1925 Sunbeam Tiger

John Marston registered the Sunbeam marque in 1888 with the intent on making bicycles. Between the years 1889 - 1901, the company dabbled in automobile making though none of their experiments were ever marketed. Their fist production attempt was in 1901 with the Sunbeam Mabley. It was powered by a single-cylinder engine with at most, three horsepower, and belt-driven rear wheels. Top speed was in the neighborhood of about 18 mph. At a price tag of 130 pounds, the company was able to find 420 buyers.

By 1905, the Sunbeam Motor Car Company officially separated from the motorcycle and bicycle section of its business and focused its attention and skill on automobile production. In 1909, the company hired Louis Coatalen as their chief design engineer. during this year the company was reorganized and all of their parts were not built in-house instead of relying on outside vendors.

Louis Coatalen was of the belief that 'racing improves the breed.' Driven by this theory, four Sunbeam cars were entered in the 1912 French Grand Prix where they emerged in 3rd-5th position. A short time later, they captured the top three spots at the French Coupe De L'Auto.

Automobile production was halted during World War I, though the company did produce items in support of the war effort. Production resumed in 1919 at which point the company merged with Darraq of France, which had recently acquired Clement-Talbot. The result was the STD Motors. The production and racing cars produced were still badged as Sunbeams, Talbots and Darraqu's.

Sunbeams were used in various sporting competitions, and for land speed record attempts. The first land speed record in a Sunbeam was in 1922 at Brooklands. Kenelm Lee Guiness drove a Sunbeam powered by a V12 engine and produced 350 horsepower to an average speed of 133.75 MPH. The car was later renamed 'Bluebird' by Malcolm Campbell and another attempt was made, hoping to bring the average to 150 MPH. In 1924 Malcolm drove Bluebird at Pendine Sands to a record of 146.16 mph. Another attempt by Malcolm was made in 1925 where he finally reached his goal of 150 mph (150.87 mph).

Major Harry Segrave had much success with Sunbeam's in Grand Prix racing, winning the French Grand Prix in 1923 and the Spanish Grand Prix in 1924. In the mid-1920s he set out to break Campbell's land speed record. His car, originally dubbed 'Ladybird' and then 'Tiger', rose the record to 152.33 MPH at Southport in 1926.

In 1927 Sunbeam made their final attempt on the record with a car powered by two V12 engines and having an available 1000 horsepower. The car was driven by Major Henry Seagrave to a record speed of 203.79 mph.

by Daniel Vaughan | Oct 2007