SLOC Magazine 2022 - Issue 3

SUNBEAM LOTUS OWNERS’ CLUB

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:

Honorary President: Paul White (Former Talbot Team Manager and winning co-driver on the 1980 Lombard RAC Rally)

Chairman: Perry C. Antoniou 07802 600 616 chairman@sunbeamlotus.com

Historian / Archivist / PR Liaison: Graeme Lawton 0771 949 0657 historian@sunbeamlotus.com

Treasurer / Membership Secretary: Dave Merlane 01933 384586

Membership Secretary 10 Roberts Street, RUSHDEN, NN10 0NG membership@sunbeamlotus.com

Secretary: Doug Field 0208 295 1815 secretary@sunbeamlotus.com

Regalia: regalia@sunbeamlotus.com

Events Secretary: Mark Higman events@sunbeamlotus.com

Parts: Richard Blackburn parts@sunbeamlotus.com

Technical Secretary: Mike Trim technical@sunbeamlotus.com

ARCC Representative: Richard Blackburn pr@sunbeamlotus.com

Valuations Officier/Web: Kieron Buckingham webmaster@sunbeamlotus.com

Magazine: Angela Pittas editor@sunbeamlotus.com

Competitions Secretary: Jez Moxon competitions@sunbeamlotus.com

Social Media Secretary Alan Barnacle social@sunbeamlotus.com

Sunbeam Lotus Owners’ Club is a registered Trade Name of the Sunbeam Lotus Owners’ Club.

CHAT CHAIRMAN’S

A VERY WARM WELCOME to the latest club magazine. And indeed, it has been a little warm recently, so I hope several members, like myself, have been lying on the not-so-cold garage floor working on your Sunbeam Lotus.

My free time over the past few weeks has been spent continually on my Sunbeam Lotus. Although there is still plenty to do, I can see a realistic completion sooner rather than later. I do not need to rely on anything at this point to get done that is beyond my control, so I will ponder on with it. I have put the rest of my car collection on the back burner.

There have been changes that I mentioned previously on the club committee. Richard Blackburn is now running the parts with Mike Trim still there to answer and help with all technical queries. Mike is also there to help me with dealing with getting parts projects sorted. I am behind on the fuel line kit (as I have had to deal with moving house and other painful duties), but I hope to have it all sorted with Mike’s approval for what we have to offer very soon. At first it was a matter of replacing the fuel line. But the deeper I got into it, you realise that there are other components that need sorting out and that members may want to purchase parts of it and not just the complete kit. This also raised the question of options for Fuel Pumps, so I have had to look at this as well.

Another fabulous change is Mark Higman is now dealing with events and is way ahead at planning them than we have been previously. He has numerous ideas, and I will be supporting him in making sure the committee make ensure these plans come to fruition for us all. Looking back, our most successful year of events was when I sent out a fridge magnet early on with all the dates. This is a task I will repeat for 2023.

By the time this magazine has landed on your doormats, we would have enjoyed our National Day weekend and will be looking towards the NEC show in November. Mark is looking to organise a Christmas Dinner somewhere almost central/accessible to all if there is enough interest. That should be it for 2022 but I expect with Mark eagerness, we will have plenty to do in 2023.

For now, I will sign off and let us all get our Sunbeams running and leave you all with a little teaser photo of a prototype I have received recently which will be available to club members after some testing and fine tuning (and input from those more knowledgeable than myself).

PERRY C. ANTONIOU CHAIRMAN

TECH NOTES

LOTUS SUNBEAM HOW TO START YOUR

I HAVE RUN CARS with twin side draft carburettors for many years, starting with an Avenger built to Tiger spec for road rallying and ending with a Pinto powered Sunbeam on 48 DCOE’s for tarmac stage rallying. Also, with my own Lotus Sunbeam with its 45 DHLA carbs. All this time, I have used the 2/3 pump method of starting the engines.

