13x14 - 1963 Sunbeam Alpine

[bunniefuu]

all the way from Boston with love
if you're looking for a classic British

sports car with some old-school racing
heritage then here it is the 1963 Sunbeam

Alpine recently the prices have gone
through the roof four-speed 1600 CC

engine delivering just under 80
horsepower with a lot of fun this was

the very first James Bond car to hit
the silver screen I feel like double o

three-and-a-half if Ed can get the old
motor singing again and we can refresh a

very tight interior we need to make it
a bit more luxurious then surely profit

will follow so after a tireless search
on the Internet I've managed to locate

just one car that happens to be miles
away it's a 1963 Sunbeam Alpine that

becoming far more rare these days
and prices for prime examples are in the

mid-twenties if it is exactly what
I'm looking for I won't wait to get it out

on the road and it's listed at $8,000
now if there's going to be one issue

with this car it would be that
age-old problem with cars of that

generation rust now this car is in
Boston which is on the eastern northern

side of America and they put salt on
the roads very much like we do in the

UK and that means rust will get into
those dark and dirty corners where it

would just fester for years to come
and if this car has got any tinworm I'll be

fighting it forever in a day so I need
to have my wits about me and make

sure that this car is as rust free as
we could possibly get you Eric yes

there Mike Eric how you doing nice
to meet you nice to see you you're

right I'm good and who's this little
man my son Jed hey you you're right

where you off to school yep see you
buddy see you after school have a good

one so this is the car this is the car
Wow it's 1963 Alpine Sunbeam it's been

sitting around for 20 years roughly it
was a former race car so that's why it

kind of looks like the condition it
does we open the bonnet and see this

engine not a problem unfortunately
it's not the tiger no it is not the v8 but

it's a little four-cylinder twin carb
setup not a dot of rust anywhere that

little fuse pulled over now I can see
barely anything's connected to it so do

the electrics work or not no not all
the electric worse because it was used

as a race car they used the bare
minimums of what they needed to get

it to run I knew that will be one of
the weak areas and that's a point.

to look at let's have a look inside.

Wow look at that everything's been
stripped out to make it little racing

car and that's a good thing because
it means I can see this floor which is.

rust it's like it come out the factory
thank God they kept the original

dashboard which is nice for the
original dials that's very period so

what about this roof well this is a
removable hardtop I've looked at quite

a few of these online most of them
are the convertible they don't have the.

hardtop for sale so this becomes a
rare item another telltale sign of the

cars racing pass is the old-school
fuel cell remarkable and the chrome is

fantastic as well the only thing I need
to make sure is that it actually does

do what it does on the tin gets
down the road it starts stops and it

goes so if you don't mind I'd like to
take it for a test drive go right ahead.

well here I am in a Sunbeam Alpine I
was referring to Britain's famous fine

Mr. James Bond and that will be Sean
Connery in Dr. no driving one of these

around a gallery felt a little bit
better than I do right now in this one

because this is like
James poverty not James

Bond I feel like double
o three and a half.

and this is kind of terrifying because
there's a lot of snow on the road

and I'm in a car that's rear-wheel
drive with brakes that still think

they're in 1963 so what I'll do is
make sure that this car has got a

thorough wash after both
underneath and on the outside

to get rid of all that salt
because it will rot the car.

I've got a few miles now that's
when calm set up feels a little bit vague

it feels a little bit tired the
suspension feels really tight but it

also feels really hard so that could
be tired as well this car needs a whole

lot of work but this is what it
is this is a Sunbeam Alpine it is

completely rough three this is a
rare car and it's got a detachable hard

top that makes it even rarer it
separates itself from the other cars out

there the truth is Eric wants $8,000
for this car and I think it's worth that

but I need to make sure I give me
an end a good head start but I reckon

we're gonna meet somewhere in the
middle around seven and if I can make

that happen this car will be an
absolute steal Mike what do you think

exciting that's what 1963 feels like
driving that car I just think you want

too much money for it what was your
number $8,000 see I think it's worth

$6,000 you know the money I'm
gonna spend on this car just in parts alone

is gonna be astronomical I have
some parts here that you can use to put

this car back together that's gonna
save you some money okay well I'm

interested what are they let's take a
peek right here I have center console.

exhaust lenses rear screen everything's
here it does make a difference but the

car is still too expensive I've got
three other people waiting to look at

the car oh okay six thousand five
hundred dollars six and a half grand

and a half not gonna do it come on
have a deal with me seven thousand.

okay seven thousand
dollars I'll let your end

and I just bought myself
a Sunbeam Alpine.

