There is something about the Sunbeam which seems to attact the special builders. Maybe it's the car type engine layout, the simple clutch design, the roomy frame, or because ideas from the factory research and development never made it to production bikes. Whatever the reason, there are some excellant examples of Sunbeam Specials and here is a brief introduction to a few of them:

1300cc Porsche - Gordon Griffiths

Sounds incredible but this is actually a 1300cc flat four engine of the type fitted to the iconic Porsche 356 Speedster, you have probably seen Steve McQueen driving one. This particular engine dates from 1955 and was acquired by the late Gordon Griffiths from Germany in need of some repair. Gordon's ingenuity and skill in constructing this machine is quite incredible and although it has limited Sunbeam content it is a stunning machine. From the pictures you may recognise Norton forks and BMW rear suspension and parts from other machines but of interest to 'beamers is the use of the Sunbeam gearbox and rear drive. The rear drive is standard but runs on fully synthetic Shell Tivela gear oil without problems so I am told by Geoff Davies (the owner since the sad demise of Gordon in 1991). Geoff, a past VMCC president, has continued the development of the bike. The machine first saw the light of day in 1970 and was built for a reputed £53-10s from the fundamental base of a 1951 Sunbeam frame modified to accept the engine as a stress-bearing member. The bell housing was removed from the Beam box and fitted with a one off casting to accept the Porsche flywheel and BMW/BMC hybrid clutch. The gearbox is modified with an extra high top gear using Velocette gears. The BMW swinging arm contains the drive shaft and drives the Sunbeam standard rear (the supposed Achilles heal!). Specially cast rocker covers replace the original pressed items. The dizzy is a special double deck masterpiece sourced from Fiat parts and the alternator is Lucas RM series mounted on the front of the crank. Carburetion is by twin concentrics feeding each pair of cylinders through stainless steel manifolds, which are double skinned to create a jacket through which the engine oil flows. This cured a big carb icing problem in cold weather. With 44 bhp Geoff reports that acceleration is not in the 'do or die' category but the equal of a good six fifty. Cruising speeds of 75-80 mph and 40 mpg are reported with stability and handling on par with a BMW R60, quite an achievement for a 480 lb. machine.

600cc Reliant - Colin Temple-Smith

This machine is a Sunbeam with a four cylinder in line engine fitted. Now it is quite well documented that Sunbeam experimented with the same layout using a very similar engine, in fact this machine could be described as that missing link! The Reliant engine is a relatively compact 600cc unit and is of all aluminium construction. Apart from the frame modifications required the rest of the machine is pure Sunbeam. Obviously the machine is slightly longer but the whole thing looks very “factory”. The four gives the machine huge flexibility and will pull away on a whiff of throttle with perfect smoothness thanks to the retention of rubber mounting, albeit differently engineered. In fact the engine is very difficult to stall and will recover from almost stopped to a nice smooth idle at a hint of throttle, thanks to the SU carburettor. Being water-cooled overheating is not a problem. The bike is nicely balanced even better so than a standard Beam and probably weighs much the same the extra wheelbase making for a very “planted” feel. Reliant developed this engine and its capacity increased to 700, 750 and then 850 cc in the Reliant Robin so there’s plenty of potential for even more umph without changing the installation.

650cc Fiat - Colin Temple-Smith

Colin Temple-Smith’s current road going special is sometimes mistaken for the standard machine. The engine is derived from the rear engined Fiat 126 of 650 cc capacity. This twin cylinder engine fits snugly into the standard unmodified frame using all the original mounting positions re-engineered. The engine is an air-cooled pushrod unit and has five chrome pushrod tubes the centre tube being an oil return and has therefore been christened “tubular Beams”. The frame is originally S8 but uses S7 forks and wheels the saddle being a home crafted item mimicking the S7. The engine has received attention to the fining some being removed and some being welded on. The balance factor was changed to cope with fore and aft installation after the transverse mounting in the donor car and although at idle the engine shakes once on the move things smooth out to accepted Beam levels. Colin seems to be constantly modifying and improving this machine, latest cosmetic additions are the handsome Indian style deep valance mudguards with moulded detailing. This is a really pretty Beam which always attracts admiring looks, but it is fundamentally a working bike. It is used intensively for weekends and holidays and in 2005 visited Isle of Man for Manx week. It was used exclusively and reliably for the event attracting attention wherever they went, credit indeed for a fine machine.

Swinging Arm Sunbeam S12 - John Davies

This is a Beam engine with the cross flow cylinder head. John Davies actually machined the head from the solid sometime ago but it is worth repeating that the bottom end is standard apart from the addition of full flow oil filtration. The head uses 250cc Kawasaki valve gear and being cross flow keeps the carb out in the cool air an arrangement experimented with by Sunbeam themselves. At one time this head was fed by two carbs but John has recently changed to a rear facing single instrument, the manifold being covered with a handsome stainless cover. The engine is coupled to a modified gearbox with modern left hand gearchange and then using the Sunbeam shaft, drives a Ural rear drive unit, the drive shaft passing through the hole in a Ural swinging arm. Of course this design require some petty drastic frame mods like a new rear sub frame to hang suspension units from and somewhere to pivot the swinging arm. No problem for Mr Davies and the result looks completely factory. In doing this John had to unmodify his previous modification to the Ural rear drive when it was used with the Sunbeam plungers, such are the trials of the special builder. The machine is still being developed and we hope to be able to inspect the fully road going version at Rally 2006. (Visit John’s Sunbeam Site at www.sunbeams.20m.com ) .

"The Phoenix" 999cc F.I.R.E. - John Davies

This is another four cylinder in line engine special Sunbeam, however the inspiration for this bike was a prototype Indian/Torque Lightweight Four. John thought the Indian looked like a four cylinder Sunbeam and decided to build a replica. The powerhouse, a 999cc F.I,R.E.( Fully Integrated Robotised Engine ), was taken from a scraped Fiat "Uno". The frame came from Stewart Engineering and was also from a scraped machine, the front of the frame was completely missing. To rebuild and streach the frame the top tube was extended by 4" and also crash bars were built-in. The extended frame required longer forks so 2" extension pieces were added into the lower ends of the stanchions, then S8 springs and spacers were fitted until the frame was level. The radiator is housed/hidden neatly in the off-side pannier to keep as much as possible of a Sunbeam lines. A spiral bevel drive from a 650cc Russian Dnieper flat twin takes the power to the rear wheel. John reports the "Phoenix", so named because it arose from the wreckage of a bent 'beam and a wrecked car, is easy starter, reliable, smooth at all speeds and accelerates well. Just like every other Sunbeam then! John also reports speeds of up to 85mph (on a race track, presumably). The effort John has put into this machine is well paid back with a stunning bike that's easy to ride. (Visit John’s Sunbeam Site at www.sunbeams.20m.com ) .