Recently, Richard Blackburn told me of a conversation he had with Phil Davison regarding starting Lotus Sunbeam’s which can be read across to all cars with twin side draft carburettors. This triggered me to look closely at the diagram of the 45 DHLA carburettors in the club’s information CD. I had always been puzzled as to how the rich mixture and controlled airflow can be achieved by moving the choke lever on the top of the carburettor. The diagram showed how moving the choke lever on the top of the carburettor did indeed provide the rich mixture and controlled airflow

required to start the engine.

When you pump the throttle without the engine starting, you are squirting neat fuel into the cylinders, doing this repeatedly without achieving an engine start could wash the lubrication oil from the cylinder walls and ultimately dilute the oil in the sump. Both of which are not good for the engine.

By using the choke on the carburettors, you are providing the engine with a controlled, emulsified and enriched fuel / air mixture. Once the engine has fired, apply slight throttle to keep the engine running.

To any member to whom I had recommended the 2/3 pump method , I have now changed my recommendation thanks to Phil and his many years of experience with these engines.

MIKE TRIM MEMBER 1687 TECHNICAL SECRETARY

A warm welcome to all our new members, & also those who have rejoined after a period away. Look forward to meeting you all at a Club event.

As I type this the current membership is 358, & just over half of this number were due for renewal in July. Thanks to all those who have already done this, but there are still some outstanding, & I sent out reminders by email a few days ago. If you have not yet responded to the reminder then please do so asap, otherwise this will be the last magazine that you will receive, & you will no longer be able to access the benefits of SLOC membership.

A very significant number of payments to the Club for membership, parts, production certificates etc are made by PayPal these days, & whilst this is an easy & convenient method to both make & receive payments, I need to ask that everyone always uses the “Friends & Family” payment option so that the club does not pay any fees. If the “Goods & Services” option is used the club will lose at least 2.9% of the total, & if the payment is from outside of the UK there

may also be an additional currency fee of 2%. In keeping costs down for members as much as we can, we don’t charge anything like commercial mark ups on parts or other items that we supply (our average gross profit on the trading account is currently around 25% - which is of course all reinvested back into the club) & we really cannot afford to lose the PayPal fees as well. Payment by bank transfer is generally fee free of course, but we do pay banking charges of 50p on all cheques submitted, & 1.5% of any cash deposited (there is still an HSBC branch in the High Street where I live in Rushden - but this is only open for restricted hours so I don’t know how much longer it will be open – all the other main stream banks have gone) Many members will know that we do have a mobile card reader so that debit / credit cards can be used at shows & club events as an additional payment facility where the card holder is present (& there is either wifi or a good mobile phone signal) This is a non-contract system, so there is no monthly payment etc, & we only pay a small percentage on each transaction. The payments then appear direct in our bank

account around 24 hours after the transaction is done.

Thanks for helping with all of this.

Our financial year has just ended (31st August) & I am now in the process of collating all the necessary figures to pass to our accountant, who will prepare our statutory accounts as required for an incorporated company. Some early headlines from these results :-

the members at our AGM next year.

Sales revenue – just under £19k

Gross profit on sales – a little over £5k (this is taxable)

Other income – around £10k (this is not taxable – largely membership payments)

Total costs – circa £13k

Overall net profit – something like £2k (this is around £2k less than last year)

The full / final accounts will be presented to

For those who want to use their cars for track / competition events (here & on mainland Europe) I can recommend Lotus On Track “The track day club run by, and for Lotus enthusiasts (lotus-on-track.com)”. I’ve attended a number of events over the summer in my old Elan, & they are well run / organised, friendly, reasonably priced, & generally only Lotus cars are involved (plus Caterhams of course) Not seen a Sunbeam, & I’m sure they would attract a lot of interest from others if any turn up. There is clearly a close connection with Lotus, & some Lotus employees are involved, plus at a recent day on the Lotus test track at Hethel, those present had access to part of the new – very impressive – administration / reception area, & a free lunch was provided (it was a scorching hot day & I killed a set of semi slick / medium compound / road legal tyres keeping up with the way more modern machinery!!)

Thanks as always for your ongoing support.

Dave Merlane

ACHENE 2022 RALLY RS

FINALLY, ALL THE CARDS ARE IN THE RIGHT ORDER and we’re ready to seriously race again with our Sunbeam Lotus.

