Enjoying a 91-year-old thoroughbred
The title of this piece pays homage to the series of articles entitled ‘Overhauling a Seven-year-old Thoroughbred’ published between 1934 and 1935 in The Motor Cycle by its editor Torrens (Arthur Bourne), then owner of the subject matter, it being a rather special 1927 Sunbeam Model
90. The thinking behind this piece now though stems around an idea, which evolved in early 2018, to use and enjoy this same bike in as many informal and organised events as possible, in a short period over a few summer months. The plan was to experience first-hand how a nonagenarian sporting thoroughbred would perform on today’s roads.
Firstly, a little bit of history about this particular Sunbeam: At the beginning of 1927, Ralston D. Dunlop, a gentleman Scottish solicitor and amateur speed man, arranged with the Sunbeam distributors in Glasgow to obtain for him a Model 90 for that season, with the provision “it must be a good one.”
According to a letter written by Dunlop to Bourne in November 1941, Graham Walker personally took matters in hand regarding the preparation of the bike, with the final ‘workover’ provided by George Dance, just before he left Sunbeam. Registered ‘GD6247’ (a Glasgow number, not Kent as erroneously recorded in the May 2021 article), the motorcycle was believed to be one of the fastest ‘90s’ in the country at the time, featuring a 2in inlet valve, 9:1 compression ratio and a twin float bowl AMAC 10TT25 carburettor.
In July 1927, Dunlop and the Sunbeam took part in the Scottish Speed Championship held on St Andrews beach, where they won the three-lap Unlimited Race, beating rivals including Jimmie Guthrie. In 1928, Dunlop had further work undertaken on the Sunbeam, which included raising the compression ratio to 10:1, but by this stage things weren’t going well with the machine and for whatever reason, he decided to sell it on.
The second owner was a chap called Leslie Stiles, who used the bike with some success in local events in the Middlesex area. It was then the turn of Torrens to
