Description
This is lot number 527 in the Bonhams Beaulieu Sale on September 14th, please see the Bonhams website for full details.
Single family ownership from new
Resident at the same address for its entire life
An older restoration
Extensively campaigned
John Marston Limited's first Sunbeam production car, a De Dion-engined voiturette, was sold in 1901, but it was not until 1907, two years after the Sunbeam Motor Car Company had been formed, that the firm produced its first all-British model: the 16/ 20. The arrival of designer Louis Coatalen, and the pursuit of an effective competitions programme, enabled the marque to establish a formidable reputation prior to WWI, its superbly made products enjoying a reputation rivalling that of the best from Alvis and Bentley thereafter. Superseding its Vintage-era namesake, the new Sunbeam Twenty was produced between 1929 and 1933 and was powered by a 2, 916cc overhead-valve six-cylinder engine initially, although by 1930 this had been superseded by a 3, 317cc unit rated at 23. 8hp. Two different wheelbase lengths were offered - 124. 5 and 131 - while semi-elliptic springing, vacuum servo brakes, and a silent third gearbox completed the chassis specification.
Purchased new by Sir Ambrose Heal, 'GK 8560' later passed to son, VSCC luminary and Sunbeam aficionado Anthony Heal, and then to his grandson Oliver Heal, the current vendor. The Sunbeam has resided at the same address in Buckinghamshire for its entire life with the Heal family. Their famous furniture shop still occupies premises on London's Tottenham Court Road, where it has had a presence since 1818.
In October 1930 Sir Ambrose visited the London Motor Show and a few weeks later placed an order for one of the new Twenty models: chassis number '7070M', engine number '7049M'. An open tourer body was ordered from Charlesworth of Coventry, and the Sunbeam was first registered on 16th February 1931.
It was not long before Sir Ambrose was testing the Sunbeam's capabilities, driving it to the South of France in 1932 with his wife Edith and two sons Christopher and Anthony. It would be the first of many such holidays with 'The Family Sunbeam'.
When war broke out in 1939 the Sunbeam was consigned to barn storage, remaining there until hostilities ceased six years later. Sir Ambrose then handed the car on to his son, Anthony. In 1946 Anthony drove the Sunbeam on the Motor Industry Cavalcade through London, and in 1954 transported Sir Ambrose to Buckingham Palace where he received the Royal Society of Arts Albert Medal from the Duke of Edinburgh. The Sunbeam continued to be used for family holidays and in 1976 was given to Oliver Heal. It was decided to restore the car, the task being entrusted to Heal's own mechanics, whose everyday duties involved maintaining the firm's fleet of furniture lorries. Post restoration the Sunbeam was once again used for family holidays, including to France.
Among other documents, the history file contains the original handbook/ instruction book; various pieces of correspondence; expired MoTs; and a file of bills and invoices from the 1980s, most work at that time being undertaken by M R Collins of Holcombe near Bath. Also on file is a fuller history of the Heal family and their Sunbeams in the form of a six-page article by Matthew Bell published in The Automobile magazine in 2017 (March edition, copy on file), together with Oliver Heal's own account of life with 'The Family Sunbeam'.