As our distant friends Mr Thompson and Mr Cook, in the green and yellow Lotus, have already mentioned. “Corona took the wind out of our sails and left us without the excitement of racing.”

So after about two to three years, everything required came into alignment for a trip to Wallonia. Where they have for many years held a rally sprint. A nine kilometre special stage on tarmac and gravel . It’s four identical laps, with a rather long re-group in

between. So it gave us the chance to repair if needed. We realised, we haven’t driven this event for the last four years.....it showed..... and that was the best part!

The car had been sitting for way too long, without the mandatory six monthly MOT; which it must have to be permitted on the road during the event and the yearly scrutineering by the sport’s governing body. It is all so far in the past, that even the car logbook was “a bit lost”. So we were stumbling in the dark about what paperwork we had to checked !!! ??? Not good I know, but unfortunately true.

Our service trailer was also without its MOT

and possibly many tools and parts; that we’d mistakenly left at home in the garage from other home car repair jobs. Fire extinguishers had to be serviced and/or replaced without a doubt. Dates on the belts, seats and fuel tank luckily were not expired. You would be surprised how much a top notch rally car costs just standing still for a few years. The garden mower had made good use of the old fuel though! Tyres are another item that age; but they’re far too expensive to just throw away. Let’s just say they might last a little longer than they do usually and that’s just the mechanical side of the adventure.

The human side was also far from perfect. My son, who would be driving the Lotus; had been fed up with things as they were and still are in Belgium and left with his family to live in Hong Kong some time ago. Covid, what else, threw a lot of additional trouble in the planned visits and taught us how to use Zoom etc, just so we could see our grandchildren growingup. Not funny at all. Secondly, my son had not even sat in a car during his time in Hong Kong, let alone got the feel of driving a car. And if it couldn’t get any worse. Two of our five hard core service crew, had obligations for the chosen weekend. Oh dear!

Luckily, Elien had the courage to join us for only the third time as co-driver. On the

two previous occasions, she had helped us out we went home without completing a single kilometre of the special stage. Not the best omen, but we had no choice. During the week of the rally sprint we found out that the water pump of the Lotus was leaking. The radiator of the Accord pulling the trailer was holed and the timing chain of the H-1 van pulling the service trailer, surprised me with a loud rattle, two days before day zero. The Lotus water pump was given a “make or break ” remedy by Phil Davison. The radiator in the Honda changed for a new one at the dealers and the fantastic Honda engine cleared as unharmed. And the H-1 has a recovery insurance, so “drop dead” if you need to.

The stage had a very long straight. So at the very last minute we decided to swap out the 4.1 for the 3.9. However, the gripper LSD in the 3.9 was dodgy; so let’s hope the straight is not too long. Luckily a well positioned tractor tire on the straight saved the day. When walking to the service park, we soon noticed a few cars out of the ordinary. A perfectly prepared 205 with a old Belgian ace at the wheel.A Mk2 Escort with a very healthy Pinto and next to it; another Mk2 but with a prime BDG under the bonnet, wearing the marks of a well known UK tuning company ending in “…cox”. Next to that, a clearly not so legal and/or original old-timer BMW M3 with a sequential gearbox.

Our first pass was all about checking that our car was doing what it should do and all four corners where still on the car when it returned to the regroup-service area. The downhill corkscrews were, as Yves told us, not the favourite place to blindly dive into, as some would say they did. Resulting in a +9min time and a serious 29 second delay for the fastest of the old-timers; which was the 205, closely followed by the BDG and

the Pinto. The questionable BMW was put in another class.

The second pass cost us a rim and tyre, so no decent time and much time lost. Some cars made faster times but most of them went slower. The well worn roads showed a bit more dirt and times went up. Yves mentioned the car, before the flat tyre, was nervous in the front on the tarmac parts especially. The educated eye estimated that we had about +15min of toe out and all the training we’d done at home, meant that we corrected that in a blink to nicely straight and the water-pump was fine thanks to Mr Philip

Our third pass was way better and confidence went sky high. The gap to the top 3 became smaller. So, as planned; we changed the rear anti-roll bar for an experimental test part we’d made at home, for the fourth and last attempt.

