OK, those subthreads in my recent humungous über-thread on "made in
China" about automobiles has me thinking about a long-ago car I used to
own, and whether in retrospect I could've gotten it running.

Bear in mind this is completely hypothetical at this time, as the car is
long gone, as are the days when I enjoyed tinkering with cars (hate it now).

I used to own a cute li'l car that I got for next to nothing; a Sunbeam
Minx. Not an Alpine, mind you: instead of a sports car, this was a
little 4-door sedan. Really compact. Ran but needed a whole ****load of
stuff, from the drive train to headlight trim to who knows what else.
This was back in the 19-ought-80s.

Back then, in the days before the Internet (is it actually possible that
we used to survive--nay, thrive--back in the days when you had to use
these black instruments called "telephones" and look up stuff in
catalogs and mail order stuff?), I found a place that had all that stuff
needed to restore Rootes Group cars. Forget the name, but it was an
outfit up in Canada, if I remember correctly.

So I'm just wondering if it would have been possible to fix up that
little car, and how much trouble and money it might have taken. If it
were running today, how much would it be worth? Haven't seen one of them
since then.

--
I am a Canadian who was born and raised in The Netherlands. I live on
Planet Earth on a spot of land called Canada. We have noisy neighbours.

- harvested from Usenet

David Nebenzahl wrote:
OK, those subthreads in my recent humungous über-thread on "made in
China" about automobiles has me thinking about a long-ago car I used to
own, and whether in retrospect I could've gotten it running.

Bear in mind this is completely hypothetical at this time, as the car is
long gone, as are the days when I enjoyed tinkering with cars (hate it
now).

I used to own a cute li'l car that I got for next to nothing; a Sunbeam
Minx. Not an Alpine, mind you: instead of a sports car, this was a
little 4-door sedan. Really compact. Ran but needed a whole ****load of
stuff, from the drive train to headlight trim to who knows what else.
This was back in the 19-ought-80s.

Back then, in the days before the Internet (is it actually possible that
we used to survive--nay, thrive--back in the days when you had to use
these black instruments called "telephones" and look up stuff in
catalogs and mail order stuff?), I found a place that had all that stuff
needed to restore Rootes Group cars. Forget the name, but it was an
outfit up in Canada, if I remember correctly.

So I'm just wondering if it would have been possible to fix up that
little car, and how much trouble and money it might have taken. If it
were running today, how much would it be worth? Haven't seen one of them
since then.

Oh, Gawd!
Sunbeam(as well as Alpine). Worst car I ever had to keep it running.
Wife insisted on driving Tiger in our younger days. Not a single part
of the car was reliable. Stromberg side draft carbs. fuel pump,
electrical system with Lucas semi alternator...... I had to bribe wife
with new car to make her give up the Tiger. Now I am gonna have a
nightmare tonight thinking about Sunbeam, LOL!

On Sun, 20 Dec 2009 15:07:01 -0800, David Nebenzahl wrote:
I used to own a cute li'l car that I got for next to nothing; a Sunbeam
Minx.

Interesting. I'm familiar with Sunbeam (tinkered with the idea of buying
a Tiger or Alpine at one point in time) - Hillman made the Minx in the
UK, but Google tells me it was rebadged and sold as a Sunbeam product for
the US market and so they're the same car. However, the Minx name - at
least in the UK under Hillman - covered quite a long period and a variety
of different body styles., and I'm not sure which of them were rebadged
and sold as Sunbeams.

Alpine, mind you: instead of a sports car, this was a
little 4-door sedan. Really compact. Ran but needed a whole ****load of
stuff, from the drive train to headlight trim to who knows what else.
This was back in the 19-ought-80s.

Pretty much anything is restorable. For a few years I used to pass a
little Singer Gazelle (Singer* were another Rootes Group member, and I
believe the Gazelle used 1950s Minx running gear) sitting on its side
in someone's driveway, half-covered by a tarp. Moved away from that area,
came back about a decade later, and there it was, fully restored and back
on four wheels.

