BEEN THERE, DONE THAT, BOUGHT THE
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 Mark of the Sunbeam Lotus Owners’ Club.
CHAIRMAN’SCHAT
WELCOME ALL TO THE LATEST EDITION
OF YOUR CLUB MAGAZINE. It’s been a hectic few months within the club and so many things have been happening. So where do I begin?
The Restoration Show at the NEC was a great success. Some great cars on our stand and a lot of interest and a couple of new members. We were once again in a busy position and there was a constant flow of interest. A couple of previous owners giving us the usual “I wish I never sold it” sob story and the usual few who said they had one, but not with a Lotus engine!
Firstly, we have made a huge effort with parts restock, new items we have invested in manufacturing and a pretty good bulk purchase from Speedy Spares before their shutdown, sadly at the end of March. Club funds and outside funding have secured us a
good stock of spares for our cars. So, please remember, your first stop is Richard Blackburn on parts@sunbeamlotus.com before you ask for parts elsewhere. You will be surprised what we now hold in stock so that you’ll be able to keep your cars on the road.
We joined Club Lotus at the annual track day event at Castle Combe Circuit. The sun was out and so was the ice cream man! A great turnout of Sunbeam Lotus cars and members and a good amount of sales of our latest parts. Even managed to blag along the Mrs and the kids; the promise of an ice cream does wonders.
The AGM was held in the driver briefing room at 2pm and the usual run through of what each committee member has been up to. We were done within 45 minutes and then a surprise from Mark Higman! A unique and exclusive t-shirt for everyone who turned up
at the AGM (with a suggested contribution to the club coffers for the privilege) simply for making the effort to turn up to the event. All sizes were available (including and I quote “size Perry”)…anyone would think I like my sweets…
There was a bit of a sore moment when the parade lap marshal decided to go and have his free burger for lunch and wouldn’t let the last few cars on their parade lap. And guess which cars those were? Yes, ours! I even managed to get my son and daughter into a couple of Sunbeam’s as passengers for the parade lap and they were deeply disappointed. The Mrs wanted to slap the burger out of the marshal’s hand…think it took half a dozen of us to hold her back!
Next call will be our National Day at Prescott Hill Climb joining the Peugeot Sport hooligans. We are granted the privilege of
going up the hill in our Sunbeam, but you will have to arrange this with them beforehand (am sure they will ask for a fee). Mark Higman will be giving further details of this event. Entry is free for club members, just get in touch with Mark and he will give me list of members to post tickets out to before the event.
We have just been confirmed for the NEC in November – HALL 2 / STAND 530 – your club discounted ticket code is CCCNOV579
As for my Sunbeam Lotus, nearly there. Not for Prescott, but hopefully for Mystery Tour, maybe even the NEC? .
PERRY C. ANTONIOU CHAIRMAN
MEMBER NO. 750
MONEY MEMBERSHIP
A WARM WELCOME TO ALL NEW & REJOINING MEMBERS, & HAVING JUST UPDATED THE MEMBERSHIP RECORDS TO REFLECT THE OUTCOME OF THE JANUARY RENEWAL LIST, THE CURRENT NUMBER OF FULL MEMBERS IS 338 (THIS NUMBER DOES NOT INCLUDE JOINT OR FAMILY MEMBERS)
The July membership renewal letters will be posted out towards the end of June, & your early attention would be very much appreciated.
To assist with this process I use email to send out renewal reminders, but it is clear that unfortunately a significant number of these end up in “spam folders”, & that these folders are not checked regularly, it at all. So, if there is any way that you can adjust your email settings to always accept emails from membership@sunbeamlotus.com, then
that would definitely help, & prevent your membership renewal being missed.
Due to a health problem I was unable to attend the recent AGM at Castle Combe, & the financial report that was presented on my behalf was based on management reports, as the formal statutory figures were not available. However, I have now received these figures, & a summary is as below. Based on the indicative results that were presented at the AGM, I was able to recommend that membership subscriptions should remain unchanged at £30 for all classes of membership, & this was approved by the meeting.
The following report shows the figures as included in our final statutory return (as an incorporated / limited liability company) & demonstrate that the club is in good financial health.