Suddenly, we couldn’t believe our eyes! We’d achieved the fastest time of the oldtimers, beating the Peugeot’s best time of the day, by almost two seconds and the BDG by 0.17 seconds !!! The slightly elderly driver of the BDG walked in to our service tent, sweating like a pig and applauding; saying “congratulations, I fought like hell for the every last centimetre of track and this is the first time in years I’ve been beaten in my own back garden.” The experimental part is still somewhere in his garden.

Several beers and chips with mayonnaise later, we drove home with the best feeling ever. That’s exactly what we do it for.

Hope this can help and thanks fort he correction.

PATRICK

S2 DOOR

MIRROR REPAIR

AS ALL OF YOU WITH A SERIES 2 MIRROR KNOW, the little plastic part breaks off. Club member Tony ‘Skid’ Nash has manufacture a repair kit made of brass parts which replaces the broken unit. I tested one myself on a broken mirror and Graeme Lawton also repaired one of his own mirrors. It’s simple to do, with the most difficult part only being the removal of the mirror

body from the housing. Some care, warm water and patience is all you need. I’m a butcher and managed to do it. Graeme is a lot less technical and he also managed to do it. Look at the photos to see which part fails and can now be replaced. Get in touch with Richard on parts@ sunbeamlotus.com and we will let you know more information.

For legal reasons all adverts must be made in writing, no adverts will be accepted over the telephone, please contact the editor if you have any queries and for final copy dates.

When following up on any adverts seen in this magazine please quote it as your source

The Sunbeam Lotus Owners’ Club is Recognised by the Motor Sports Association, and is a member of the Association of Rootes Car Clubs, the Federation of British Historic Vehicle Clubs and the Association of West Midlands’ Motor Clubs.

©Copyright Sunbeam Lotus Owners’ Club Limited 2015. No part of this magazine may be reproduced without prior permission from the editor/chairman.

If you would like to receive our monthly parts list and news letter, just drop us an email.

SLOC Ltd., Registered Office: PO Box 188, GOOLE, DN14 7WW, England. Registered in England and Wales. Company no. 04504210

Established by the Association of Rootes Car Clubs (ARCC) in 2004, the Rootes Archive Centre Trust (RACT) is a charity now based in Wroxton near Banbury, Oxfordshire, UK with a primary objective of preserving, protecting and promoting original material and artefacts of interest from the Rootes Group, its associated and successor companies.

The Collection:

Established by the Association of Rootes Car Clubs (ARCC) in 2004, the Rootes Archive Centre Trust (RACT) is a charity now based in Wroxton near Banbury, Oxfordshire, UK with a primary objective of preserving, protecting and promoting original material and artefacts of interest from the Rootes Group, its associated and successor companies.

The archive includes hundreds of thousands of detailed manufacturing drawings and blueprints from the 1930s through to the early 1980s, as well as specifications and design changes. The engineering archive is complemented with extensive marketing, sales and servicing literature, photographs and artefacts such as the Rootes boardroom table and chairs from Devonshire House, display engines, and various dealership signage items. The collection continues to grow as further items are donated and saved for current and future generations of Rootes enthusiasts.

The Collection:

The archive includes hundreds of thousands of detailed manufacturing drawings and blueprints from the 1930s through to the early 1980s, as well as specifications and design changes. The engineering archive is complemented with extensive marketing, sales and servicing literature, photographs and artefacts such as the Rootes boardroom table and chairs from Devonshire House, display engines, and various dealership signage items. The collection continues to grow as further items are donated and saved for current and future generations of Rootes enthusiasts.

The Charity:

The Charity:

The charity is operated by a small group of dedicated volunteers and is open each Friday (please telephone to confirm before travelling) and on the first Sunday of the month but can be opened for visits by arrangement.

