Russell's Blog

2009-08-16T07:46:00.003+01:00

Another of the greats has passed. Former Rootes Competition Manager Marcus Chambers was 98.

http://www.brdc.co.uk/NOTICE-OF-DEATH-MARCUS-CHAMBERS

2009-04-15T22:14:00.002+01:00

The 2025 Sunbeam Tiger

2009-01-28T02:56:00.001Z

Happy birthday Sunbeam. This year is the 110th anniversary of the first car.

2008-10-10T04:30:00.001+01:00

Sad to report that Peter Jopp, who raced and rallied Sunbeams for the works team, passed away in August. He was 80.

2008-10-05T03:25:00.001+01:00

Vic Hughes in Australia has published this great Rootes calendar for 2009. There are different editions for different countries.

http://stores.lulu.com/rhughes

(The edition without a country name against it is for Australia)

The images from the calendar can be previewed here:

http://s122.photobucket.com/albums/o262/sunalp63/Calendar2009/

2008-08-09T02:35:00.005+01:00

I've finished putting together this Retro Slot Alpine slot car kit. This was a very easy one to build so I'd highly recommend it for a novice. I've painted it up as "Rosebud" - the Alpine driven by Brabham and Moss at Riverside in 1961.

The only change I made was to swap the Minilite wheels from the kit for some Ninco wire wheels which were more appropriate for this livery.

2008-08-09T02:33:00.002+01:00

The Sunbeam Car Club of New Zealand is selling these DVDs with great old promotional films for the Rapier.

http://www.sunbeamcarclubofnewzealand.org.nz/dvds.htm

2008-05-18T02:21:00.004+01:00

I enjoyed putting together the Imp slot cars so much I decided to buy a World Classics Sunbeam Lotus kit. These show up on ebay quite often. I found this a bit more work than the Highway32 kits but the result was worthwhile.

Note the Minilite wheels shown here aren't the ones that came with the kit. I had these from a different project and found they suited the car better.

2008-02-29T10:56:00.004Z

Here's how my Highway32 Imp slot car came out:

2008-02-29T10:51:00.003Z

Trailer for the new Get Smart film, including prerequisite Sunbeam:

http://www.firstshowing.net/2008/02/27/must-watch-brand-new-get-smart-trailer/

Somehow I'm doubtful it will live up to Mel Brooks' original.

2007-10-06T00:42:00.000+01:00

I've more or less finished my Highway32 Stiletto slot car (see previous post). Here's how it's come up:

2007-08-01T13:30:00.000+01:00

I've just taken delivery of a pair of slot cars from Highway32. The first one is an Imp saloon kit. I'm tossing up whether to do it as a replica of my own Imp or whether to do it up as the Bevan Imp.

The second one is an Imp coupe which I intend doing as a Stiletto.

Both are nicely detailed models. The shells are designed such that they can be configured for either single or twin headlights, depending on which Imp variant you want to represent.

They also come with a choice of wheel trims so you can go with either hubcaps or Minilite alloys.

I'll be sure to post more pictures when they're finished.

Highway32 also do Alpine and Rapier slot cars. You can find out more at http://www.traffic-modelcars.com/

2007-06-19T10:02:00.000+01:00

The site was looking a bit dated so I gave it a spruce up today. No new content at the moment - the changes are all cosmetic! Hopefully it's a bit easier on the eyes though.

2006-12-12T21:14:00.000Z

It really is the end this time. Ryton produces its last car:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/coventry_warwickshire/6170599.stm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/check/nolavconsole/ukfs_news/hi?redirect=st.stm&news=1&bbram=1&bbwm=1&nbram=1&nbwm=1&nol_storyid=6172917

2006-09-15T23:07:00.000+01:00

Another obituary I'm afraid. This time Raymond Baxter, who was part of the Rootes works rally team and narrated many Rootes promotional films, has passed on:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/5350436.stm

2006-04-21T14:24:00.000+01:00

In case you've missed this in the news, it's been announced that the old Rootes plant at Ryton is to close next year.

BBC NEWS England Coventry/Warwickshire Motor city loses last major plant

2006-02-02T09:18:00.000Z

With great sadness I must report that works rally driver Colin Malkin has passed away.

Rallysport Magazine On-line - Vale: Colin Malkin

2006-01-07T10:18:00.000Z

I've now added Google Earth placemark files to my Hitchhiker's Guide to the Sunbeam Factories section.

If you're not familiar with Google Earth, it's free software that allows you to view satellite images of the entire Earth's surface. Resolution varies from place to place, but all the locations I've provided placemarks for have good clear images.

2005-05-22T08:10:00.000+01:00

One for Sheila Van Damm fans - there's a new film out soon called Mrs Henderson Presents. It is about the Windmill theatre with which the Van Damm family was associated. Bob Hoskins plays Sheila's father.

