John Marston’s Sunbeam cycle business in Wolverhampton built experimental cars from 1899 and its first production car in 1901; the Sunbeam Motor Car Company followed in 1905. Under Breton engineer Louis Coatalen, who joined in 1909, Sunbeam built fast, well-engineered cars and became a leading name in motor racing.
In 1923 Henry Segrave’s Sunbeam won the French Grand Prix, the first Grand Prix victory for a British car, and Sunbeams set a string of land speed records, including Segrave’s 203mph run at Daytona in 1927 in the 1000hp Sunbeam, the first car to exceed 200mph. Malcolm Campbell also set records in a Sunbeam that he named Blue Bird.
Sunbeam joined Talbot and Darracq in the S T D Motors combine in 1920, and in July 1935 the Rootes brothers bought it. Rootes launched the Sunbeam-Talbot marque in 1938, dropping the Talbot name in 1954, and built the Rapier, the Alpine sports car of 1959 and the Ford V8-engined Tiger at its Ryton-on-Dunsmore plant, with the Tiger assembled by Jensen in West Bromwich. Chrysler took over Rootes and dropped the Sunbeam marque in 1976, although the name lived on until 1981 on the Chrysler and later Talbot Sunbeam hatchback.
