Another mystery car

[dandarez]

threespires said:

hpojnk said:

Sorry to bump but it's still bugging me.. the more I look the more I still think it's a heavily modified 1960 Sunbeam Alpine.. to me the crease/curve in the rear quarter and the front wing is millimetrically identical/unaltered; the front wing curves down a bit too. I think the headlight position is identical too if you look at some of the reference points between the two cars. Obviously the car looks quite small, may have a flip front/gullwing doors and a radically different screen, the bonnet looks too low and the driving position looks wrong but I still think that's what it is underneath/borrowing a lot of the body from. No idea who/what/why but it's too intricate to be fake or anything other than a one off special/prototype, it looks great imo.

Attached a very rough comparison of the two plus my rough/unfinished model

That's a nice model you have there.
Indeed, there are many Alpine-like features to it.

After many years on P/H and many other forum and magazine features worldwide, I'm amazed that this is still a Mystery car.

Same here.

However, hpojnk - why make your model left-hand-drive, and why the 1972 reg plate HPO 741K ?

edit
I was just sitting here wondering why on earth that something about that reg plate was resonating with me?

Ahh. (the number part and suffix).

Edited by dandarez on Friday 22 July 12:11

[hpojnk]

Just unfinished placeholder, same reason it has no doorshut/flip front shut lines, steering wheel on the wrong side etc etc I have some other theory to polish up and post too, probably meaningless but I find this whole thing fascinating

[Johnnytheboy]

Someone else making models...



Period ad found for a gull-wing Sunbeam... albeit red...

[thegreenhell]

Johnnytheboy said:

Period ad found for a gull-wing Sunbeam... albeit red...

Has anyone tried ringing the number to see if 'Jones' or a family member is still alive or has any memory of the car? I know the phone number is obsolete now, but it should be possible to track down the address and try to find the previous owner from there. Anyone in the area want to go knock on the door?

[threespires]

thegreenhell said:

Johnnytheboy said:

Period ad found for a gull-wing Sunbeam... albeit red...

Has anyone tried ringing the number to see if 'Jones' or a family member is still alive or has any memory of the car? I know the phone number is obsolete now, but it should be possible to track down the address and try to find the previous owner from there. Anyone in the area want to go knock on the door?

Good find!

[skwdenyer]

threespires said:

thegreenhell said:

Johnnytheboy said:

Period ad found for a gull-wing Sunbeam... albeit red...

Has anyone tried ringing the number to see if 'Jones' or a family member is still alive or has any memory of the car? I know the phone number is obsolete now, but it should be possible to track down the address and try to find the previous owner from there. Anyone in the area want to go knock on the door?

Good find!

In fairness and giving full credit, the ad was found by the same he-who-shall-not-be-mentioned who created the 3D model previously shown in this thread and now in that magazine.

[RATATTAK]

skwdenyer said:

threespires said:

thegreenhell said:

Johnnytheboy said:

Period ad found for a gull-wing Sunbeam... albeit red...

Has anyone tried ringing the number to see if 'Jones' or a family member is still alive or has any memory of the car? I know the phone number is obsolete now, but it should be possible to track down the address and try to find the previous owner from there. Anyone in the area want to go knock on the door?

Good find!

In fairness and giving full credit, the ad was found by the same he-who-shall-not-be-mentioned who created the 3D model previously shown in this thread and now in that magazine.

Just pop in:

Hoe Farm House
Hoe Road
Bishops Waltham
SOUTHAMPTON
SO32 1DS

[threespires]

skwdenyer said:

threespires said:

thegreenhell said:

Johnnytheboy said:

Period ad found for a gull-wing Sunbeam... albeit red...

Has anyone tried ringing the number to see if 'Jones' or a family member is still alive or has any memory of the car? I know the phone number is obsolete now, but it should be possible to track down the address and try to find the previous owner from there. Anyone in the area want to go knock on the door?

Good find!

In fairness and giving full credit, the ad was found by the same he-who-shall-not-be-mentioned who created the 3D model previously shown in this thread and now in that magazine.

Our good friend who brought so much to the table...

[nicanary]

The date of 1961 could refer to the date of registration. The "overhauled engine" makes me think older Sunbeam - surely an Alpine from at the earliest 1959 would not need overhauling? I reckon it's a false trail.

[skwdenyer]

RATATTAK said:

Just pop in:

Hoe Farm House
Hoe Road
Bishops Waltham
SOUTHAMPTON
SO32 1DS

We’ll this of course lines up with the too-good-to-be-true story that popped up a while back. But which came first: that tale, or the discovery of this advert?

