1967 Sunbeam Alpine

Selling my 1967 Sunbeam Alpine mkV. I’ve owned it for about ten years but only really started working on it when I retired about 6 years ago. I’ve decided to sell it because I don’t drive it very much any more.

Over the years I have rebuilt the twin stromberg carbs, replaced the seats (I have the short-back original seats), added three point seat belts, replaced the rear transmission seal, replaced the soft brake lines and rear hard brake line, replaced the rear brake cylinders and shoes, rebuilt the front brake pistons, Added a smaller diameter brake master cylinder, replaced the shocks, I’ve had the speedometer/odometer and tachometer rebuilt, replaced the amp meter and added a battery kill switch. Of course the fluids have all been changed including the differential oil, steering box lubricant and radiator fluid.

The great thing about this car is that it’s been a solidly running vehicle once I figured out how to tune and time it. I’ve had to do a roadside repair only once when the alternator tensioning bolt broke but I have better aligned the alternator so that should not happen again. I have taken the car on several 100+ mile drives without a problem other than having to add oil to the transmission. It will keep up with reasonable freeway traffic and runs and shifts smoothly in town.

Of course this is a 60 year old British car so it also has plenty of issues. The brakes pull to the right on hard braking and do not live up to modern braking standards. The engine weeps and you will get oil on your garage floor. The engine does not seem to burn oil excessively but the plugs will get oily so I suspect a valve job may become necessary. The biggest leaker is the transmission. I hoped I had solved it by replacing the rear seal, but I did not. I generally have to add a cup of 30wt oil every 50 miles although the consumption went down when I used a 40 wt oil.
There is also a draw on the battery that I could not locate. It is not an issue when driving but it will drain the battery when the car is not running. I added a battery disconnect switch to deal with that problem.
Finally, while the engine and body are original, the steering wheel is not. A previous owner replaced the stock wheel that had an integrated horn with one that does not so I had to add an aftermarket horn which is activated by a switch on the center console.

Over all, this is a decent looking good running Alpine. Definitely not a show car but fun to drive. The car also has a hard top (shown in the last picture.)