Sunbeam Lotus

[deano12345]

mch said:

This was mine back in 1986 - The car I most regret selling. Where is it now? What a great motor. It was absolutely mint, really quick, and the sound of the 4 Dell'Orto bellmouths at 6000 rpm was fantastic...



Cheers

Mike

i think they only made 50 in that color, ones up for sale here, needs some paint

http://www.pure-lotus.co.uk/used-cars/talbot-sunbe...

[Slinky]

Glad you posted this, I saw a pair of them on over the weekend, they were close jct 7 of the M5, marvellous bits of kit...

[deano12345]

it was the 32nd anniversary of the car this weekend, there was a gathering down south somewhere

[deano12345]

no update but it is for sale

[Rallysunbeam]

Mike

You were looking for DAC19Y. I can tell you I have it. I have had it for the last 6 years. (Or should I say whats left of it) the shell is presently on a spit in my garage waiting for me to do more work on it. Would love to hear any history you have on the car.

Cheers Kev

[With these feet]

Its bizzare how we all hankered for one of these. When I sold my Mk2 RS2000 I looked at one, moonstone blue IIRC and it was already starting to show some bad rot! They were pretty shoddily put together - finish etc wasnt too clever and the ones that were run by people I knew were off the road more than on! One of those cars that was better than the sum of its parts. In the end I chose a MK2 Cortina Lotus, but thats a different story.....

[200Plus Club]

mine- love it. been out for a thrash today and had 2 or 3 over drivers toot their horn and thumbs up!so many people come up and chat about it and say they wish they still had one!

[epom]

Superb :-) still quite a few rallying them over here.

[Kitchski]

Thumbs up! True petrolhead car.

[mark morris]

I remember my dad taking a blue one for a test drive when they were new, him and i loved it, my mum didnt, ended up buying a Saab 900 turbo instead.
When i passed my test i bought a manta gte, a friend had lotus sunbeam lookalike with a 1600 engine, used to go out watching night events together, flat out everywhere back then
Mark

[Rallysunbeam]

Hi,

I am quite lucky as I have had 3 Lotus Sunbeam's. My first was MGH 760V that I owned for 4 years. I was in the RAF at the time and was posted to Gibraltar. I drove it all the way there, fantastic apart from the breakdown. The next was the car shown below. LDH 594V started life as a road car. The engine lasted less than one event and expired. I fitted an C20XE and it was really competative. The new owner has put a Lotus engine back in it as far as I know and it lives in Scotland.



I now have DAC 19Y. That is detined to be a full tarmac spec car but is presently on a spit in my garage.

Cheers Kev

[Lotusevoraboy]

Wow...never really knew of these cars. What's the history behind them? Did Lotus tune them or build them? Where were they pitched in the Market place at the time? I'm guessing they were a bit more successful and niche than the triple valve Protons that were 'engineered by Lotus' a decade or so ago?

[Rallysunbeam]

Picture of LDH in action on the Kallkwik to many years ago.



Cheers

Kev

[Rallysunbeam]

Follow the link below for all the info on the car

http://www.sunbeamlotus.com/the-car/about-the-sunb...

Kev

[Rallysunbeam]

200Plus Club said:

mine- love it. been out for a thrash today and had 2 or 3 over drivers toot their horn and thumbs up!so many people come up and chat about it and say they wish they still had one!

Your car is stunning mate. Is it a DAC car? Definatly a credit to you.

Kev

[200Plus Club]

Rallysunbeam said:

Your car is stunning mate. Is it a DAC car? Definatly a credit to you.

Kev

no its a DOD and luckily i picked it up after a long restoration so pretty much as it is now. love it to bits, for a 30yr old car its great. had it tuned and set up its bang on the money around 150bhp and 150ft/lb. previous owner spent about 4or 5 yrs restoring it.

[200Plus Club]

Lotusevoraboy said:

Wow...never really knew of these cars. What's the history behind them? Did Lotus tune them or build them? Where were they pitched in the Market place at the time? I'm guessing they were a bit more successful and niche than the triple valve Protons that were 'engineered by Lotus' a decade or so ago?

world rally champions back in the day. way less than 100 cars left on the road i believe now. other than at the recent sunbeam lotus national meet (22 cars!) you never see another out and about on the roads or at shows.

[Rallysunbeam]

Your a lucky man. It looks stunning. In my opinion the best colour combination to. Is it std or respectfully modified? After Rallying one, there is a few changes I would make to a road car such as an LSD and uprated brakes, but as a classic you have got a real nice toy.

Kev

[200Plus Club]

Rallysunbeam said:

Your a lucky man. It looks stunning. In my opinion the best colour combination to. Is it std or respectfully modified? After Rallying one, there is a few changes I would make to a road car such as an LSD and uprated brakes, but as a classic you have got a real nice toy.

Kev

all the proper mods done, salisbury plated diff, axle strengthening kit, uprated bushes, modified front crossmember for a bit of neg camber (all as per homologated mods). its also got slightly larger discs (brembo grooved) and spaced calipers with kevlar fast road pads. front strut brace as per works type cars, msd ignition, and its on 195/50/15s on 6" minilites. it drives and turns in really well. it might do with being a touch lower but its only a road car not a track/sprint car.

[Rallysunbeam]

The car looks perfect. Under the bonnet as clean as the top. Dred to think what you had to pay to get such a nice example. I have added the under bonnet picture as a Lotus and latter as a redtop. The purist hate it but it is a better car with the newer engine.

Kev