DO YOU REMEMBER - THE SUNBEAM HARRINGTON ALPINE?
By Andrew Roberts |
14th December, 2020
In the years immediately before the launch of the MGB GT in 1965, a sports car enthusiast who craved greater weather protection for winter had a limited choice. None of the “Big Five” manufacturers offered a sleek 2+2 tourer with the partial exception of the Consul Capri GT. However, the sort of motorist who favoured flat hats and club blazers would probably have regarded the Ford as transport for flashy types who used too much aftershave.
Alternatively, a reasonably affluent driver could have bought a modified version of a popular model. The MGB Berlinette by Jacques Coune of Brussels was undeniably elegant, but it did not receive BMC support - and all models were LHD. The three-door Triumph ‘Dové GTR4 was a more plausible choice for a British motorist, not least for the bodywork created by the Hove firm Thomas Harrington & Co Ltd. And in March 1961, the company also offered Harrington Alpine.
In essence, the rather smart new Sunbeam was an Alpine Series II fitted with a GRP roof. Rootes dealers sold the coupe as an official conversion, and the customer was also able to specify one of three stages of FIA-approved engine tune. The Motor of 5th April thought the Harrington was ‘As good as it looks’ while £1,225 was a reasonable price for such style. That year saw a run of 110 Coupes in 1961, and by the end of 1961, the keen driver was offered the high-performance Le Mans version, which was immediately recognisable via its fin-less three-door bodywork.
Unlike the Harrington Alpine coupe, Rootes distributed the Le Mans as an official product. Some 250 left the Sussex works with half of the production run destined for the USA; Road & Track of June 1962 referred to it as ‘a successfully gilded lily’. The tester also pointed out that the Le Mans was entering ‘a tough sector of the market, being in a price category with Porsche, Alfa Giulietta, Alfa 2000 and Volvo P-1800’. Yet, in his view, the Sunbeam had ‘a pretty good guarantee of success in the limited quantities in which the car will be built’.
October 1962 saw the original coupe replaced by the Model C, which combined a Le Mans-style hatchback with the familiar Alpine fins. Harrington made just twenty examples before unveiling the Model D in January 1963 which featured the Alpine Series III’s windscreen. By this time, the company was converting only a few Sunbeams, and production ceased in October 1964 with a Series IV-based Model D. There was also one Harrington Tiger; in 2015 it sold at RM Auction for $170,000.
The Alpine itself ceased production in early 1968 and had Rootes’ Chrysler possessed more foresight they might well have offered a second-generation model in coupe form. As it is, the surviving Harringtons are a testament to the ingenuity of 1960s British coachbuilding – in addition to more than fulfilling the brochure’s promise of ‘a thoroughbred sports car’.
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