I think for seven thousand dollars
on all of those parts I've got us a

proper little bargain I can see
a profit on the horizon fantastic.

the name is Brewer Mike Brewer I
thought you're familiar now I make

look at this all the way from Boston
with love the little Sunbeam Alpine so

it's gonna be riddled with rust you
would think so when you're Northeast

salt on the roads but actually this is
quite rare find when they was filming

Dr. no in Jamaica they needed to find
a little sports car for Sean Connery to

drive around him and the only one
on the island happened to be a little

Sunbeam Alpine so they borrowed that
and that's why this car became famous

so under the bonnet for your
eyes only that was quite good look at

that Mr. Brabham so this could be
a full-on Brabham race engine but I

mean do we have any documentational
proof that this is what it should be no

but he was the guy who come up with
the idea to put a v8 engine in the little

Sunbeam Alpine that went on to
become the tiger you know what happened

to them well recently the prices have
gone through the roof they've gone

skyrocketing in their prices I mean
you're talking six-figure sums and we

could never afford one of them but
we've got an upgrade of the car that

James Bond would have driven
back in the film Dr. no so we're sort of

double-oh seven and a bit if you
like the interior you've got all the

cars in the dashboard which needs a
bit of work I mean what kind of things you

want to do with this you want to go
for kind of luxury or want to keep it.

racy well I think we need to retain
that racy heritage that this car might

have that's very important but we
need to make it a bit more luxurious we

should go for a nice luxurious
interior like the GT did have because

this is a GT car okay I mean when it
has got that lovely GT hard top but it

doesn't really fit it'd be nice if
it did so we've got a bit of a gap

there on the a-pillar it doesn't
fit down here in the back I'll stop

moaning you just need your golden
fingers to be working on it I did it

again if you open up the boot you'll
be pleased it's very clean in there isn't

it it's got a spare wheel as well in
fact I've got a whole pallet of spare

parts on their way to the workshop
we do need to think about what we're

gonna do with a color well I
think these cars that great in red of

course the convertibles look fantastic
in white too no doctor no what we got

to do is blue we got to do this
current blue like Sean Connery in the.

film he had a blue one and that looked
really cause my fun yeah be nice with it

and if we get this right I know that
we can extract the profit out of this car.

and it'd be like a quantum of solace
do you even know what that means I.

got a clue nobody knows what it
means a morsel of comfort well then

we're gonna get a morsel of comfort
and some cash real cash with no

documentation the challenge is
to discover the true extent of his

engines racing past now the next thing
to check and perhaps the most important

thing of all actually is to see what's
been going on with the porting and

the polishing of the head now there
are many signs our little Sunbeam

Alpine has had a bit of a racing
history first of all there's a little

badge on the back from the sports
car club of America and of course.

you've got the roll cage which clearly
isn't standard also the interior has

been replaced by a load of
aluminium panels which are nice and

lightweight and then on the passenger
door here there's a little light which

actually lights up the car's number
for night racing which is very interesting

but perhaps the most significant
difference and maybe even the most

obvious one it's actually the fact
you've got this very non-standard

engine in position you can see it's
very proudly sporting the name Mr.

Brabham now he was a very famous
racing driver and engineer back in the


suggests that you couldn't just get.

this rocker cover as an accessory
you could only buy it as part of one of

three upgrade kits for this particular
engine now as it turns out this engine

doesn't come from a Sunbeam Alpine
it actually comes from a Hillman Minx 3b

and it turns out it's actually quite
tunable now the thing is because

it could be one of any of those three
stages the only real way to find out

is that you take it apart and have
a look well first up a little look at

the Springs because one of the kits
was actually to have uprated Springs

obviously had a higher lift can
fortunately I have no frame of

reference so I can't really tell they do
have double Springs in there but that

actually was standard on the Minx
engine it comes to the other side I'm.

looking at these push rods they don't
look standard which is interesting they

look kind of modified or machined
this one is bent that's not ideal I.