The charity is operated by a small group of dedicated volunteers and is open each Friday (please telephone to confirm before travelling) and on the first Sunday of the month but can be opened for visits by arrangement

For contact details have a look at our new website:

For contact details have a look at our new website: Web: www.rootesarchive.org

Web: www.rootesarchive.org

Or follow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/RootesArchiveCentreTrust

Or follow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/RootesArchiveCentreTrust

The Rootes Archive Centre Trust, 15 Apollo Office Park, Ironstone Lane, Wroxton, Banbury. OX15 6AY

The Rootes Archive Centre Trust, 15 Apollo Office Park, Ironstone Lane, Wroxton, Banbury. OX15 6AY

SUNBEAM

AND OTHER MOTORING RECOLLECTIONS

CLUB MEMBER ROBIN FRAZER has more recently owned SGF 995V, which he sold to new club member Peter Christie last year. More on that car later, but the reason for Robin buying it in the first place was to relive his earlier experience of owning a similar example, TEV 695W, which he bought in September 1982 from dealer G.S. Last in Brentwood, Essex. (They had been the original selling agent for the vehicle when it was registered at their Chelmsford dealership

in November 1980 – some nine months after they had taken delivery of it!) It was Robin’s first pay packet from a racing deal with Renault UK and he paid the princely sum of £5500 in cash for this two-year-old Sunbeam Lotus, replacing an Opel Manta SR Berlinetta.

TEV 695W was a 1980 model Sunbeam Lotus (built at the back end of 1979) and had not been modified in any way. Robin reckons that it was far better than SGF, although the comparison of a nearly-new car to one that

was over forty years old might not be entirely fair, and might also be influenced by years of driving modern cars, but that’s the memory! “Lovely and quiet, just the roar of the engine, and without rattles! Unbelievably powerful, showstopping, head-turning. Like a Merc AMG today.” Robin also recalls that it took a while to get used to the gearbox, after eight months in the automatic Manta (reg XMD 236T), which was a beautiful, executive car.

The Sunbeam was “a hell of a lot quicker, though, with more raw power”. So much so, that his then-wife – learning to drive at the time – drove it into a garage door, denting the door. Thankfully the insurance paid out. Although Robin only owned the car for a short period (not even long enough to warrant a service!) he ran it everywhere, turning up to races across Europe in it.

The brief love affair ended one night in March 1983 when the car was stolen from outside Seymour Street Police Station, London W1, never to be seen again. Robin was dining out at an Italian restaurant at the time, thinking the car was as safe as houses in that location. The police later told him that indications were that the car was taken to Italy for stripping. HPI data does not show the car

being subject to an insurance write-off, even though it was paid out. That is not entirely unheard of, though, since records from that far back are not all captured in the computer system that was still fairly new at the time. Looking at the online DVLA car check might lead one to assume that the car might still exist; tax ran out in September 1983, so was not cashed in when the car disappeared, and

the last V5 change is recorded as being in March ’83, which is perhaps due to it being recorded as stolen then, or taken into the insurers’ name as a trader; a change in V5 does not mean a change in ownership, by the way, as this could simply be the result of an address change for example. The last recorded change of ownership was when Robin bought the car. So it really did just disappear! What could possibly replace such a car? Well, in this case it was an MGB GT (reg VOB 229H) that he kept for two years, spending loads of money on it and touring Europe in it.

And it was during this time - a rainy day in mid-June 1981 – that Robin ended up in a ditch with Ayrton Senna driving his Mercedes CLK, just coming off a roundabout onto a country lane in Oxfordshire on the way to a party hosted by the late Colin Chapman: “We both got out of the Mercedes and after a few words (‘Are you OK’ ‘Yes, are you OK’ ‘Yes, that’s good, we are both OK. What are we going to do now?’ ‘Leave the bloody thing,

let’s walk…’, so we both walked a couple of miles in the pouring rain to the party! He never went back to get the Mercedes, as far as I know!”

