rapier, back in the mid sixties. As far as I remember it was ok - but we are talking about ok in the context of cars nearly forty years ago.
I always thought it was a tarted up twin carb Hillman Minx. If you're thinking about getting one now I suppose it would be more desirable than a Minx - more Rapiers might have survived.
Thinking about cars that were comtemporary, rust was always the killer (Rapier no exception). You will, of course, be prepared for all the usual ails of balancing twin carbs, unleaded fuel conversion, dynamos and flat batteries.
If you really fancy one, it would be novel to see one again.
Ian
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My dad had the Hillman Minx version (Reg PUH 952) with the 1500 engine. When he sold it in 1969 for £25 it had done 90,000 miles, had numerous holes in the sills and the front wings were a mass of rust bubbles. But in 9 years it only let us down once (dynamo failure) and being the family's first car is fondly remembered by us all.
There was a similar vintage Rapier racing round Goodwood at the revival meeting in September.
Regards Martin
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They used to rally these things and Pat Moss even used to win rallies in them. At the time they had a better power to weight ratio of any family size car. Then along came the Cortina GT which wiped the floor with everything from the Rapier to the MGB because it was lighter, faster and handled better.
HJ
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IT must have been fun when they dropped the Mustang 289 cu in V8 in it and called it the Tiger.
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I thought that was the Alpine, no ?
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The Sumbeam Alpine was a pretty two seater sports of the 60s with about a 1600cc engine. It was that they fitted the big lump into to make the Tiger.
The local guys fashion shop owner in Evesham had one (Tiger) in the 70s, us lads drooled over it!
He sold Falmers shirts, silk scarves, maroon cords, green platform boots.....should I have worn them all on the same day though?
David
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David
Is there a photographic record of this event?
Regards
John
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Errrr....sort of.
You won't find it on the Internet though!
Ex Dutch army overalls today, far more sensible.
David
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Apologies, I stand corrected. Alpine indeed it was.
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