Thanks as always for your ongoing support –
This is income from items sold e.g. parts, regalia etc
This is the bought in cost of the items sold + shipping / postage when sold
is the cost of actually running the
& includes event &
This is the corporation tax actually
This is the net loss /
RESTO UPDATE MARCH 2024
THE BODYSHELL IS GETTING PRETTY CLOSE TO BEING COMPLETED AT LEAST IN TERMS OF METALWORK.
A new quarter panel has been fitted; the jacking boxes replaced with new ones and the floors repaired; the wheel well panel has been tied into the inner tubs; the rear chassis legs have had rotten metal removed and as usual Jon has simply made up channels etc as required.
Jobs still to be done are repairs to
the offside A-post which is really bad and will require some work to get it right. Then it will be lots and lots of grinding and dressing of welds followed by seam sealer in all the original places.
By the time you have read this I will have spent a few days assisting with grinding and making sure Jon has rolled the arches correctly and folded the various seams as per the originals.
Of course the next big job will be paint and I have been having discussions with a couple of paintshops. I haven’t decided yet if I will go for original Moonstone or something else but it will be blue.
I’ve been sourcing parts and now have a new tank albeit a Series 1 item and a sender from an Avenger which will require some modification. A pile of parts are ready to go off for sand blasting and powder coating/painting. Fellow SLOC member Julian Antill is making up front struts for me and discussions are ongoing about the engine rebuild. The gearbox should only require a visual inspection given that the car only did about 55k miles in the 6 years it was on the road before going into storage in 1989.
More to come next time CHEERS CAM
NEW PARTS
THROTTLE CABLE (Yellow) CLUTCH CABLE HANDBRAKE CABLES (PAIR)
SPEEDO
FRONT & REAR BUSH SET COMPONENTS:-
Trailing Arm Upper-Front Bush kit
Trailing Arm Upper-Rear Bush kit
Trailing Arm Lower-Front Bush kit
Trailing Arm Lower-Rear Bush kit
Control Arm Lower-Inner Bush kit
Front Strut Bar Bush kit
Anti-Roll Bar Link Bush kit
Anti-Roll Bar Mount to Chassis Bush kit
Specify if it’s for a S1 or S2 as the Trailing Arm Lower-Front Bush kit is different.
Historical ISSUECORNER 2
AI know that I have written a lot about our cars attaining historic status, and I am really chuffed that we have helped so many members with this. It is very interesting to note that the number of our cars that are now shown by DVLA as licensed has increased dramatically in the past few years.
Latest figures show that a peak of 157 cars were licensed last year, compared with 135 in 2022, 104 in 2021, 79 in 2020 and 90 in 2019. Prior to that the figures were fairly stable for a few years, having been in decline ever since the cars were new, as you would expect. Had 2020 not been such an odd year, I expect that the numbers would have risen then as a result of the first of our cars attaining Historic tax status. As it is, it was April 2021 that saw the beginning of the increase in taxed cars due to free tax, with further jumps at the same time (quarter two) in 2022 and 2023 as more of our cars became eligible. Also, since there is no reason to SORN a car if a year’s tax costs nothing, more cars are now taxed throughout the year.
The total number of cars taxed or on SORN has not changed as much, however. 384 at last count, compared with 377 the previous year and 364 - 353 - 348 for the previous three years. The figures show a continual steady rise as cars that have been off the road since before SORN was introduced in 1998 have been added to the numbers, presumably after restoration. As I have said before, we have seen over 600 cars through the club in our time, so many more of them are still out there.
GRAEME LAWTON – HISTORIAN.
WEEKEND A SCOTTISH
THE ONLY TIMES I BELIEVE I’ve met and had a conversation with Cam Newell is on the Sloc Stand at the NEC for the Classic Car and Restoration Shows. Each time He’s mentioned about the majority of the events being in the southern half the UK.
So I put my head above the Parapet and said if there’s something going on I’ll come up. So that’s how I ended up on a solo 800 mile round trip to Scotland for the weekend. Cam had organised a Club Stand at the BVAC Thirlastane Castle Car Show on the Sunday and with me included to Have 5 Lotus Sunbeams there.