Fast forward to 2019 and Robin joined the club looking to buy a car similar to his first. Not long after this, SGF 995V came up for sale and, having known the car for many years when it was owned by former committee member Stuart Warsop, I suggested he had a look at it. This proved successful and so the car became Robin’s at what was a very good price. Of course, it still wasn’t perfect enough for him and so it went to Rees Brothers of Surrey for some fettling and a bit of paintwork. Which turned into the engine coming out and going to Phil Davison for a quick check-over! These things do tend to creep. All the while, I was batting back questions from Robin, helping him find parts and offering advice to both him and the chap at Rees Bros. A nice new set of Marchal 819 lamps and covers was sourced and I even made a decal for the rear screen to mimic the dealer decal from

Robin’s original Sunbeam.

I drove the car around Castle Combe in Spring ‘21 and it went rather well, with the usual mix of creaks and squeaks, albeit different noises to my own car and different again to Ian’s (your editor) that I drove the same day.

A further spot of carb tuning and rebuild was undertaken before Millbrook last year, and once again I had the pleasure of driving SGF around all three courses. It did feel different again from earlier that year, and I did really enjoy the drive. What was interesting was comparing it to my blue car; the reason being that we had helped Robin have some original front springs made, in all their 73lb glory, and I was able to see how they compared to the stiffer springs (and Bilsteins) of my own set-up. Well, the difference was indeed noticeable. Particularly on the handling course, where the feeling upon a change of direction, through the corners and the accompanying speeds achievable were markedly different. The perfect opportunity

after thirty-odd years of ownership of these cars to compare as directly as could be possible.

Of course, knowing Robin as I now do, it came as no surprise when he said he would be selling the car. Between us, we came to an idea of what the car might fetch and then managed to put him in touch with another new member who was looking. And so the cycle begins again! Hopefully we will hear more about this car from its current owner, and his own ideas about how it should drive, look and feel – we have already seen him at this year’s National Day enjoying his Sunbeam.

Graeme Lawton SLOC Historian

SLOC’S PRE XMAS

LUNCH

GOOD DAY TO YOU,

Yes; I’ve gone rogue already, as I wasn’t meant to be making any decisions or tampering with anything until 2023.

So whilst I’m certainly not inventing the wheel....or even re-inventing......I’d very much like your quick but accurate commitment, as to whether you’d like to attend?

NO; IT’S NOT FREE.

Yes; I know it’s during the World Cup and close to Christmas and your car’s probably not taxed and the venue is not central in the country and you’ve got nothing to wear and I’ve repeatedly mentioned Christmas in September..... AND if all or some of those apply? Well; I won’t be hearing from you and that’s just fine, because I know you’ll make the supreme effort to attend all the other SLOC events next year.

But, if this does interest you? I need to know by Sunday 2nd October if you will be there. Not maybe, or possibly; but subject to an unforeseen disaster of worldwide magnitude.

SLOC are holding a Christmas Lunch at The Manor Country House Hotel, near Bicester,

OX25 3QL. Sunday 11th December. I’m thinking arrive at midday and sit down at 12:30hrs

Any two of three courses £50/head; or all three courses for £65/head.

It’s a lovely venue. So I’m hoping for smart/ casual at the very minimum. That’s NO jeans; NO t-shirts; NO sportswear; NO shorts (not even me). You won’t be over dressed.

Yes, you can also book for another family member/friend, if you wish and yes, there is parking for your classic (that’s car not partner) at the front of the hotel.

We will be accepting reservations on a first come.....basis and will operate a reserves list, should you wish to be contacted if someone drops out.

Check your diary; calendar and with your significant other and then if you’re definitely attending? Email me at events@ sunbeamlotus.com with full name(s) of those attending and their respective exact choices from the menu, by 2nd October.

THANK YOU MARK HIGMAN

REFURBISHED S2 HEADLIGHT AVAILABLE

They look like new and will transform the tired and probable MOT failure headlights that all S2 cars have by now. They are sold on an exchange basis, we can tell you how to separate the glass from the shell and you can exchange your tired and rusty shells yourself. We supply clear and concise instructions on how to dismantle the lights along with guidance as to the correct glass

sealer you would need to put them together. Let’s face it, we own a lotus Sunbeam, so most of us have the capability to do the upgrade ourselves. The price for a pair is £330.00 inc. postage. This would normally cost you £200.00 per headlight, We would need to do them in batches of at least a dozen to keep the price we have. Get in touch with Richard and grab yourself a pair.