don't know how many other ones
are that one seems okay so that's

interesting so not much the wiser
but it doesn't like somebody has been

doing a little bit of work on there
so I guess we just keep on going.

taking off the carburetors here now
interestingly both the stage one and

stage two kits utilize the original
standard Zenith carburetors but then

they actually fitted bigger jets
bigger emulsion tubes to get more fuel

and air into the engine and of course
those carbs of that kit came also with.

these pancake air filters so this
could go either way it could be one or.

two it probably isn't the stage three
key overall because that involved much

bigger Weber carburetors and we
certainly haven't got those and this

exhaust header is actually quite
interesting as the stock manifold would.

have been cast wouldn't mean so
great to getting the exhaust out of the

engine whereas this four branch
version is actually much better it's

actually called a tri-y because you see
there's a Y there there's a Y there and

there's a Y there now because
it's so much better at extracting the

exhaust gases from the engine of
course you do get a power increase

what's really interesting is this
was an option in addition to the three

stages for just 12 English pounds
at the time you could go for this as a

nice little extra so that's kind of
cool it doesn't really help us with our

mission now the next thing to check
and that's the most important thing of.

all actually is to see what's been
going on with the porting and the

polishing of the heads because
that was really the whole point of all

three stages of the Brabham kits
now what I'm looking for is really just a

smoothness of airflow going in and out
of the head and so any original casting

marks normally is like little shelves
little lines all of those should be

polished away and in fact both ports
of all of course the exhaust and the

inlet ports will all be matched to
actually fit to the same shape as the

exhaust now I just put my finger
inside I can feel unfortunately lines.

from the casting down both sides and
they should actually be missing by now

so that's the inlet I'll try the
exhaust there's a lot of soot in here

but again I can feel little lumps and
bumps and ridges and they really should.

also have been removed so it would
seem that this may well actually be a.

stock head now Brabham did use
or work on stock heads there was

potentially one saving grace they also
polished the combustion chambers so

maybe I should have a little look
take the head off have a look inside and

see if any of that work has been
done all right so all of the head

bolts are now undone so I'm hoping
is it should be too if you were to

prise it off we've got the water
pump hose just there there we go look

at that so having a look inside and
again the chambers don't exactly look

polished so I'm not really sure that
this is even a stage one head it's not

ideal now the last thing I need to
check on this engine is what cam is

fitted in it because the standard
cam has a lift of two hundred and fifty

five thousandths of an inch I've got
my little dial Gauge here going on to

a push rod which is going into the
cam follower so now I just crank the

engine over I'm measuring how high
the valve is lifted to allow gas flow so

you see around one to well to 67
more lift more gas more power now that is

really interesting because that means
it is actually a high-performance can

that's kind of weird because it
means obviously we have a stage two

conversion and yet our head doesn't
seem to have any work done on it I.

need to check the head for any
cracks now unfortunately I can't.

Magnaflux it because because it's
aluminium a magnetic field why don't you

penetrate the aluminium at all I
could X-ray but that does take time and

obviously can be expensive as well
but what I can try is actually heating up

locally with a torch and the idea is
that anywhere I suspect there may be a

crack if I heat that area up then
the methods gonna expand slightly if

there is a crack then oil should
bubble through a little crack it

should be quite easy to tell what's
going on if I can show you here's a

little bolt and I just heat this up I'm
looking for as I heat up the nuts and.

the bolt itself oil should bubble up
between the two gaps but you can see

there straight away it's just bubbling
through so that's exactly what should

happen if I find a crack in the head
hopefully I don't see any of that at

all but before I go any further I
will just clean up the suit make it.

easier to see what's going on
obviously I don't want to put too much

heat into the head and warp it in
any way okay so the first one's looking

good there's no oil seeping
through there's a little bit of moisture

actually coming out I'm just looking
the gaps between the valves and

between the valves and the spark
plug because that's where the metals

really thin I'm also just gonna check
around the valve guys just to see it's

unlikely there's any problems here
well that is really great news because

it means there are no cracks and
therefore our head is worth pursuing.

with.

whilst Ed is getting to grips with
the engine of our Sunbeam Alpine I'm

looking to increase our performance
in another way now this is the exhaust

header of our little Sunbeam Alpine
and it's a really clever efficient little

system because it's a four port that
goes to a two port and then out to a

single port and it flows the exhaust
out the back but there is a way to

improve the efficiency
without altering the

makeup of the exhaust
and it's all about coatings.

