rimfire4969 Posted August 8, 2014 Report Share Posted August 8, 2014 After 14 months of work by myself and a great guy down near Penzance my Sunbeam Alpine MKIV has passed it mot. Very Basic stuff done by me but really all the serious stuff done by a very talented man not far away. Its had a full respray back to its orginal colour, full engine and gearbox rebuild, 1725cc with overdrive and twin carbs, plenty of new panels and replacement bits and pieces. It drives great, last time I drove it was about 16 or 17 years ago. Since then it was stuck in one of my damp, leaky barns rotting away waiting for me to have the cash to throw at it to bring it back to life. Still a few bits to do but here are a couple of photos as she sits now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TriBsa Posted August 8, 2014 Report Share Posted August 8, 2014 Gorgeous! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silver pigeon69 Posted August 8, 2014 Report Share Posted August 8, 2014 (edited) Very nice!! 1725cc is it the GT with the walnut dash? i used to have one, bought it for £150 from the scrap yard, spent 1/2hour on it and drove it home!! started to restore it, skimmed the head etc, recon gearbox, then it sat in the garage for 20yrs and sold it for £250 wished i had kept it but just didnt have the time and couldn see me having the time. Do you belong to the Alpine Owners club? edit; doh! can see the walnut dash!! Edited August 8, 2014 by silver pigeon69 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoggysreels Posted August 8, 2014 Report Share Posted August 8, 2014 (edited) I had a Mk lV myself many moons ago .. it never looked that good! .. my mate at the time had the MGB GT ... Alpine Mk IV was a far nicer and reliable car, so much so he bought it off me. Once had an O/S/R tyre let go lol ... only thing was in the summer, was making the decision whether to chance leaving the roof off ... great car, style was always far in away more classier than the MG ..."mine was the same colour" ... "old English white, lm only guessing ?" ps ... recall mine being a 1600 if my memory serves me right ... it was a good while back Edited August 8, 2014 by hoggysreels Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silver pigeon69 Posted August 8, 2014 Report Share Posted August 8, 2014 The tiger? with the V6 or V8 was supposed to be a bit quick!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rimfire4969 Posted August 8, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 8, 2014 Very nice!! 1725cc is it the GT with the walnut dash? i used to have one, bought it for £150 from the scrap yard, spent 1/2hour on it and drove it home!! started to restore it, skimmed the head etc, recon gearbox, then it sat in the garage for 20yrs and sold it for £250 wished i had kept it but just didnt have the time and couldn see me having the time. Do you belong to the Alpine Owners club? Yes, it is a GT mostly there have been a few mods that needed doing due to it basicly falling apart. I am a member of the owners club and there are some extremely helpful people who answered many stupid questions from me and some very technical questions from my guy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rimfire4969 Posted August 8, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 8, 2014 The tiger? with the V6 or V8 was supposed to be a bit quick!! They are quick and expensive, a decent Tiger will cost you about £30000 to £40000 now. Its one of those cars that I should of bought 20 years ago for £2000. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foxy bingo Posted August 8, 2014 Report Share Posted August 8, 2014 like it alot Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beardo Posted August 8, 2014 Report Share Posted August 8, 2014 Beautiful, glad you've got it back to how it should be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
birdsallpl Posted August 8, 2014 Report Share Posted August 8, 2014 They are quick and expensive, a decent Tiger will cost you about £30000 to £40000 now. Its one of those cars that I should of bought 20 years ago for £2000. My mate used to have a tiger in the late sixties. It was frighteningly fast for those days. I always remember it had no carpets and the metal in the passenger footwell used to get so hot you couldn't keep you feet on it for long, the heat used to travel through your shoes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
la bala Posted August 8, 2014 Report Share Posted August 8, 2014 Very nice, a good investment, enjoy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corkycorksta Posted August 8, 2014 Report Share Posted August 8, 2014 Love it, nice job Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cannon Posted August 8, 2014 Report Share Posted August 8, 2014 Cracking motor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mentalmac Posted August 8, 2014 Report Share Posted August 8, 2014 B E A Utiful!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ditchman Posted August 8, 2014 Report Share Posted August 8, 2014 really nice back to its original design.....not "fast striped"....pretty as a pic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loriusgarrulus Posted August 8, 2014 Report Share Posted August 8, 2014 A real head turner. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bugman Posted August 8, 2014 Report Share Posted August 8, 2014 Very nice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scully Posted August 8, 2014 Report Share Posted August 8, 2014 Absolutely beautiful ! You have very good taste; nicely understated restoration. It is very easy to go over the top, but that is perfect. I always liked the Sunbeam Alpine from being a small boy but the nearest I've got to owning one is a Dinky model ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daystate 177 Posted August 8, 2014 Report Share Posted August 8, 2014 Love a classic car me thats a stunner mate well done Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
88b Posted August 8, 2014 Report Share Posted August 8, 2014 Very nice, hope you enjoy it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keg Posted August 8, 2014 Report Share Posted August 8, 2014 Superb! I used to rent a flat of the owner of the Berkshire Sunbeam Alpine Centre in Hermitage in the 90s. Had all sorts getting dropped off at weird times. A great car and not so well known. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
four-wheel-drive Posted August 9, 2014 Report Share Posted August 9, 2014 I must say you have made a smashing job of it and just in time for the last bit of summer then I hope it will be going into a nice worm garage for the winter. As for the tigers being fast they had ford mustang V8s in them not the good old rover ones that most uk cars ended up with so in many way they had a lot in common with the AC Cobras. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rimfire4969 Posted August 9, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 9, 2014 Thank you for the kind works, as expected a couple of teething problems after the rebuild. The main one is the gearbox, some sort of internal linkage has done one. Luckly the gearbox was a full rebuild and under warranty, so new bits sent down and being fitted as i write this. The joys of classic car ownership Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
four-wheel-drive Posted August 11, 2014 Report Share Posted August 11, 2014 This is something that I can never understand people pay out a load of money to buy a fully reconditioned engine gearbox axle transfer case etc etc only to put it in and have problems with it and have to take it off again not so bad if you can do it yourself but if you have to pay others to do it it can get a bit expensive. To my way of thinking if I pay good money to buy a reconditiond part then there is no excuse for it not to work out of the box. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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