CONTACT: Richard Blackburn unless otherwise stated.

SLOCPARTS

AMIL WHEEL CENTRE CAPS

Satin Black AMIL wheel centre caps, identical to the originals by using the “metal spinning” process

Price £15 each or £50 for 4 or £60 for 5, all plus postage.

STRIPES

Please contact David Moodie at stripes@ sunbeamlotus.com

SERIES 2 HEADLIGHTS

* SEE SEPERATE ADVERT

DEALER STICKERS for your rear hatch glass

How about some originality?  We can now replicate all your rear window dealer stickers.  We have done two so far and we can do any others depedant on demand.  Let us know if you want one of the existing ones or if you would like us to do one for you that we don’t already have. Price £10 inc. UK P&P

SEAT FABRIC

The club has a supply of the correct shark grey seat fabric for Series 1 cars. This fabric is available to club members at an offer price of £150.00 + p&p

SHELVES

These parcels shelves include the hinge pins but not the support strings. If required, we can supply a drawing for the support strings.

The price is £220.00 + £22.00 carriage. Taking Deposits for next batch.

The fabric is durable, colourfast and fire resistant and have all the necessary approvals, and will not fade, slip or tear.

The S2 Piccadilly fabric for Series 2 is available to club members at £280 + p&p

NEW - HEATER MATRIX

In line with the club’s policy to get “hard to find” parts remanufactured, we have had a sample heater matrix made in aluminium. It is anticipated that the price for these will be between £350.00 and £400.00 when we order a batch of 10 units.

If you require one of these, we need a £50.00 deposit and I will add your name to the list of orders. When we have reached 5 orders, we will have a batch made.

ASHLEY COMPETITION EXHAUSTS

They offer a discount to SLOC members Ashley have produced a “works style”manifold based on a genuine works exhaust manifold.

This manifold is fitted with a 2.25” outlet to suit their competition system sold separately. The road exhaust is a three box system.

Contact: Brian Ashley directly (01922 720767)

AVAILABLE from SLOC

BREATHERS/FLAMETRAPS

They are filled with oil vapour gauze filters and can be removed, opened, cleaned and replaced.

The filters can also be replaced if required.

They are £95 each + £5 p&p to UK addresses.

Taking Deposits for next batch.

Period Tax Disc

Period Tax Disc

with whatever vehicle details you want. You can even choose your own postmark! £10 will get you 6 discs (all the same) and a FREE Club Tax Disc Holder Contact chairman@sunbeamlotus.com or give Perry a call one evening

with whatever vehicle details you want. You can even choose your own postmark! £10 will get you 6 discs (all the same) and a FREE Club Tax Disc Holder Contact chairman@sunbeamlotus.com or give Perry a call one evening

SPENCER TRAUTS PRINT OF TOIVONEN’S CAR

We also have a few copies of the contemporary Spencer Trauts print of Toivonen’s car, sized at 315mm by 253mm (£10 each) and a few copies of a colour photographic print of KKV sliding out of a corner (252mm by 202mm), yours for a fiver.

CONTACT GRAEME AT historian@sunbeamlotus.com

WORKS RALLY DECALS

These are available from Graeme Lawton. Please contact him directly; his details are inside the front cover.

S1 TALBOT BADGE

S1 SUNBEAM BADGE & SERIES 2 TALBOT BADGES

We have available a decal set to refurbish your exist ing badge. These are available from Graeme Lawton. Can you please contact him directly. His details are inside the front cover.

New bonnet badges are available for £20 including postage within UK. CONTACT Graeme at historian@sunbeamlotus.com

HOSES

TOP Hose

BOTTOM Hose

Manifold to Pump

£15.00

£13.00

£11.00

Water Pump to elbow £11.00

TOP & BOTTOM Hoses

Pump Hoses

£26.00

£20.00

WINDOW RUNNERS

The window runners are made of high grade stainless steel and will last the life of the car. The cost is £100.00 plus £7.50 p&p

Taking Deposits for next batch.

