Hello everyone. I have been meaning to do this for an age. I am trying to find the whereabouts of my last Sunbeam Rapier I had which I sold in 1989. It was the 1968 Rootes pre production/press H120..Chassis number B391000001. The engine number was as I recall HO00001. I have some back ground info re history of car right back back to its early days. Any info would be most welcome.
Hello Mark L & welcome to the forum. As far as we know the pre-production Holbay Rapier you refer to is still around, which is good news as it is quite a piece of history in the story of the Rapier. You may know that when the Holbay went into production they started at chassis no.B391000101; so even the 'VLR' press cars (144/146/147) were in this sequence:hence 001 is most unusual. Cheers. G.
Hi G. Thanks for reply. Is the owner part of your club?. The chassis might have been 101, all I can remember is 001. Maybe it had a different designation as it was pre production?. I handed over a brass rubbing of number and also handed over five new aluminium sumps which I had no use for at your stand at the Bromley pageant of 88. The then rootes of Maidstone wanted to display the car in their showroom in that year. I restored the car body work and resprayed it as close to original a turquoise blue metallic. The rostyle wheels were substituted with slightly wider ford 1600e E rims as they had a nice chrome insert/spoke finish which complimented the rest of the rapiers chrome work The vinyl roof was in perfect condition and left alone. I might have a picture somewhere, If I can find it I shall post.
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Posted - 27 Feb 2015 : 19:58:02