* no relation to Singer US, makers of sewing machines.

So I'm just wondering if it would have been possible to fix up that
little car, and how much trouble and money it might have taken.

Not sure - probably depends on what year your car was. Rootes Group stuff
from the 50s and later seems to survive pretty well, but I bet pre-WWII
Minxes are hard to come by these days.

cheers

Jules

Tony Hwang wrote:

Oh, Gawd!
Sunbeam(as well as Alpine). Worst car I ever had to keep it running.
Wife insisted on driving Tiger in our younger days. Not a single part
of the car was reliable. Stromberg side draft carbs. fuel pump,
electrical system with Lucas semi alternator...... I had to bribe wife
with new car to make her give up the Tiger. Now I am gonna have a
nightmare tonight thinking about Sunbeam, LOL!


Sure, get her a Fiat Sipder instead.

I remember Lucas electrical stuff. The Duke of Darkness.

Ed Pawlowski wrote:
Tony Hwang wrote:

Oh, Gawd!
Sunbeam(as well as Alpine). Worst car I ever had to keep it running.
Wife insisted on driving Tiger in our younger days. Not a single part
of the car was reliable. Stromberg side draft carbs. fuel pump,
electrical system with Lucas semi alternator...... I had to bribe wife
with new car to make her give up the Tiger. Now I am gonna have a
nightmare tonight thinking about Sunbeam, LOL!


Sure, get her a Fiat Sipder instead.

I remember Lucas electrical stuff. The Duke of Darkness.


Spyder is as bad, LOL!
She got Datsun PL510, much better than either.
Now my family is fan of Subaru, Honda. I may buy a
Toyota next for myself. Probably my last vehicle in this life.
Season's greetings. Snow next three days here. Just -10 C today.

On Sun, 20 Dec 2009 16:15:16 -0700, Tony Hwang
wrote:

David Nebenzahl wrote:
OK, those subthreads in my recent humungous über-thread on "made in
China" about automobiles has me thinking about a long-ago car I used to
own, and whether in retrospect I could've gotten it running.

Bear in mind this is completely hypothetical at this time, as the car is
long gone, as are the days when I enjoyed tinkering with cars (hate it
now).

I used to own a cute li'l car that I got for next to nothing; a Sunbeam
Minx. Not an Alpine, mind you: instead of a sports car, this was a
little 4-door sedan. Really compact. Ran but needed a whole ****load of
stuff, from the drive train to headlight trim to who knows what else.
This was back in the 19-ought-80s.

Back then, in the days before the Internet (is it actually possible that
we used to survive--nay, thrive--back in the days when you had to use
these black instruments called "telephones" and look up stuff in
catalogs and mail order stuff?), I found a place that had all that stuff
needed to restore Rootes Group cars. Forget the name, but it was an
outfit up in Canada, if I remember correctly.

So I'm just wondering if it would have been possible to fix up that
little car, and how much trouble and money it might have taken. If it
were running today, how much would it be worth? Haven't seen one of them
since then.

Oh, Gawd!
Sunbeam(as well as Alpine). Worst car I ever had to keep it running.
Wife insisted on driving Tiger in our younger days. Not a single part
of the car was reliable. Stromberg side draft carbs. fuel pump,
electrical system with Lucas semi alternator...... I had to bribe wife
with new car to make her give up the Tiger. Now I am gonna have a
nightmare tonight thinking about Sunbeam, LOL!
BEAUTIFUL cars though!!! Alpine/Tiger, Rapier, and Minx (wasn't that
a Hullman, though?) Same thing and possibly sold under more than one
badge (come to think of it, I think it was also sold as a HUMBER????)

David Nebenzahl wrote:
OK, those subthreads in my recent humungous über-thread on "made in
China" about automobiles has me thinking about a long-ago car I used to
own, and whether in retrospect I could've gotten it running.