morning fellas how are you yeah
very good so this is off my little Sunbeam

Alpine all right but you say by not
altering the makeup of the exhaust you

can even prove it how can we do
that yeah absolutely by first sandblasting

it to clean it give it an etching and
a profile yeah and then we would

ceramic coat it ceramic coating can
handle 18 to 2,000 degrees without this

coloring and has a 20% thermal
reduction quality meaning it keeps 20% of

the heat in the pipe cool so that
means under the bonnet it's gonna be a

lot cooler 20% cooler so just fine
ceramic coats in the exhaust you

instantly get an improvement upgrade
as well yeah improvement in horsepower

performance absolutely it's incredible
isn't it yeah and you can help me do

this today yeah absolutely right
Sam Boston let's do it all right.

we're using sand today on air exhaust
but you can use different kinds of

medium you can use broken
glass beads soda some people

even use walnut shells it
gives a different kind of finish.

reducing temperature under the bonnet
makes a cooler denser air going through

the intake which means better flow
more power ceramic coating is basically

what it is it's the ceramic paint and
we're simply spraying it on before it

goes to the oven now the reason this
is important is because not only as you

can see already it looks good but it
means that the component the exhaust is

gonna last so much longer and it's
gonna give more power and if you're

thinking how do you get more
power by just putting on a little bit of

spray if you can reduce the
temperature under the hood by 20% you

get a 6% increase in power on a
little car like our Sunbeam that is

significant right there Dan Francisco
is giving me that which he's painted

they're gonna put that in the oven
it's gonna go in for about an hour if

you're wondering how much all this
comes to well it was just believe it or

not a hundred and twenty five dollars
about 80 pounds and for me that's a

bargain now Mike can be forgiven
for finding it's a car with an engine

that's not exactly as it should be
because visually it does look the part

first of all you've got your rocker cover
with the Brabham name on it you've

got the helmet makes bottom end
you've got the tri-y exhaust and of course.

things like the distributor and the
carburetors wouldn't actually look

any different after the conversion we
even have those pancake air filters and

of course the head should normally
be cast iron is an aluminium rapier head

which is exactly what Brabham would
have started his conversions with so

as anyone's we've got on the
inside we could see anything visually

different and the most obvious thing
straight away is that it hasn't been

imported and polished now the reason
that Brabham in fact any tuning company

would actually try to do that kind of
work is to try and get the air going in

and out of the engine to flow as
fast and as smoothly as possible and.

that's exactly what I'm gonna do now
using a die grinder so the first stage

really involves quite a coarse burr or
set of burrs really just to remove a lot

of metal reasonably quick you know
do is to get rid of any lumps and bumps

any inconsistencies but also to
get rid of those really sharp angles

particularly on the tightest curves
and that way the air is definitely gonna

flow through but of course then
we have to think about other obvious.

obstructions so now we can then
start using a little sanding tool and

then it's obviously a little bit less
aggressive and I can kind of work

away at things like the
flashing which is basically

just excess metal left over
from the casting process

all right so I've now done all the
coarse grinding and the sanding so I've.

got a really lovely shape in there but
if you compare it to what I haven't done

you can see on that one I've got
lots of little ridges at the bottom it's

quite a sharp angle at the top and
also there's little humps at the back

either side of the valve guides so
what I have to do now is the rest of them

all right so the final stage as
I've just done is actually then

treating the surfaces of both ports
so I have to do with the exhaust is

Polish it up as much as I can to
get these exhaust gases out of the

head as quickly as possible but it's
not quite the same story for the inlet port

that wants to be a little bit rough
and the idea is to keep the air slightly

turbulent keeping the fuel air mixing
up nicely but also there's often a

tendency for the fuel so she fall
out of the air and wet the sides and

the extra surface area will help it
re evaporate back into the air and of

course get back into the burn of
the engine now what I've got to do is

the other three cylinders and then
I've got to send the head off to a

machine shop to be skimmed and
cleaned and then I can put it back on the

engine with the port and polishing
done and the headers with their new.

ceramic coating we're on the road
to better performance right and then

Francisco is giving me
that now it's all about

instrumentation and
presentation look at that is nasty.

everything is looking really tidy under
here which is great news but Mike did

have a comment about the suspension
saying it felt either harsh or perhaps

sporty now going by the great condition
of all the components under here I'm

definitely gonna plump for sporty and
while I wait for our head to come back

from the machine shop
I do need to think about

breaking the car down
ready for the paint job.

