1926 Sunbeam 3-litre

This is a photograph that I took at the Lancashire Automobile Club's Manchester to Blackpool Veteran and Vintage Car Run in June 1975 at the junction of Peter Street and Lower Mosley Street.

It’s the 1926 Sunbeam 3-litre of A. Heib, but there are no other details in the programme of the event. The programme of the 1972 Run had this note about the car:

 

Mr. Andrew Heib, Greenmount, Bury, Lancashire.

1926 Sunbeam 3-litre Sports Tourer, 2,916 c.c.

A regular entrant on the Run and winner of the Daily Telegraph Challenge Trophy in 1970.

1913 Sunbeam 3 litre

I took this photograph at the Doune Museum in Perthshire which we visited when on a family holiday in Scotland in August 1996.

The museum description of the car reads as follows:

'A replica of the earlier French Grand Prix racers. This car was bought new in 1913 for the son of a Galloway family. When he was killed in 1914 or 1915, during the First World War, his mother ordered that the car be buried. It received its first Log Book in 1974, having been recovered after being struck by a plough. The engine was still free, and after restoration, the car went on to take part in hill climbs, including Doune, and other events.'

Sunbeam 3-litre

This car's pictured in the Exchange Station car park in Manchester approaching the start-line of the Manchester to Blackpool Veteran and Vintage Car Run in June 1990.

It's John Tattersall's 1925 Sunbeam 3-litre, except that the short entry in the programme seems to cast doubts about the engine capacity:

138     1925 Sunbeam 3-litre

            Reg: YN 7831  6 cylinder  3,500cc

            (John Tattersall, Burnley)

I've looked through all the pre-war Sunbeam cars and the nearest I can find to 3½ litre engines are the Sunbeam 25 of 1927 to 1932, which was 3618cc, and the Sunbeam 20 of 1931 to 1933 and the Sunbeam 25 of 1934 to 1935, which were both 3317cc. I suspect the figure in the programme was a misprint - the Sunbeam 3-litre actually has a capacity of 2916cc.