Sunbeam 1914 3½hp 499 cc 1 cyl sv 3607

Sunbeam 1914 3½hp 499 cc side valve frame # 2582 engine # 2575AN

At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century the Wolverhampton based firm of John Marston Ltd. has already earned fame for their superb bicycles. During 1911-12 it is decided to take up motorcycle manufacture: designer John Greenwood, who has already made his mark at the JAP and Rover companies, is contracted and will be responsible for most Sunbeam designs till the mid-thirties. As a consulting engineer for the engine the firm hires Harry Stevens, the best local engine designer and one of the four Stevens brothers who run A. J. Stevens & Company Limited, just up the road in Retreat Street. The first Sunbeam motorcycle is a 349 cc, 2¾ hp. single-cylinder, side-valve machine, with two speed transmission and both chains enclosed in oil bath chain cases.
Motorcycle design and manufacture is carried out according to the standards set for the Sunbeam bicycles: elegance, silence, reliability and impeccable finish are the key words. At the end of 1913 a 3½hp model is launched, a model that will make the Sunbeam name world famous. It has bore x stroke dimensions of 85 x 88 mm, the same as Greenwood used for his Rover engine a few years earlier. Nickel plating on Sunbeams is kept to a minimum, almost all parts are enamelled black. The enamel is of outstanding quality, as witnessed by many vintage Sunbeams still having their factory finish… The whole machine follows John Marston’s dictum of the best possible quality allied to the best possible specifications.
The machine we present here is special for several reasons; in the first place she is one of a small number of survivors. Veteran Sunbeams are rare and because of their high quality and practical specifications (3-speed gearbox, clutch and enclosed chain cases) they are much sought after. The Marston Sunbeam fraternity is united in The Marson Sunbeam Club and Register, an excellent source for information and spares. https://marston-sunbeam.org/
The club actively keeps track of surviving Sunbeams and on their website a Model Year Matrix is shown; in all almost 2,200 survivors are recorded of which only 28 are pre-1915 veterans; 14 of these are 1914 3 ½ HP machines.
A second remarkable point is that the history of this motorcycle can be traced back to 1921, the first year of the centralised registration system. The 1920 Roads Act established the UK’s Road Fund and created a centralized vehicle licensing and registration regime. From 1921 on all mechanically propelled vehicles had to have a Licence Registration Book (“Logbook”) to be kept at home and were obliged to display a valid tax disc on the vehicle. So in the course of 1920 all owners of these vehicles had to apply for a licence. The application for this Sunbeam’s licence is still with the machine: the application was filled in by the then (and possible first) owner, a Mr. Frederick Ernest Stevens, who resided at “Avoca”, Beechwood Road, Cumberland Road, Leagrave, Bedfordshire. The original logbook was issued on January 15, 1921 and states the machine was used for drawing a sidecar. The logbook shows that Stevens taxed the machine till the end of 1924, a continuation logbook was issued on march 30, 1925. The next logbook that has survived was issued in July 1957. Apparently the machine was recommissioned then and owned by Arthur Prince’s Garages LTD. in Loughborough. In 1961 the owner was Thomas Lightfoot, a jeweller and noted veteran car enthusiast. In December 1961 a Pioneer Certificate was issued to him for the Sunbeam. Lightfoot owned the Sunbeam till the eighties ; she then came in the picture again when owned by Brian Moore, a former President of the Veteran Car Club, who had acquired the machine in May 1999. Since 2000 till recently she was owned and regularly ridden by Sunbeam collector and enthousiast David Plant. At some time the sidecar was taken off the machine and she was ridden as a solo mount. The chair, a “Gloria”, is believed to have been an original fitment. Photostat copies of photographs on file show former owners Arthur Prince and Tom Lightfoot riding the combination in 1958 and 1982.
Our 3 ½hp is an older restoration, fitted with P & H acetylene lighting, Tan-Sad pillion and Lucas bulb horn. She comes with an information file with various old logbooks, correspondence and Pioneer Certificate