Brutes the manufacturer of Alpine
had a different approach to the other

British sports cars at the time as
unlike MG Austin Healy and Triumph it's

the only one with wind-up windows
I really do love this feature of her car

obviously it was designed originally
to light up the car's number while

going night racing well that's
quite classic so covering the nut the

center of our steering wheel is
actually the back of a pool cue so.

somebody has used either a coffee
tin or a baked bean tin as the collar the

stream well I think we can do better
than that as one would expect there

are a lot of wires behind here
and they all have to be labeled and

so make sure they're all in the right
places and then that way the dash can be

taken out because it really does
need quite a bit of work I'm expecting

Mike to turn up any minute now
so I think I might leave that for him.

right the next thing to tackle is this
rather nasty dashboard as you can

see it looks well the worse for where
the dials and the gauges they're all

bitty and they need cleaning up
and they need taking off but the wood

itself it looks like it's just a piece
of old plywood or should I say

driftwood because there's holes in
it it's been knocked about and I think

what we need to do is to change it I
haven't thought about what to change

it to but I do know it's got
to come out so we've got a

label up all the wires at
the back right where to start.

no he's not here is he Oh bugger
that is look at that that is nasty I mean

like properly nasty behind here there's
wires that I know I've got a label up

going from one thing to another
thing but there's also bare wires that are

sticking up and it looks like it's a
non-professional job so when we put

this together we could actually be
repairing a lot of people in the past.

bad work look at that one that
one's quite nice I can see what they've

done there they they decided to wire
this one up so I could label that how

would I label that signet blue wire
thing and this which is a very nice

little Smith's clock I wouldn't
imagine that's quite rare that had no

connection go into it whatsoever
and no light bulb go into it so that's

going to be in their monks this nest of
wires somewhere and we're gonna have

find that again aim to use quite a
lot of that when we put this car back

together that rev counter I've now
got all the dials out I've still got some

toggle switches to go they're gonna
be quite easy to get off but you can see

the state of the timber I mean it's
quite Fred bear but then saying that it

is complete it is all there and it's
quite solid what I might do actually is

just find a local company and there's
gonna be plenty around you can just

cover this give it some sort of
covering maybe black leather put the.

gauges back in all cleaned up that
could look quite smart up there on a

dashboard so I think I'm
gonna try and salvage as

much of the original car
as possible by doing that.

the car's back from pain
doesn't look too shabby does it.

oh no what's wrong Dr. no it's
fantastic look at that on a color and a

car is epic I knew we
was right to go down the.

now it's definitely a lovely color
obviously just come back from the paint

shop I'm just starting to fit all the
bits and pieces it's gonna take a while

but it's looking great already does
look fantastic and how's that Brabham

engine of ours all finished well
that actually was a bit of an enigma

really because it couldn't really
tell whether it was a stage one or a

stage two Brabham kit and it turns
out unfortunately it didn't actually

have a ported and polished head
so I had to do it myself but now it's

back up to Brabham spec really
and I bet it looks fantastic now it's

got those nice shiny headers on it I
did why does the headers the exhaust

headers that I got done when huh if it
got them done about three or four days

ago I left them on my toolbox for you
what you haven't done it no Edward.

what's wrong with you I left them
here there you go what you think of

them well that ceramic coating
is really good because of course it

actually keeps the heat into the
exhaust let's get the exhaust out of

the exhaust system which means
we get more power also reduces on the

bonnet temperature and it's a nice
surprise for the new owner when he opens

the bonnet sees a detailed engine
and a nice shiny header absolutely now

talking of surprises I've got a few
in store for you in the inside of the

car as well Oh surprises I like
surprises like what I can't tell you

what the surprises are otherwise they
wouldn't be a surprise would they for.

$2,000 a little over 1,300 pounds our
Alpine has been taken right back to its.


splendid now these may look like new

bumpers but actually they're the
original ones just with a lot of elbow

grease but they look fantastic.

