As you wish...here is some info on my Series V.
If you look back at previous calendar threads, I have talked in depth about my car, how I came to own it, and the work I have done on it, so I thought I would do something a little different this time. I am a second generation Sunbeamer. Many of you know my father, Russ Wheeler. I'd like to share with you the story of how it all started and progressed for us.
As a man in his early twenties living in Atlanta, Georgia in the late 1960s, my father had always been a car enthusiast, hanging out with the older crowd and working on hot rods and in a Napa store before he was even old enough to drive...at least legally. As an adult having moved to Atlanta, he worked just down the street from one of the largest car dealerships in town and would often stop by on his lunch break to admire the 'latest and greatest' on the lot. On one of those visits, on the lot was a brand new Sunbeam Tiger, which he had been reading about. As he was admiring it, a salesman came out and suggested he take it for a drive. My dad being just a couple of years into marriage and with the possibility of children on the way replied that he appreciated it but he couldn't afford the car. The salesman, who probably knew my dad from his frequent visits told him to take it for a drive anyway...and he was hooked.
From that day, he knew he wanted a Tiger and fast forward to around 1981 or 1982, he was driving through a neighboring town (we lived in Polk County by this point) and out from under a tarp, sitting with several other cars, he saw the smile of a Sunbeam. He assumed of course that it was an Alpine, given the rarity of Tigers, especially in this part of the country but after finding out who owned the building and going to inspect, he pulled the tarp off to find a Tiger underneath. Yeah...he bought it...but he didn't tell Mother. The jig was up though when the insurance agent, who was a family friend, called the house and told my mother to tell my dad that he was good to go and that the little sportscar he bought was insured. I let my dad know on the sly that mother knew, which led to a scene that I'll never forget. My mother and I were out in our yard when down the street comes my dad in the Tiger (with no windshield) wearing his ball cap backwards, his Ray-Ban Aviators and his big cigar smoking away as he proceeded to drive the car down the driveway, into the backyard, back around through the front yard and down the street out of sight, never slowing down or missing a beat. I guess he figured he might as well go down in a blaze of glory but to be honest, mother didn't care.
He rented a shop in the center of our small town to use as a garage space for the Tiger and over the years, that shop saw two Tigers and two Alpines refreshed and/or restored with a couple of more that passed through, including a GT that got away. It also made for a common occurrence of people stopping (pretty much everybody knew everybody back then in Rockmart) by that were curious and unfamiliar with the mark (NO IT'S NOT AN MG) leaving the place at least educated and most times admiring of the car they previously didn't know existed.
From the age of thirteen our fourteen, I myself have been around Sunbeams in every capacity from handing wrenches to my dad as a kid as he worked on his Tigers and Alpine up through doing pretty intensive work on my own Alpine (pictured in the calendar) since acquiring it in 2019. The Sunbeams themselves have brought a lot of joy (and work) but I guess the most special thing that being a Sunbeamer has yielded me over the years is all the additional time it has afforded me with my dad. From working in the shop to trips to Road Atlanta to visiting the local car shows to just sitting around and talking Sunbeams, it's been a great run and is still going.
As far as my car: 1967 Series V with the following modifications by me - OD Transmission, High Torque Starter, Full Pertronix Ignition System, Electric Fuel Pump (including new plumbing from the refurbed tanks all the way up to the original carbs), Single Wire Alternator Conversion, Lumax Rally Lights with Lucas Switch Panel, Wipac Reversing Lights, Restored Two-tone Interior, AutoPower Roll Bar, One-off 13 inch Wheels (that's a story in itself)
Thanks for the calendar inclusion...it was unexpected this year to say the least.