Bear in mind this is completely hypothetical at this time, as the car is
long gone, as are the days when I enjoyed tinkering with cars (hate it
now).

I used to own a cute li'l car that I got for next to nothing; a Sunbeam
Minx. Not an Alpine, mind you: instead of a sports car, this was a
little 4-door sedan. Really compact. Ran but needed a whole ****load of
stuff, from the drive train to headlight trim to who knows what else.
This was back in the 19-ought-80s.

Back then, in the days before the Internet (is it actually possible that
we used to survive--nay, thrive--back in the days when you had to use
these black instruments called "telephones" and look up stuff in
catalogs and mail order stuff?), I found a place that had all that stuff
needed to restore Rootes Group cars. Forget the name, but it was an
outfit up in Canada, if I remember correctly.

So I'm just wondering if it would have been possible to fix up that
little car, and how much trouble and money it might have taken. If it
were running today, how much would it be worth? Haven't seen one of them
since then.


The first (and last) brand new car I bought was a Sunbeam Alpine in its
first year of manufacture. I chose it because it had roll up glass side
windows while all the other two seater convertible roadsters I could
afford used flimsy plastic "side curtains."

The car had numerous faults, the xmission had to be opened up and fixed
after a couple of thousand miles because a snap ring which kept things
stacked on the main shaft snapped and had to be replaced.

The trunk latch was inertia sensitive as I found out when I went over a
bump at about 35 MPH, the trunk lid popped open and a pile of my laundry
blew all over the road, some never to be found. (I fixed that one myself
by adding a stronger spring to the lath mechanism.

Thanx for the mammaries. Since then every car I've purchased has been a
1 to 2 year old mid to high end vehicle, and I've been very happy about
letting the first owners take the major depreciation hits and the first
few door dings.

Jeff

--
Jeffry Wisnia
(W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)
The speed of light is 1.8*10e12 furlongs per fortnight.

Tony Hwang wrote:

Spyder is as bad, LOL!
She got Datsun PL510, much better than either.
Now my family is fan of Subaru, Honda. I may buy a
Toyota next for myself. Probably my last vehicle in this life.
Season's greetings. Snow next three days here. Just -10 C today.

I used to laugh at people that would buy a Hyundai. I just bought my second
one last week. The first was an '07 Sonata that was trouble free for the
three+ years I owned it. Traded it at 67000 miles becuase the dealer made
me an offer I could not refuse.

"Ed Pawlowski" wrote in
:

Tony Hwang wrote:

Oh, Gawd!
Sunbeam(as well as Alpine). Worst car I ever had to keep it running.
Wife insisted on driving Tiger in our younger days. Not a single part
of the car was reliable. Stromberg side draft carbs. fuel pump,
electrical system with Lucas semi alternator...... I had to bribe wife
with new car to make her give up the Tiger. Now I am gonna have a
nightmare tonight thinking about Sunbeam, LOL!


Sure, get her a Fiat Sipder instead.

I remember Lucas electrical stuff. The Duke of Darkness.




No,Lucas is the "PRINCE of Darkness".

--
Jim Yanik
jyanik
at
localnet
dot com

On 12/20/2009 4:24 PM Ed Pawlowski spake thus:

Tony Hwang wrote:

Now I am gonna have a nightmare tonight thinking about Sunbeam,
LOL!

Sure, get her a Fiat Sipder instead.

I remember Lucas electrical stuff. The Duke of Darkness.

As in "Lucas, I am your father. Come to the dark side, Lucas!"?


--
I am a Canadian who was born and raised in The Netherlands. I live on
Planet Earth on a spot of land called Canada. We have noisy neighbours.

- harvested from Usenet

On 12/20/2009 5:22 PM spake thus:

On Sun, 20 Dec 2009 16:15:16 -0700, Tony Hwang
wrote:

David Nebenzahl wrote:

I used to own a cute li'l car that I got for next to nothing; a Sunbeam
Minx. Not an Alpine, mind you: instead of a sports car, this was a
little 4-door sedan. Really compact. Ran but needed a whole ****load of
stuff, from the drive train to headlight trim to who knows what else.
This was back in the 19-ought-80s.