So I planned to make a couple of social calls on the way there and back to break the
journey up, leaving on Friday morning and getting back home Monday or Tuesday.
For those that don’t know I had to take Loti (so my wife calls it) DAC101Y off the road just before Xmas due to a loud clanking noise from the transmission which turned out to be a couple of teeth missing from the pinion in the Diff, One tooth being old fracture and the second coming out in sympathy. So thanks to Kieron for a Crownwheel and Pinion and Julian for organising the Axle and LSD rebuild and coercing me to have it changed to his disc brake conversion while it was out. After a couple of trips around the block and a short drive out, it’s first proper test was to the AGM at Castle Combe and back, the weekend before going to
Scotland. The car performed alright except for the voltmeter in the Dash not performing as it usually does, on the way home and a misfire as I reversed back into the garage after washing it. After taking the plugs out and managing to break one of the plug leads I found I’d dislodged the plug to the Coilpack while cleaning in the Engine bay so as soon as it was clipped back in it was running as normal. The battery seemed to be charging better aswell.
The plan was to head off after getting fuel Friday morning going up to Leigh in Lancashire visit some cousins in the afternoon/evening hotel stay overnight and head up to Melrose where I would stay Sat/ Sun about 20 min drive from the Car show.
DAY 1
Friday did not start well. After queueing for what seemed ages to get fuel I finally got out of Camberley and headed or the M40. As I’m approaching the Motorway Junction at High Wycombe I glanced to passenger seat and realised that my backpack with all my important bits in was not where it should be. A 35minute drive back home found it looking dejected on the kitchen table. Here we go again leaving over an hour later realising going to be heading north into Friday afternoon traffic Quickest way according to Tomtom was M40, Warwick, Coventry, M6 Toll road, M6 up to Leigh.
Everything was fine until got on to the M6 heading towards Stoke and a 20Min Delay. After crawling and stop starting for 10min and the fan running in the traffic the voltmeter was heading into the red I decided to come off at the next junction go down into Stoke and head back to the M6 a junction further up which the car seemed to like and at least the traffic was moving. Tomtom reckoned I saved about 10Min Happy Days. 200 miles done, Reached the Hotel around 18.10 with Cousins already in the Bar waiting for me. After a couple of beers, fitting the Car cover, a pleasant meal in a local pub and coffee back at my Cousins a well sleep.
DAY 2. LEIGH TO MELROSE,
After Breakfast and Fuel stop the day entailed meeting up with Adrian and Janet Alderson for Lunch at a Pub called the Fat Lamb (that I can thoroughly recommend) between Ravenstonedale and Kirkby Stephen in Cumbria before heading on to Melrose. As you can tell with this journey, all did not go to plan.
After leaving Leigh via the M61 and back on to the M6 at Preston, the battery voltage perked up and almost a normal reading on the gauge, thumbs up I thought. Turning off at Junc 38 at Tebay as I had put the Fat Lamb as destination, Tomtom sent me through Ravenstonedale village which is really nice old stone School and Church and a stream or Beck running through it. The Pub is a couple miles further on a great country lane at the junction with a main road. I arrived at he Pub a little early only to find the entrances chained up and a sign saying Closed only open to Hotel Guests. Having nowhere to go and a van behind I turned right onto
the main road to find somewhere to get my bearings and phone Adrian. Travelling about ½ mile up the road to a turning place I suddenly come across hoards of Vans, caravans trailers Ponies and carts. Yes I’d come across a designated parking area for the forthcoming Appleby Horse Fair the following weekend. After some strange looks turning round I managed to park outside the Pub and ring Adrian and went down to his house before going back to the Pub in our cars for lunch as we had a reservation. If you get a chance to go there the Fat lamb is packed with Car memorabilia great place for a car meet. Apparently the majority of Kirkby Stephen was shutdown due to the Gypsies passed problems at Horse Fair times. Anyway Finally a great lunch and meet up before heading back to the M6 up to Carlilse and the A7 up to the A698 and the A68 to Melrose.
