This is a 1962 Sunbeam Alpine convertible that has been given a complete rebuild, including the fitment of a 300 bhp Ford 302 V8, a Tremec TKX 5-speed manual transmission, and QA1 coilover shock absorbers.
The Sunbeam Alpine would form the basis of the Sunbeam Tiger, a car modified by Carroll Shelby to incorporate a Ford V8 and a series of other upgrades, making it remarkably similar to the Shelby Cobra. This Alpine has been given similar treatment, but it benefits from a few upgrades that’ll make it faster than the Tiger.
Fast Facts – A V8-Swapped Sunbeam Alpine
- This 1962 Sunbeam Alpine has been completely rebuilt, it now has a 300 bhp Ford 302 V8, a Tremec TKX 5-speed manual transmission, and QA1 coilover shocks. These modifications make it far faster and better handling than the original Alpine or its famed sibling, the Sunbeam Tiger.
- Produced in three generations, the Alpine gained fame in the 1959–1968 second generation, designed to appeal to the American sports car market. Kenneth Howes, a former Ford designer, led the project, creating a car with sleek styling, a sturdy Hillman Husky-derived chassis, and competitive performance.
- The Alpine excelled in racing, winning championships like the SCCA G-Production title in 1960. It also appeared in iconic films and TV, driven by James Bond in Dr. No and Elizabeth Taylor in Butterfield 8, making it a cultural and motorsport icon.
- This custom Alpine includes rack-and-pinion steering, a shortened windscreen, chrome bumpers, QA1 shocks, and period-correct lap belts. It also features a Blue exterior, a Black interior with a Moto-Lita steering wheel, and modern additions like a Vapor Trapper canister and Black Widow Venom muffler.
The Sunbeam Alpine
Was built across three major generations, the first from 1953 to 1955, the second (and by far the most famous) from 1959 until 1968, and the third from 1969 until 1975. All three have a strong following in the Sunbeam enthusiast community, but none can argue that the most successful was the second generation was the most successful – one was even driven by Sean Connery as James Bond in Dr. No (1962).
Above Video: The Sunbeam Alpine would be the first car ever driven by James Bond in a film, making a memorable appearance in the 1962 Bond outing “Dr. No” based on the Ian Fleming book of the same name.
For the purposes of this article we’re going to focus on the second generation Alpine made from the late 1950s into the 1960s, and so for the sake of simplicity we’re going to refer to it plainly as the Sunbeam Alpine.
The Sunbeam Alpine was developed by Kenneth Howes and Jeff Crompton, their task was to design a new sports car that would appeal to the lucrative American market, competing with similar offerings from MG and Triumph both in pace and price.
The project was led by Howes, who also did the lion’s share of the design work. Some have compared the Alpine (and its stablemate, the Tiger) with the first-generation Ford Thunderbird. This perhaps shouldn’t be a surprise, as Howes was working in the design department at Ford on that very project before shifting to join Sunbeam.
The budget the two men had to work with was meager to say the least, so the order of the day was raids on the parts bin to see what they could use. The Alpine would be built on a modified version of the Hillman Husky floorpan with independent front suspension and a live axle rear, with front discs and rear drums.
The Alpine was initially powered by the 1.5 liter inline-four which sent power back through a 4-speed manual transmission, and an overdrive unit was optional, as were wire wheels.
The Sunbeam Alpine was targeted at young people and young couples on both sides of the Atlantic. Image courtesy of the Rootes Group.
The Alpine Goes Racing
Despite its humble power plant, the Alpine proved its mettle in competition time and again. At the 1961 24 Hours of Le Mans a Sunbeam Harrington (an Alpine with performance upgrades and a custom hardtop fitted) won the Thermal Index of Efficiency.
In Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) competition in the United States the model would enjoy similar successes, winning the G-Production National Championship in 1960, then 2nd in the F-Production National Championship in 1961, and 3rd in 1962.
Norman Lamb won the Southwest Division Championship in 1963, Dan Carmichael would win the Central Division Championship in 1964 and again in 1965. There would be countless other wins in races and club competition in the United States, Europe, and further afield in places like Australia and New Zealand.
The Alpine In Cinema (And TV)
Elizabeth Taylor would drive one in the film Butterfield 8 (1960), James Bond drove one in Dr. No (1962), Michael Caine drove one in Get Carter (1971), and Maxwell Smart drove one in the 1960s TV comedy series Get Smart, though it was dolled up to look like the more powerful Sunbeam Tiger.
Here we see a cutaway illustration of a Sunbeam Alpine, it was no mean feat to fit a Ford V8 into an engine bay designed for a modest four-cylinder engine. Image courtesy of the Rootes Group.
This version of the Alpine would be built across five series, from Series I through to Series V, with continuous upgrades over time. By the time the Series V model debuted in 1965 it was powered by a new five-bearing 1,725cc inline-four with twin Zenith-Stromberg carburetors, with power reaching a heady 100 bhp for some export markets.
By the end of production almost 70,000 examples of the Sunbeam Alpine would have been made, along with an additional 7,083 examples of the closely related V8-powered Sunbeam Tiger.
The Ford 302 V8-Powered Sunbeam Alpine Shown Here
The Sunbeam Alpine you see here is a 1962 model, meaning it was originally a Series II. It’s now been given a slew of major upgrades to make it not only quicker than it ever could have been from the factory, but also better handling.
The car is now powered by a fuel-injected 302 cubic inch (5.0 liter) Ford V8 capable of 300 bhp. Power is sent back through a Tremec TKX 5-speed manual transmission to the live axle rear end. It has a Vapor Trapper charcoal vapor canister, a K&N air filter, and a Black Widow Venom 250 muffler.
The car has rack and pinion steering, shaved door handles, custom Gray wheels, fog lights, and chrome bumpers front and back. It also has QA1 coilover shock absorbers and it’s been finished in Blue over a Black interior.
The Alpine (and the Tiger which is based on it) have been compared stylistically to the first-generation Ford Thunderbird and there might be something to the comparison – the Alpine’s designer previously worked at Ford.
It has a shortened roadster-style windscreen, a wood-rimmed Moto-Lita steering wheel, Black carpeting, and simple period-correct lap belts.
The car is now due to roll across the auction block with Mecum in early March. If you’d like to read more about it or register to bid you can visit the listing here.
Images courtesy of Mecum
Articles that Ben has written have been covered on CNN, Popular Mechanics, Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, Autoweek Magazine, Wired Magazine, Autoblog, Gear Patrol, Jalopnik, The Verge, and many more.
Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with well over a million monthly readers from around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