[skwdenyer]

RATATTAK said:

Just pop in:

Hoe Farm House
Hoe Road
Bishops Waltham
SOUTHAMPTON
SO32 1DS

He-who-shall-not-be-mentioned has already been digging around this: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1385729311666547/p...

[restoman]

Living in Hedge End - a few miles away from Bishops Waltham, I have been told by a long standing local that the current owners have been there 40 years or more and are not called Jones. The old farm house still exists but other properties have also been built on the land.

[threespires]

restoman said:

Living in Hedge End - a few miles away from Bishops Waltham, I have been told by a long standing local that the current owners have been there 40 years or more and are not called Jones. The old farm house still exists but other properties have also been built on the land.

Thank you

[borrani72]

New pictures and discussion here (for some reason you need to paste the link directly into your browser):

https://autoste.com/topic/25433-mystery-car-on-p...



Online article:

https://anarchadia.blogspot.com/



Door opening animation (not gullwings??):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhMICMe_qIk



How an Alpine would sound on Vere Street.............

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOyA97zXj-g

Edited by borrani72 on Thursday 28th July 11:41

[threespires]

borrani72 said:

New pictures and discussion here:

https://autoste.com/topic/25433-mystery-car-on-p...
Online article:

https://anarchadia.blogspot.com/
Door opening animation (not gullwings??):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhMICMe_qIk
How an Alpine would sound on Vere Street.............
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOyA97zXj-g

Thanks for these links Borrani

[borrani72]

Johnnytheboy said:

Someone else making models...



Period ad found for a gull-wing Sunbeam... albeit red...

Does anybody recognise the full-page ad. Looks expensive, or is it a mocked-up magazine?

The online article link from a couple of posts back states that the 1961 Sunbeam Special ad was from Autosport magazine from 1964.

Does anyone have a copy?

What is interesting is that the Sunbeam ad appears directly above the 'SPORTS CARS' section of the classifieds, and looking at the ad above "750 road or formula car", appears to be in the racing car section. I would expect, if it was our blue car, it would be listed as a sports car............

Edited by borrani72 on Thursday 28th July 16:50

[skwdenyer]

borrani72 said:

The online article link from a couple of posts back states that the 1961 Sunbeam Special ad was from Autosport magazine from 1964.

Does anyone have a copy?

Coming soon, apparently at https://www.themotoringarchive.com/autosport/

borrani72 said:

What is interesting is that the Sunbeam ad appears directly above the 'SPORTS CARS' section of the classifieds, and looking at the ad above "750 road or formula car", appears to be in the racing car section. I would expect, if it was our blue car, it would be listed as a sports car............

The idea this is "our" car is a bit of a hail mary pass, I believe, but nonetheless fun to run down.

[dandarez]

skwdenyer said:

borrani72 said:

The online article link from a couple of posts back states that the 1961 Sunbeam Special ad was from Autosport magazine from 1964.

Does anyone have a copy?

Coming soon, apparently at https://www.themotoringarchive.com/autosport/

borrani72 said:

What is interesting is that the Sunbeam ad appears directly above the 'SPORTS CARS' section of the classifieds, and looking at the ad above "750 road or formula car", appears to be in the racing car section. I would expect, if it was our blue car, it would be listed as a sports car............

The idea this is "our" car is a bit of a hail mary pass, I believe, but nonetheless fun to run down.

I have literally hundreds of my old car mags, and some will be old Autosport. If I forget, remind me to have a look. That advert tells me something but I don't know what, except something does not ring right.

As for the 'motoring archive', a lot on there has been 'coming soon'
....for f ages!!!

[borrani72]

dandarez said:

I have literally hundreds of my old car mags, and some will be old Autosport. If I forget, remind me to have a look. That advert tells me something but I don't know what, except something does not ring right.

Thanks Dandarez.

Just been digging through to see what Autosports I have. Nothing from 1964, but to give some context, I found this...........



This is from the Jan 9th, 1959 edition, so a few years before the 1964 red gullwing special ad.

The Sunbeam 9.8 hp was the 1185cc four engine used in the Sunbeam Talbot Ten and the later 80, built from 1939 to 1950. Their smallest engine and at least 9 years old at the time. The asking price for this rebodied saloon was £225. Five years later, the red gullwing has an asking price of just £200, despite the special chassis. The 1959 classifieds also featured a 5-year-old (1954) Austin A30 for £350 ono.



A new Alpine in 1963-1964 had a list price of £840 inclusive of purchase tax.



I would guess a decent, bog-standard 1959 Alpine might go for about £500 in 1964, which perhaps gives some context to the £200 1961 red gullwing.


I'd still like to know exactly what it was though.................

[Dr G]

borrani72 said:

I'd still like to know exactly what it was though.................

The only thing about death I look forward to is not having to think about this thread every few months