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Wow - I Unexpectedly Wound Up With an Alpine

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M

Mike_in_CA

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Well just for grins I bid the minimum bid on a 65' Alpine on Ebay. I figured it still had a week to go and it would have only taken an additional $10 to out bid me, so I would quickly be out bid. As luck would have it, I wound up winning it. Until I get into it, I am not sure if it was good or bad luck, but either way, I am now a first time Alpine owner. Of course it is not my first British car. I ahve owned Austin Healeys, MG's, Jags, a Mini and a Triumph. So I am not a novice when it comes to old British cars, but this will be my first Sunbeam. If anyone has any advice or parts sources, please let me know. I hope I will get to know some of you now that I am one of you.
Mike
 
VB will get you by for most stuff but I go to Sunbeam Specialties for the harder to find things.

I finally got the worn wire wheel spline replaced on my daily driver Alpine and I had forgotten how much I love it. The Alpine is a great car to drive every day, easy to get in and out of, enough power to stay with traffic, handles great and is very mild mannered. I would choose an Alpine to take a trip in over a Tiger any day, I have several of both and hands down the Alpine is more comfortable to drive.
 
Nice! G'luck with it and post pictures when you get it.

My only advice would be to leave it mostly stock. As Steve says, they are nice cars as-is.
Unmolested Alpines are getting more and more rare.
 
Well the nice thing is that as far as i can tell, it is completely stock. Other than a newer radio, it has pretty much been left alone. All the gauges are stock and the dash is not hacked up and has all original switches, knobs and emblems. The engine still has the original carb and even the steering wheel is stock. So I think it is probably worth keeping and fixing up. It just needs a little maintenence on the mechanical and probably a new paint job. I would try to polish out the paint , but there is a small spot on the left rear fender that had some prvious body work that was not done very well. So i would have to have that redone anyway, and I doubt they could match such old paint. So as I get into it, I guess i will see what i got myself into. But it is nice to know that one that is so original is a good thing.
Mike
 
Does yours have the single Solex carb?

The Good: You have the very desirable intake manifold that is needed if you want to upgrade to a Weber.

The Bad: Parts to rebuild the Solex such as the floats are not available.

The car that I drive daily still has the Solex, I love it because it has great economy, doesn't need to be synced and has the secondary cold starting carb for startup. (Your choke cable connects to the little carb on the side instead of a choke)
 
I had a similar thing happen only in my case it is a MK I Jaguar! :smile:
 
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