Oh, Gawd!
Sunbeam(as well as Alpine). Worst car I ever had to keep it
running. Wife insisted on driving Tiger in our younger days. Not a
single part of the car was reliable. Stromberg side draft carbs.
fuel pump, electrical system with Lucas semi alternator...... I had
to bribe wife with new car to make her give up the Tiger. Now I am
gonna have a nightmare tonight thinking about Sunbeam, LOL!

BEAUTIFUL cars though!!!

I thought so too.

Alpine/Tiger, Rapier, and Minx (wasn't that a Hullman, though?) Same
thing and possibly sold under more than one badge (come to think of
it, I think it was also sold as a HUMBER????)

The one I had was definitely a Sunbeam Minx. As I remember, there were
actually two of them at the time in Flagstaff, AZ, where I was, which
was pretty remarkable for a small town. I have no idea where they came from.


--
I am a Canadian who was born and raised in The Netherlands. I live on
Planet Earth on a spot of land called Canada. We have noisy neighbours.

- harvested from Usenet

Ed Pawlowski wrote:
Tony Hwang wrote:
Spyder is as bad, LOL!
She got Datsun PL510, much better than either.
Now my family is fan of Subaru, Honda. I may buy a
Toyota next for myself. Probably my last vehicle in this life.
Season's greetings. Snow next three days here. Just -10 C today.

I used to laugh at people that would buy a Hyundai. I just bought my second
one last week. The first was an '07 Sonata that was trouble free for the
three+ years I owned it. Traded it at 67000 miles becuase the dealer made
me an offer I could not refuse.


Heck, Hyundai has a plant in Montgomery, AL that's supposed to
be the most advanced auto manufacturing plant in the world.

TDD

David Nebenzahl wrote:
On 12/20/2009 4:24 PM Ed Pawlowski spake thus:

Tony Hwang wrote:

Now I am gonna have a nightmare tonight thinking about Sunbeam,
LOL!

Sure, get her a Fiat Sipder instead.

I remember Lucas electrical stuff. The Duke of Darkness.

As in "Lucas, I am your father. Come to the dark side, Lucas!"?

"We have cookies."

In article m,
David Nebenzahl wrote:

OK, those subthreads in my recent humungous über-thread on "made in
China" about automobiles has me thinking about a long-ago car I used to
own, and whether in retrospect I could've gotten it running.

Bear in mind this is completely hypothetical at this time, as the car is
long gone, as are the days when I enjoyed tinkering with cars (hate it now).

I used to own a cute li'l car that I got for next to nothing; a Sunbeam
Minx. Not an Alpine, mind you: instead of a sports car, this was a
little 4-door sedan. Really compact. Ran but needed a whole ****load of
stuff, from the drive train to headlight trim to who knows what else.
This was back in the 19-ought-80s.

Back then, in the days before the Internet (is it actually possible that
we used to survive--nay, thrive--back in the days when you had to use
these black instruments called "telephones" and look up stuff in
catalogs and mail order stuff?), I found a place that had all that stuff
needed to restore Rootes Group cars. Forget the name, but it was an
outfit up in Canada, if I remember correctly.

So I'm just wondering if it would have been possible to fix up that
little car, and how much trouble and money it might have taken. If it
were running today, how much would it be worth? Haven't seen one of them
since then.

I wouldn't have called the Alpine a sports car, either. The Tiger,
maybe, as long as you're a midget. An old g.f. had an Alpine for two
years. Had it to ten different mechanics, paid thousands of dollars, and
never could get it to start more than five times in a row.

I asked one mechanic, after we paid him several hundred for a tune-up,
if he'd set the ignition timing to the published spec. He assured me he
had. I asked him whether he could give me that number. Went to his
office and it turned out he didn't have a repair manual for the car, and
confessed that he'd set it by ear.

