Returning to Coventry after many years!
Registered first in Northampton but now living in Coventry, the MotoFest Team finds out more about this stunning red Sunbeam Alpine at the recent Club MotoFest BreakFest Meet.
A highlight for the MotoFest Team at our BreakFest Meets is the opportunity to spend time speaking with our Club MotoFest members, who all have such fascinating stories of their pride and joy and share their unique encounters within the automotive world.
Club MotoFest member, Geoff Hammond shared with us the journey of his lovely Sunbeam Alpine Series 5, which began it’s life in Coventry, manufactured in Ryton-on-Dunsmore. Which we drove very close to on the Shakespeare Run – Revival. The ‘Ryton Plant’ as it was known, was originally constructed to build aircraft engines for World War II. However after the war it became the headquarters of the Rootes Group where it began to produce cars including Hillmans, Humbers, Sunbeams and Talbots.
The car had a variety of owners before Geoff bought the car a few years back. Before reaching Geoff, this Sunbeam Alpine had spent the majority of its time up in Derby, where it had a major restoration. Getting many elements restored such as the body, engine, dashboard, and interior, helping to return it to its previous beautiful condition. The engine was upgraded to a Holbay 1725cc engine, Holbay produced the engine for Rootes by re-working the cylinder head, pistons and new cam to increase its power by about 10hp to about 105hp.
Geoff explains “I have a complete file of the history of the car… including the set of invoices that he gave to me for the restoration” which he can tell came to a small fortune!
At this moment though, Geoff can simply enjoy and treasure his time with his Sunbeam Alpine with many more journeys to come, including future MotoFest road runs! It was a delight seeing Geoff and his restored Sunbeam Alpine at the BreakFest Meet with many other interesting classic and modern cars all on display.
If you are joining us for our upcoming Club BreakFest Meet and have an interesting story with your car or motorcycle, drop us an email in advance at contact@coventrymotofest.com so we can ensure a member of the team can speak to you at the event.