All Four Hoses

£45.00 p&p £7.50 for 4 off to UK addresses.

We have a few pairs left and are not sure if we could match this price again in the future, so if you need one (and you will need one, it’s just a matter of time and we’ve never seen one in good condition come out of a Sunbeam), get in touch with Mike Trim. These runners come with the rubber seals, which will also be shot.

ENGINE OIL LEVEL

Airbox (both S1 & S2) Is

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to

INFO

THE COMMITTEE MEMBERS are pleased to hear from any members who need help or advice or simply want a chat, but please bear in mind that we have jobs and busy lives away from the club, are sometimes away from home and some have young families; all calls should be made before 9pm.

If the person that you want is not in when you call, please ring again where possible rather than asking for a call back. If you do leave a message on an answer ‘phone remember to include your name, membership number and time/date of the call, and say what you were calling about. It will save time on the second call if the committee member knows what to expect and can be prepared for the next contact. If you are unable to contact the person by telephone, try sending an e-mail (or letter!) or try another committee member. Please ALWAYS include your name

and membership number in the subject line of any e-mail you send to the committee; failure to do so may result in the message being deleted without being read, due to problems with spam and virus e-mails.

Unfortunately, genuine messages are still caught by spam filters so if you do not receive a reply within a week, please send your message again. Thank you for your co-operation.

The SLOC does not necessarily agree with the opinions expressed in this magazine. The club committee members, officials of the SLOC and contributors can not be held responsible for any loss, injury or damage alleged to have been caused by following/responding to advice or advertisements in this publication (including accompanying leaflets). All advertisements are published in good faith and the club, committee members and officials of the SLOC can not be held responsible for any financial loss arising out of any subsequent transactions.

The editor reserves the right to edit any letters and/or articles submitted.

Copyright ownership of all text submitted shall pass to SLOC unless by alternative arrangement.

STRIPES

GLAD TO SAY THAT STRIPES have continued to be busy over the summer months so given the recommendation that stripes are the last thing to be done to a car, does that mean several cars have now been restored and returned to the road?

I took delivery of 20 black sets of stripes on 9th June 2022 and so far, 5 sets have been posted out to members who were waiting on black, clearing the backlog of orders we had. Many thanks for your patience as these stripes took a while to get done due to lack of material whilst keeping the quality and manufacturing process as close to original as possible. This leaves the club with a significant amount of money tied up in black stripes given each set costs £320 per set including post and packing to members.

The stock of 20 silver sets we had done, quickly sold out and again the club had to arrange for material to be imported and printed for a new batch. I’ve received the 13 sets and of these 8 have been sold, so still a healthy demand for silver. These sets are £282.50 including post and packing. You may have read on the club’s Facebook site, Sunbeam Lotus Owners’ Club | Facebook there was an issue with a single section of one silver set. Sorry to say this was a slip of the printer’s scissors whilst trimming the stripes and has now been replaced by the club.

Although I do include fitting instructions with the stripes, thanks for the feedback received from members who have fitted the club stripes, I now advise people to do the following.

Ensure stripes are unpacked and stored flat once received. The stripes are stored flat and only rolled up for posting.

Car and stripes should be above 12 degrees temperature prior to start of fitting. Not a problem given our current summer months but please bear this in mind as we approach the winter months. This reduces chances of stripe tearing when fitting over the arches. Some have used heat guns, but these don’t give an even temperature unless done by an experienced professional.

Spray the panel and the adhesive side of the stripe with a fine spray mixture of 1 litre of water containing a single drop of Fairy washing up water, this will prevent the stripe sticking hard to the panel until correctly aligned. Use a plastic scraper or credit card to smooth out the stripe and fix in final position.

The club can do stripes in almost any colour, just remember these will not be in the same material as the black and silver. I have in fact supplied a member with a set of yellow stripes so that’s 2 club members with a preference for yellow stripes.

If you want a set of stripes for your car, contact me at stripes@sunbeamlotus.com or call 01463 224720

DAVID S MOODIE MEMBER

Hello everyone and welcome to the latest update on club stripes.