I asked another mechanic, after another several hundred dollar tune-up,
whether he'd performed any tests on the battery. Said he'd checked it
out thoroughly. I said, would you mind showing me, while we look at the
battery together, what exact tests you did on it? He said sure, be glad
to, and opened up the hood. I knew the battery was under the back seat,
but he didn't.

She ended up trading it to a guy I knew, for an old Corolla. He called
me a few days later and said, hey, the wires from the alternator were
hooked up backwards. No charging current ever flowed into the battery.

On Sun, 20 Dec 2009 16:15:16 -0700, Tony Hwang
wrote Re OT [car, not home, repair]:

Sunbeam(as well as Alpine). Worst car I ever had to keep it running.
Wife insisted on driving Tiger in our younger days. Not a single part
of the car was reliable. Stromberg side draft carbs. fuel pump,
electrical system with Lucas semi alternator...... I had to bribe wife
with new car to make her give up the Tiger. Now I am gonna have a
nightmare tonight thinking about Sunbeam, LOL!

Yep. Ditto for the 1961 Alpine.
--
Work is the curse of the drinking class.

On 12/20/2009 22:04, Ed Pawlowski wrote:
Tony Hwang wrote:

Spyder is as bad, LOL!
She got Datsun PL510, much better than either.
Now my family is fan of Subaru, Honda. I may buy a
Toyota next for myself. Probably my last vehicle in this life.
Season's greetings. Snow next three days here. Just -10 C today.

I used to laugh at people that would buy a Hyundai. I just bought my second
one last week. The first was an '07 Sonata that was trouble free for the
three+ years I owned it. Traded it at 67000 miles becuase the dealer made
me an offer I could not refuse.




Just had a rental of a new Sonata for almost a week. Really solid car
and it handles well.

It just took them a while to figure out how to build quality. I have
been to S Korea a number of times for technology transfer with the first
trips around the time when "Lucky Goldstar" meant you were buying total
junk. Now LG is one of the premier manufacturers in the world.

Meanwhile we decided manufacturing is not important and are twittering
and voting on American idol as we circle the rim.

Why English drink warm beer.....

--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
..


"Jim Yanik" wrote in message
4...

I remember Lucas electrical stuff. The Duke of Darkness.




No,Lucas is the "PRINCE of Darkness".

--
Jim Yanik
jyanik
at
localnet
dot com

Oh, I'm still in pain from laughing.

--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
..


"David Nebenzahl" wrote in message
s.com...

I remember Lucas electrical stuff. The Duke of Darkness.

As in "Lucas, I am your father. Come to the dark side,
Lucas!"?


--
I am a Canadian who was born and raised in The Netherlands.
I live on
Planet Earth on a spot of land called Canada. We have noisy
neighbours.

- harvested from Usenet

"George" wrote in message
...
On 12/20/2009 22:04, Ed Pawlowski wrote:
Tony Hwang wrote:

Spyder is as bad, LOL!
She got Datsun PL510, much better than either.
Now my family is fan of Subaru, Honda. I may buy a
Toyota next for myself. Probably my last vehicle in this life.
Season's greetings. Snow next three days here. Just -10 C today.

I used to laugh at people that would buy a Hyundai. I just bought my
second
one last week. The first was an '07 Sonata that was trouble free for the
three+ years I owned it. Traded it at 67000 miles becuase the dealer
made
me an offer I could not refuse.




Just had a rental of a new Sonata for almost a week. Really solid car and
it handles well.

It just took them a while to figure out how to build quality. I have been
to S Korea a number of times for technology transfer with the first trips
around the time when "Lucky Goldstar" meant you were buying total junk.
Now LG is one of the premier manufacturers in the world.

Meanwhile we decided manufacturing is not important and are twittering and
voting on American idol as we circle the rim.

I agree...I bought SWMBO an '06 Elantra new...Been a GREAT car....Especially
for 14 grand.....