Founded by John
Marston in 1901, a sheet metal worker who built
up the company Sunbeamland to manufacture bicycles.
Marston allowed his apprentice Thomas Cureton
to tinker with prototype cars, the resulting
Sunbeam Mabley of 1901 being a curious cross
between car and motorcycle, the four wheels being
set in a diamond formation.
Soon taken over by
businessman T.T. Pullinger, by 1907 the company
was manufacturing the Angus Shaw designed 16/20,
along with the 12/16 tourers. They quickly found
success in competition work, the company expanding
to a 30 acre site by the end of World War 1.
In 1920 it merged with Talbot to form STD motors,
allowing Sunbeam to use the far superior overhead
cam Talbot engines, these being used to create
record breaking racers - including Malcolm Campbell's
V12 car, which set a new Land Speed Record in
1924.
The STD combine would fall upon hard times,
and Sunbeam turned to the manufacture of trolleybuses,
however in the early post war years it again
turned to the manufacture of automobiles, the
highlights being the beautiful 1959 Alpine, and
potent V8 equipped Tiger. Also see
Lost Marques:
Sunbeam
