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Re: Sunbeam Rapier Fastback Resto
Posted: Mon Aug 01, 2011 9:46 pm
by pryantcc
Wow! Brilliant wheels!! Little did they know what the alloy wheel was to become!
Re: Sunbeam Rapier Fastback Resto
Posted: Thu Aug 04, 2011 12:31 pm
by paul
A post on both sides is a bit of a state:

Re: Sunbeam Rapier Fastback Resto
Posted: Thu Aug 04, 2011 12:32 pm
by paul
Re: Sunbeam Rapier Fastback Resto
Posted: Sat Aug 06, 2011 10:12 am
by CologneV6
Fond memories !
My 1st car was a 1973 Alpine fastback which belonged to my dad - head gasket had gone ( again ) and he gave it to me for my 16th birthday in 1978. I fixed it up and drove it around for a few years before selling it to a chap near Rye in Sussex aound 1986/7.
I put a Holbay engine in it and fitted an H120 bootlid and badges and Rostyle wheels with 185/70 x 13 tyres...but ran it with the single carb due to insurance people not liking the idea of an 18-yr old fitting the twin 40's.
Good luck with the restoration, saw one at a show last year, can't remember that last time I saw one on the road.
Re: Sunbeam Rapier Fastback Resto
Posted: Sat Aug 06, 2011 10:35 am
by CologneV6
Fond memories !
My 1st car was a 1973 Sunbeam Alpine Fastback.
Good luck with the restoration.
Re: Sunbeam Rapier Fastback Resto
Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2011 8:28 am
by paul
Thanks for the kind comments, if only I had a Holbay lump lying around.
Done the "A" posts both sides, new metal grafted in and nicely sealed from the worst the UK can throw at it:
and

Re: Sunbeam Rapier Fastback Resto
Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2011 8:53 am
by paul
Wings on

Re: Sunbeam Rapier Fastback Resto
Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2011 8:54 am
by paul
Front Valance repaired

Re: Sunbeam Rapier Fastback Resto
Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2011 10:03 am
by tractorman
Another person with fond memories. My late father bought one on a dark and wet evening. It was supposed to have had an engine rebuild and just needed new outer sills. I was having Chemotherapy at the time (must have been early 1979) and spent several weeks trying to weld the underside - and rebuild the engine!
It ended up going to a breakers as there was more rot than car! I think we were both broken-hearted as they are great cars (one of my favourites).
I hope yours isn't hiding as much tin worm! Looking forward to the continuation of the story - one other little memory was the look on the consultant's face when I went back for a between-treatment check up with a badly sunburnt head (you forget how much hair protects your skin!).
Re: Sunbeam Rapier Fastback Resto
Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2011 12:10 pm
by paul
I love hearing the owners stories, although they always seem to be about welding / rebuilding them
I've just popped the final top coats on, but was encouraged to pop some photo's on telling the story so to speak. we had to pop a fair bit of metal back in, although it was pretty good on the whole
You must be a particularly brave man, facing chemo and a sunbeam rapier at the same time