Mike has been pushing this car in a
more luxurious direction but I don't.

want to forget the racing heritage
so to that end I've actually got rid of

our leaky old fuel tank and put in
a brand-new fuel cell which is up to.

race spec now it's foam filled to make
sure but obviously the fuel doesn't stop

around too much but also it's got
a special breather on there so that.

should the worst happen you
roll the car over it won't spill fuel all

over the track and because it's slightly
smaller than the original tank there is

now more room for champagne and to
mix a Martini or two our freshly skimmed.

head is now back from the machine
shop I've bolted onto our nicely dressed

engine and I've even put on that
ceramic coated try wire header that

might went to the trouble of getting
sorted thing is though I'm a little bit

worried about the fact we're bolting
on more weight in the car with its

extra plushness so what I've done
is actually swapped out our dodgy old

dynamo there for a very high-tech
custom-made alternator now not only

is this half the weight of the dynamo
but actually also produces four times

the power so plenty of extra energy
for any added gadgets what I have to

do now is bolt everything back
together again and then pop it in the car.

using a flywheel locking tool to
hold the flywheel keep it still while I

torque up the bolts insert the clutch
plate alignment tool to keep the disc

centered with the pressure plate
during assembly it would have been

great to fit the dual twin rubber
carbs that would take our stage two to

a full stage three problem conversion
but unfortunately searching time and

budget wouldn't allow when I've got
the two-stage problem engine back into

the outbound I've certainly set the
stage for more fun to come with the

engine in I can finally turn my
attention to the c*ck I've chosen

tan vinyl for the interior finished
off nicely with black piping on the

seat covers and we chose to
refinish the dash rather than cover it the

depth of grain really sitting well
against those original dials I was

looking for a classic British racing
experience with movie star good looks a


all the way from Boston with love it's

gonna be riddled with rust I found
one with personality and a true racing

pedigree Robin famous racing engineer
back in the 50s and 60s that pedigree

needed some workload this gave it
the chance to upgrade and do a bit of

pointing and polishing morning fellas
I supplied beautiful ceramic coated

dry headers under the bonnet it's
gonna be a lot cooler 20% and we had

a whole car resprayed in classic
bond colors on a color and a car is epic

we also completely revitalize the
interior the result just takes your

breath away but just how much
did that breath cost us well the car

itself is a still at just seven grand
total for the rebuilt heads and

accessories 314 ceramic coating of
the exhaust manifold just 260 we rebuilt

the carburetors and added an
oscillator for just 189 bucks the

total for the interior including audio
was $2,400 and 210 on new chrome

and the remainder of the cosmetics
and 2,000 bucks for the respray the

total then twelve thousand three hundred
and seventy three dollars around eight

thousand pounds and 32 man-hours
you've got love this car but more

importantly you've got to drive this
car looking good now what is it with

you creeping up on people you're gonna
give me heart attack and you're right.

today I am looking good no the
Sunbeam is looking good no don't doesn't.

fantastic head this car is amazing
it's probably one of the best sports cars

that we've ever created we don't
even if we just stopped doing the visuals

only I think we still would have
added value to this wonderful stylish

convertible then one thing I hate
about convertibles misses with your

hair it messes with yeah no it's
driving them with a roof on I don't

like that I like roof off experience
topless topless yeah exactly come on

help me get it off Wow look at it I
mean the color late blue was the

perfect choice but I think we've
nailed it when it's like tan it's much more

popular and it's so inviting so what's
under the bonnet as with any great

bond adventure obviously it's full of
mystery and intrigue and there was no

different for our engine here obviously
we could see I had some kind of

Brabham conversion but now it
is absolutely raring to go I can see

you've done some great work on
this engine and the engine bay it looks

absolutely fantastic no
doubt you've tuned up the dual

carburetors so it should perform
lovely I'm eager to feel it's gonna be like

under my right foot and you will I
know I will and I'm eager to test out

that old header that I had
ceramic coated so should

we take you for a test
drive I think so yeah.

first bought this car it was slipping
and sliding around and that snow and ice

I've got to tell you I can't
really test out this car's

sporty performance but
now I feel a bit like a hero.

this car just inspires confidence Edward.

the steering it just feels tighter.

the way it turns into these sharp
ends the gearbox is lovely and sweet

obviously the sound coming from that
at the end you put a twin car is wonderful.

