ICE MAIDEN

Prior to the marque being acquired by the Rootes Group in 1935, Sunbeam had produced a string of aero-engined land speed record breakers and winning Grand Prix racers along with a range of well-received sporting saloons and droptops. Once under the control of Rootes, Sunbeam was merged with the previously acquired Talbot nameplate to build upmarket sports-saloon versions of Rootes Group cars.

In 1948 the covers came off the smart looking Sunbeam-Talbot 90 saloon. One of the first all-new post-war cars, the body-on-frame 90 was powered by a 1944cc OHV inline-four. In 1950 Rootes unveiled a heavily revised and much improved version. As well as utilising a revised chassis design featuring a coil spring and double wishbone independent front suspension set-up in place of the earlier model’s beam axle arrangement, the heavily revamped 90 now featured a more powerful 2267cc OHV four-cylinder engine.

Although a four-seat drophead tourer had been available virtually right from the start of production, in 1952 a Bournemouth-based Sunbeam-Talbot dealer by the name of George Hartwell used a Sunbeam-Talbot 90 saloon as the basis to produce an extremely