Alpine Shooting Brake?

[phyrman]

While searching colors on Alpines, I came across these two pics
Was there a plan to make an Alpine Shooting Brake by Rootes??

 

[65sunbeam]

Yes there was. Rootes engineers came up with the idea on April 1st, 1963.
Ian Spencer discovered this and posted info some time ago.....

 

[Tom H]

Ian wrote an article about it:

http://sunbeamalpine.org/index.php?categoryid=82&p2_articleid=16

Tom

And for those who, like me, are unfamiliar with the term "shooting brake" see this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting-brake

 

[alpine_64]

Yes.. Ian used to make interesting discoveries every april first....

 

[65beam]

shooting brake

FYI, April 1 is April Fools Day.

 

[phyrman]

Thats cool. Never heard of it!
Thanks

 

[65beam]

shooting brake

This is a case of fiction not fact.

 

[greenbeam]

It's almost worthy of an entry on snopes.com.

In the olden days every April 1st some bright spark, although mostly Messrs Spencer, Christie and one or two others, would announce some miraculous, previously unimagined fact about Sunbeam Alpines and produce a very professional looking article about said fact.

Someone out to make a quick buck, collected pictures of all the Alpines out there on the internet (including the April Fools Shooting Brake) and made a poster to sell on eBay. Thus entered the Alpine Shooting Brake into the lore of folk.

I'd still like someone to build one. Just to 'cement' the Spencer/Christie era of Alpine fun into history.

Mr Spencer was also responsible for the Series VI Alpine 'discovery'. Also on 1st of April....

 

[Bill Blue]

It's almost worthy of an entry on snopes.com.

In the olden days every April 1st some bright spark, although mostly Messrs Spencer, Christie and one or two others, would announce some miraculous, previously unimagined fact about Sunbeam Alpines and produce a very professional looking article about said fact.

Someone out to make a quick buck, collected pictures of all the Alpines out there on the internet (including the April Fools Shooting Brake) and made a poster to sell on eBay. Thus entered the Alpine Shooting Brake into the lore of folk.

I'd still like someone to build one. Just to 'cement' the Spencer/Christie era of Alpine fun into history.

Mr Spencer was also responsible for the Series VI Alpine 'discovery'. Also on 1st of April....

Ahh, those were the days. The best part, it seemed there was always someone who was entirely oblivious of the date and swallowed the story, hook, line, sinker and fishing pole.

Bill

Bill

 

[Tom H]

OK, now I'm puzzled. I had never even heard of the term "shooting brake" before and then found the wiki article describing that it's actually a real British car style. And the wiki article included a ref to a Sunbeam Alpine Shooting Brake (among many other brands) with a footnote ref to Ian's article. I assume if it's on the Internet it must be true, no?? yeah right!

Anyone reading Ian's article, with no April 1 date on it, today finds absolutely no clues to the bogus nature. And the story has lots of credibility, if you are aware of the Harrington. Was there absolutely NO truth to any of this? Is the drawing a fake? I assume the ad from the "April" 1960 issue of Modern Motoring is a fake and even the magazine name seems bogus. I guess the magazine issue month, the magazine name, and the price were intended as the clues, along with the date he posted it. But today, those clues are lost and thus it has enough credibility to fool people forever.

Tom

P.S. Now I'm even wondering, did Bill Blue actually create a DuraPine?

 

[phyrman]

Shooting Brake is the English version of a station wagon
thats it!!

BD

 

[DanR]

DuraPine

I can attest to the Creation of the DuraPine by Mr Bill.

Seeing is only part of believing! Driving that "thing" is Living Proof

 

[husky drvr]

Rootes had a "shooting brake" long before the series Alpines came to be marketed, though maybe not as nicely appointed as Ian's description. Remember the rumor is the Alpine was designed to use the basic Husky floor pan(sort of, except from the firewall forwards).

I long ago wondered how an Alpine with a Husky top grafted on would turn out. I do know it would not be a simple operation due to the differing body architectures.


oops - sorry for the size - not my picture

 

[alpine_64]

That husky appears to have the tiger wheel trims.. or the very similar aftermarket "styla" ones

 

[Ken Ellis]

To further careen off-topic...
Here are all the 7-letter words (excluding proper nouns) you can make for your trunk, mixing emblem letters from Sunbeam and Hillman...

There are a few interesting ones.

abulias
alanine
albinal
albumen
albumin
alliums
alumina
amiable
ammines
amnesia
animals
anneals
annuals
baseman
bellman
blemish
blueish
bullies
bullish
bunnies
bushman
bushmen
embalms
heliums
humbles
inhales
inhuman
labials
laminae
laminal
laminas
lesbian
lineman
mailman
mailmen
malaise
malleus
manilla
mannish
manuals
melanin
misname
mumbles
nabales
nebulas
salable
seminal
shamble
sublime
sunbeam
unleash



Are Singer letters the same?


BTW, I like the door handles on the Hillman.

 

[alpine_64]

To further careen off-topic...
Here are all the 7-letter words (excluding proper nouns) you can make for your trunk, mixing emblem letters from Sunbeam and Hillman...
BTW, I like the door handles on the Hillman.

Ken you forgot a combination that was used on the aftermarket performance tunned alpines... BRABHAM even the same number of letters.

 

[husky drvr]

Are Singer letters the same?


BTW, I like the door handles on the Hillman.

__________________
Ken

Ken,

I "think" Singer and Humber letters are the same. Don't know about Commer.

The door handles are a bit different, aren't they? Think they were used as boot latches by some model but don't recall which one.

 

[Alpine 1789]

I recently came across "THE OFFICIAL BUYING GUIDE – SUNBEAM ALPINE", published here: http://silodrome.com/sunbeam-alpine-buying-guide/ This "official" guide includes this tidbit:

There was one notable variant of the Series I Sunbeam Alpine. In 1960 a luxury three door “shooting brake†version was offered which had a leather interior and wood dashboard. The price of this luxury version was approximately double that of the standard roadster and so these cars are scarce.

 

[sunbby]

I recently came across "THE OFFICIAL BUYING GUIDE – SUNBEAM ALPINE", published here: http://silodrome.com/sunbeam-alpine-buying-guide/ This "official" guide includes this tidbit:

That's hilarious. Obviously a bastion of Sunbeam authority.

Maybe they should update their internet web crawler algorithm to ignore items posted on a certain date?

 

[Ratical]

Wow, that's really all I can say. An April fool's prank that has spread across the internet being quoted and used to write articles as if it was fact. Does anyone know the year Ian posted the article?