the suspension feels really grippy
this car and I love the confidence it

gives me when you push it
into these tight mountain beds.

a surprising amount of power is
always warranted so to that end what

I've done is try to make
the car as light as possible.

so first of all the generator actually
swap that out for a lightweight

alternator that's actually saved quite a
bit of weight and given us a load more

power also swapped out the original
headlights and things for LED bulbs

which caused the lights to and
the rear glass of course was a bit

scratched to swap that out the
lightweight polycarbonate and so all

that kind of stuff goes with
the virtually saved up 50

pounds in always really yeah
about the same weight as me

you know it was in good working order
just been a bit neglected yeah well I've

got to tell you that the collection is
gone because this car feels like it's

had some real good attention lavished
on it talking to which I think now this

car's where it should be it's gonna
get a lot of attention when it drives

down the road so well done this
car feels so much more lighter it feels

so much more peppy and
it sort of feels down at this

car has got its youth back
and it's breaking heritage.

now these are the only surprise
obviously we're gonna go on a little

adventure you want a really great theme
tune hey we got stereo well I'm sure you

like many many people nowadays
have their music catalog obviously only a

smartphone so I've saved a load
of weight by not fitting a stereo but

fitting just Bluetooth speakers that is
so clever I mean you can turn that off

I can see it was Sean Connery who's
driving he's got to know on a road like

this when he looked at his rear-view
mirror and he see that bunny coming

along he did indeed he looked at his
rear-view mirror saw the bad guy and

actually then smiled and relish the
idea of the challenge yeah cuz that's

exactly what I would do
that's how me but surely that as

I like to refer to him would
deal with such adversity.

wonderful day what a wicked little
test drive do you know what I love this

little motor the market for this
car is really strong at the moment

Americans particularly love a little
British sports car so I reckon I could

sell it that way but I reckon I could
sell it to anyone who just wants a

really good little weekend driver but
I reckon it's a true Alpine fan who's.

gonna beat a path to our door quicker
than anybody else and this car it will

return as a profit I don't expect them
to walk I expect them to buy Mr. Brewer.

Mr. Brewer Mike Brewer
it just doesn't work does it

now some beam turned out to be
a cracking little motor right now it's

out having a test drive we've got rod
behind the wheel I hope he's out there

enjoying it in fact I hope
he's infusing over that tiny little

Brabham engine that we found
under the bonnet that had done a load of

work too because that car really does
get down the road well now price-wise

it owes us twelve thousand three
hundred dollars that's around eight.

and a half thousand pounds I've got it
advertised at nineteen thousand dollars

and I'm hoping to get near that
because it's such a great little car

right now I can hear it coming
back so hopefully Rob has got all four

corners on it he's not damaged it
in any way and I can't put a deal.

together and here he comes yeah
bring it on in there you go lovely stop.

whatever you do don't k*ll the current
owner of the car hey get them Rob how

was that great good yes a lot of fun
it's a bit nerve in for me when people

go over a test drive I want to make
sure it comes back with all four corners.

on it I was very very careful I promise
why a Sunbeam Alpine what's your

story used to hear my dad talking about
Sunbeam Alpine's and always wanting one

he never managed to get one himself so
I think that when I drive up his driveway

with my new Alpine you'll be very very
pleased that's amazing all you need to

do is to peel out of your pocket
nineteen thousand US dollars put it

into my hand and you can go make
you that proud I really like the car Mike I

I'll need to do some things make some
adjustments and personalizations that

will cost me some money so would
you take 17 $17,000 that kind of hurts.

don't worry though it hurts in a good
way it's a nice offer okay well listen

this was a James Bond car okay James
Bond was the ultimate gentleman so I.

want $19,000 you've offered me 17
why don't mean you be gentlemen like Mr.

Bond why don't we just meet in the
middle $18,000 what you say come on.


yourself a Sunbeam Alpine a little Sunbeam

Alpine has made an amazing journey
and I'm not just talking about from snowy

Boston all the way here to sunny
California I'm talking taking this once

converted racer back to its former
original international spy glory this

car will suit any Alpine fan just like
Rob and I know it's gonna make him

and his dad very proud if you want
to see more iconic cars like this being

worked on by me and the tall man join
us again soon on Wheeler dealers tell up.