My Hotel for the next 2 nights was The 3 star Waverley Castle Hotel. Chris Steele and his Wife with their Lovely newly rebuilt Series One, also from Cumbria were staying in Melrose had stayed in my Hotel 2yrs before and hadn’t had a good stay. So forewarned I wasn’t sure what to expect!!!. After checking in and coming back down to the Entrance to be confronted with two coaches full of silver surfer tourists I thought this was going to be a nightmare. To my surprise everything went well and the dining arrangements were well organised. After Dinner had a walk down a path at the back of the Hotel which took me down to the River Tweed, so I knew I was in Border Country.
DAY 3
Met up with Chris Steele, on the A68 at Earlston just outside Melrose for a Convoy into the Show. Cam had said to wait after getting in the Castle grounds and all going together to our plot, but the line of cars wouldn’t stop and had to find our own way, no problem though.
A little breeze to the edge off the Sunshine at times but really fine weather all weekend. Cam and his Brother Fin that brought Cams Clio due to Fraser being unable to bring his Lotus Sunbeam and Paul with the Third Series One also Cams friend with a black Escort Cosworth that got a lot of attention. Cam also brought Dave Moodie so the Committee was well represented aswell. What a great Show in a fantastic setting, the grounds were large with a formal lawn in front of the Castle with Special displays and the Sporting Bears giving rides and a real mixture of Cars and Clubs. A big eating area and a Rally stage. Not sure of the numbers but thought around a 1000 cars. We were near the Spectator entrance so lots of interest and questions and reminiscing of days gone by and also a good chinwag between ourselves and well worth the trip.
DAY 4
After breakfast and packing up it was time to head South again this time down the A68 65 miles into Northumberland (the landscape really does change when you cross the Border), and across to Morpeth meet up with and old friend and work colleague for lunch to break the journey again before the last 323 miles long haul back to Surrey.
Even with the sluggish charging the engine didn’t miss a beat and has now clocked up 15000 miles since being put back on the road in November 2021.
CHRIS EDWARDS
GOT THE T-SHIRT Been There, Done That,
Entry to National Day is FREE OF CHARGE!
Yes, before one more person asks me and I explode. SLOC have bought tickets which will enable club members; and your car, to gain free entry to Prescott on SUNDAY 7th JULY.
If there are more than two people in the car and/or you want to camp Saturday night? Then you will need to access the Peugeot Festival website and buy the relevant tickets.
https://pscuk.net/pscuk-peugeot-festival
The regulations regarding driving The Hill have changed. Previously, pretty much anyone, driving anything, could take to the hill. This year the website says just Peugeots. But the organisers have agreed, Chrysler/Talbot Sunbeams qualify as part of The Family and will be allowed.
Can I strongly suggest, YOU go to the website and read all the information that will be relevant to you having an enjoyable day….and it saves me answering the same question twenty times.
You should have already received a Knobber Email from me. Letting you know that the start of the Kent Mystery Tour will be at The Castle Lake pub, attached to a Premier Inn, in Leybourne, near West Malling. Until we receive responses, we won’t know the start time, but it’s usually about 10:00hrs ish. Entries will close on 25th August, but please don’t leave it until the last minute.
The recipient of this year’s Julia Higman Award has been unanimously chosen. The Award has been engraved and will be fittingly presented at the finish of The Mystery Tour. Don’t get excited…..It’s NOT you.
Am I going to mention the AGM? Well… ..I guess I’ve done that already��. To the 300 odd of you that were washing your hair, or were enduring chemotherapy. You missed a lovely day in Wiltshire, where the 99’s were on Perry and the sun shone on us all. The AGM itself was nothing to get excited about. Just the club having to fulfil its responsibility and the attendees having to endure our sparkling repartee….I don’t think so. However, those that did attend were “treated” (unique always comes at a price) to a “gift” to mark the occasion and I’d very much like to thank Graeme for his knowledge, in producing my printed ideas accurately.
The Knobber Emails will continue to hopefully help; inform and confirm I’m still as sarcastic (but loving) as usual.
Mark Higman SLOC950
WANTED Can anyone help us?