No word yet on whether Sheila appears as a character in the film. I doubt there will be any Sunbeam content although one can always hope.

(For the uninitiated, Sheila Van Damm was one of Sunbeam's greatest works rally drivers.)

2005-04-09T03:50:00.000+01:00

Sadly the old Rootes plant in Humber Rd, Coventry is to be demolished.

http://iccoventry.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0100localnews/tm_objectid=15368720%26method=full%26siteid=50003%26headline=peugeot%2dplant%2dset%2dfor%2d%2dpound%2d50m%2drevamp-name_page.html

2005-02-18T05:09:00.000Z

Scottish Vehicle Register of Australia & NZ

As many Sunbeams were built in Linwood, Scotland, the above site may be of interest.

2005-02-09T09:26:00.000Z

SOCNSW

The Sunbeam Owners' Club of NSW now have a website up.

2004-12-08T09:16:00.000Z

I've been having a bit of a tidy up of my club directory over the last week.

I've deleted the following clubs from the list because I've heard nothing from them nor seen any reference to them in a long, long time. If they do still exist please let me know and I'll gladly put their details back up.

Canadian Association Of Tigers
Ontario Tiger Owners' Association
Midwest Tiger Owners' Association
Sunbeam Tiger/Alpine Association - Chicago
Sunbeam Tiger Owners-Pacific

2004-11-30T05:17:00.000Z

I've just come across this site which might be of interest if you like Sceptres.

The Humber Sceptre

2004-09-25T10:47:00.000+01:00

The ex-Rootes plant at Ryton, Coventry is still going strong. It's about to get an upgrade with funding from the British Government.

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6305991

2004-08-04T09:41:00.000+01:00

Sad to hear that we've lost two more works rally team drivers. Both Ronnie Adams and Lola Grounds have passed away recently.

2004-07-31T10:12:00.000+01:00

Does anybody know anything about this?

http://www.sunbeammotorsports.com/tiger.htm

I'd be fascinated to hear more about it.

I wonder if they really have secured the rights to the Sunbeam name. I wouldn't have thought PSA Peugeot-Citroen, current owner of what used to be the Rootes group, would give up the rights that easily.

2004-07-02T11:33:00.000+01:00

Budapest04 - Blogged!

As I write this a group of intrepid Imp owners are driving their cars from London to Budapest and back again. You can follow their progress on the site above.

It's all in the name of charity. If you feel like making a donation, you can do so via the site.

2004-05-07T18:57:00.000+01:00

Things have been a bit quiet here as I've been away for a few weeks in Austria. Unfortunately I wasn't in a position to contact any local Rootes enthusiasts. I did keep an eye out though and spotted a green Avenger on the outskirts of Vienna which appeared to be in excellent condition.

There are also a pair of Imps in a car museum at Aspang. The batteries in my digital camera died in the museum, but luckily I had my "analogue" camera as backup. Provided the pics turn out okay I'll add them to my Museums section.

I was amazed at the variety of cars on Austria's roads. I'd be hard pressed to name a current make of car that isn't available there - European, American, Japanese and Korean brands - they all seem to have some sort of presence.

2004-04-09T09:37:00.000+01:00

If there's one thing I find hard to stomach from the period where Chrysler owned Rootes it's the axing of the Asp project. The Asp was to be Rootes' entry in the Spridget/Spitfire end of the sports car market. It was to use the overhead cam, all alloy Imp engine. Rootes hadn't quite worked out whether the engine was to go in the front or back. In any case it looked like being huge fun.

Unfortunately when Chrysler stepped in they couldn't understand why anybody would want to buy a funny little car like that, so they scrapped the whole idea.

It's ironic then that Chrysler is now considering building the Dodge Slingshot, a car that seems very much like a modern interpretation of the Asp.

2004-04-07T10:24:00.000+01:00

I've been very much enjoying working my way through the Rootes-Chrysler.co.uk
site over the last few weeks. Keith Adams has done a sterling job. Well worth a look!

http://Rootes-Chrysler.co.uk

2004-04-06T13:56:00.000+01:00

The downturn in the new car market has hit Peugeot UK (the company we used to know as Rootes). After reaching record levels of production at Ryton over the last couple of years, they've now had to cut production and sack workers.

2004-04-06T10:50:00.000+01:00

Did a bit of housekeeping on the site tonight. I've fixed/removed some broken links on the links page. Also I've updated the links and suppliers pages owing to Rootes Group Depot's change of ownership.

2004-04-06T10:31:00.000+01:00

I thought I'd set up a blog on the site as a bit of an experiment. Could be handy for noting down any Sunbeam-related things that are rattling around in my head. I don't know how diligent I'll be with new postings, but I'll do my best!