1930 Sunbeam 25hp Enclosed Limousine

An extract from an advertisement placed by Sunbeam in the Illustrated London News on 21st June 1930.

'In no other class of car is choice so restricted as in the seven-seat Limousine range at about £1,000 and in no other class is the British quality of what may be called thoroughgoing luxury so successfully displayed.

Among these few models, the 25hp six-cylinder Sunbeam stands out in no uncertain manner – a fact confirmed by the large number of these beautiful cars to be met in town and country. The model is fashionable simply because most present-day buyers are capable of close judgement on cars. 

This car with its superb seven-seater body is a very remarkable example of quality rendered exceptionally attractive by its comparatively low first cost. In the £1,000 class of cars, the 25hp Sunbeam is so pre-eminent as to render choice no difficult matter.'

Full marks to the enthusiastic copywriter.

The delightful 25hp on offer here does indeed date from 1930, and was first registered on the 29th April that year. The continuation 'Buff' logbook that's with the car starts in 1942 when it was acquired by W.J.Hope of Brampton in Cumberland who, according to a label in the history file, were Automobile Engineers. This old label is hard to read but appears to list services with appropriate mileages and dates (early to mid-1950s). There are a number of old tax discs with the car starting in 1942 up until 1963, stamped Cumberland CC and describing the vehicle as being Claret and Black and listing it as a Hackney, so presumably it was used as a Taxi during this period. A Mrs Edna Powell of Brampton bought the vehicle in October 1974, and the tax disc for that year describes the car as 'Private', so we guess its days as a Taxi were over. Subsequent owners lived in East Yorkshire, Brackley and, most recently, Somerset when it was purchased by our vendor's father around 20-years ago.

The car is now delightfully finished in Ivory with Maroon wings and running boards, and sits on matching Ivory wire wheels. There are a number of photographs within the file showing the car during restoration and they appear to indicate that it was a substantial restoration with impressive attention to detail. The list of parts to be chrome-plated runs to over 100, so evidently no expense was spared. The interior has been sympathetically restored and features occasional seats, a glass division and its original instruments in a nicely restored oak and walnut dashboard. For the last few years, the Sunbeam has been part of a fleet of very impressively-presented vintage and PVT cars available for special occasions, birthdays, proms, weddings etc. and has been maintained in-house.

The interesting history file contains correspondence with the Sunbeam Register, magazine reprints about the model, DVLA and insurance correspondence, some MOTs going back to 1976, a comprehensive parts list, an original handbook, its current V5C, the aforementioned tax discs, a spare radiator badge and a couple of key fobs.

A good-looking seven-seater 1930s Limousine that hasn't covered many miles since its restoration, and now awaits your close inspection to appreciate the quality on offer.