I’m after a new / NOS passenger side front bumper end for my series 2 lotus. Any help locating one would be very much appreciated. Here’s hoping there’s someone out there that has one. You can contact me on 07703 001926 many thanks Mike.
SLOC AGM
@ CASTLE COMBE
LATEST PARTS
COOLING
FUEL
IGNITION
GASKETS & SEALS
MISCELLANEOUS
FROM SLOC NEW ITEMS
SERVICE WALLET PACK
NEW! We have reproduced the wallet to keep your service book safe, and if you do not have one of those, we have had some of those made as well! Licensed by Lotus themselves, the wallet features the same design as the original, albeit with subtly smaller printing to avoid any confusion with original examples.
To complete the pack, we also have a reproduction of the handbook supplement for Sunbeam Lotus, covering all years of car. All three items are available exclusively to SLOC members.
TYRE PRESSURE DECAL
Inspired by the yellow stickers fitted to export models (as required by legislation in certain countries, no doubt), we have produced our very own version for application to UK cars. These are certainly not a requirement for that authentic period look but are a bit of fun while also being a useful reminder of the required pressure – whether that be for your benefit or your service garage.
SUNBEAM S1 BADGE DECALS
We can now provide decals to freshen up any tired SUNBEAM badge on the back of your series 1 car. Easy to apply, once you have cleaned up the badge.
TALBOT AND S2 BADGE DECALS
We can supply chrome vinyl decals to freshen up the badges on your series 2 car. Easy to apply (although the Sunbeam is a little trickier…) we will need to know the markings on the back of each badge to ensure we supply the correct decal.
For latest prices of these items contact Graeme:- historian@sunbeamlotus.com
REGALIA
8 PLUS P&P
TEA TOWELS
SWEATSHIRT
HOODIES
HOODIES
BASEBALL HAT
SLOC PARTS
STRIPES
Please contact David Moodie at
DEALER
STICKERS for your rear hatch glass
How about some originality? We can now replicate all your rear window dealer stickers. We have done four 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.
FIBERGLASS PARCEL SHELVES
These parcels shelves include the hinge pins but not the support strings.
If required, we can supply a drawing for the support strings.
SEAT FABRIC
The club has a supply of the correct fabric for Series 1 and Series 2 cars. This fabric is available to club members The fabric is durable, colourfast and fire resistant and have all the necessary approvals, and will not fade, slip or tear.
AVAILABLE from SLOC
WORKS RALLY DECALS
These are available from Graeme Lawton. Please contact him directly; his details are inside the front cover. S1 TALBOT
BADGE
New bonnet badges are available 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
ENGINE OIL LEVEL
The engine oil level decal for the standard Airbox (both S1 & S2)
. SERIES 2:
SERIES 1:
MUD FLAP DECALS
In stock, replacement decals in a hard-wearing vinyl (slightly different finish to originals but the same size, shape and design). Also suitable for a tool box!
VARIOUS WINDOW CLING DECALS
SLOC MERCHANDISE
Leather KEY FOBS Club, Laurel & Talbot Logos
Sunbeam Lotus MUGS (SLOC2)
Sunbeam Lotus (SLOC 3)
CLUB USED PARTS
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. We would need to do them in batches of at least a dozen to keep the price we have. Get in touch with Richard Blackburn and grab yourself a pair.
SUNDAY
7th JULY
SLOC National Day, Peugeot Festival
Prescott Hill Climb
SATURDAY
10th AUGUST
My Dad’s 90th party
Winsor, SO40 2HG
SUNDAY
8th SEPTEMBER
Kent Mystery Tour South-East of England
8th, 9th & 10th
NOVEMBER
SLOC at The NEC Classic Car Show
EVENTS DATES FOR YOUR 2024 DIARY
We do of course fully understand that this year, you will be visiting loads of excellent classic car shows, all over the UK and Europe. It would therefore be most appreciated. If you could make the whole membership aware of your intentions before you go; rather than after you’ve been, using SLOC social media and/or the Club forum. This makes us all aware of the very worth while events being organised on our doorstep and gives members the opportunity to support you on the day.
THANK YOU
MARK
