Sunbeam History

The Sunbeam auto maker originated in England in the year 1888. Originally, the company never even made cars. All they made was bicycles in the beginning. From there it led to motorcycles and then eventually cars towards the very end of the century. Every item that was produced as a Sunbeam all wore the same logo badge to identify them. It was a Sunbeam vehicle that was the very first car from Britain to win a Grand Prix race event. During the First World War, Sunbeam even designed and created an aircraft. They truly have done a little of everything over the course of history.

John Marston was the man that founded Sunbeam originally. Marston was a man with a great love for cycling and he turned his attention to creating his cycling company at an early age. That was around 1877. The first Sunbeam car was not created until 1901 due to a partnership that Marston had forged with Maxwell Maberly-Smith. The production of these cars went for just a few years and did not receive the level of success that had been anticipated. The company did not give up though and they focused on becoming more advanced and matching their competitors in the marketplace.

During World War I Sunbeam became heavily involved with manufacturing aircrafts. These were not a large commercial success but they were in demand at that time. The company did not only rely on this for sales success. They also branched out to manufacture such things as trucks and ambulances. When the war was over Sunbeam went on to experiment with various mergers, finding success with one French company that helped them to become more of a household name.

It was the year 1935 when Sunbeam was purchased by the Rootes Group. The Rootes Group took the Sunbeam and combined it with Talbot coachwork to create the Sunbeam-Talbot. These models were sold during the years that followed the war. The Rootes Group often joined forces with other companies for such things as certain types of car body or engineering. It was 1954 when Talbot was taken off of the Sunbeam name. It wasn’t long until Rootes began to have hard times financially. The distress led them to seek out new production alternatives.

It was 1964 when Chrysler bought 30% of the Sunbeam Company. This was good for each auto maker. Sunbeam was in a bad financial situation and Chrysler was looking for a viable way to break into the European automotive market. The company had many issues when it came to quality versus the cheapest method of manufacturing. Things did not greatly improve for Sunbeam, despite their newest merger.

Chrysler no longer owns rights to the Sunbeam Corporation. Instead, they were sold and the last Sunbeam with a Chrysler name was made in the early 1980s. There is currently a group that Sunbeam owners can become a member of. It is a primarily European group, having events in the United Kingdom. The Sunbeam is a very rare vehicle now that is difficult to find maintenance information and parts for. If you have one, get in touch with the European group for assistance.