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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

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

Membership Secretary 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 Chris Edwards social@sunbeamlotus.com

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

CHAT CHAIRMAN’S WELCOME ALL AND WHERE WERE YOU?

Ihave been continually working on my Sunbeam Lotus as usual, but set backs with change of ideas and waiting for some new bits meant I could deal with other club efforts. Primarily the Fuel Sender issue. It looks like I now have one and am currently test fitting and calibrating it to my own car. Thankfully I had not put in my fuel tank and was able to fettle with this on the bench, rather than upside down and having to drain a tank. We were hoping Caerbont/ Smiths were going to help us out after months of promises, but when push came to shove, they were useless and thankfully the job made easier for me as my tank was still off the car.

We have just had our AGM at Castle Combe and thank you for all those who attended. The weather held out and at least Simon Hutchings got his Sunbeam Lotus on the track tearing his tyres to pieces. What always makes me laugh at this event are the Historic Lotus owners. Every year they jump around from pillar to post, let me explain…

You have the Classic Lotus Register, the Lotus Classic Register, the Historic Lotus Register, the Lotus Historic Register and so

on and so on. Every year they all seem to be bickering and moving from one group to the other. A bunch of old timers all trying to outwit each other with regards to their historic Lotus. Always reminds me of the “Judean Peoples Front” scene from Monty Pythons, Life of Brian! One important item I need to mention is that the club is moving to an online membership platform. You will have more functionality with renewing & paying for your membership. We will have more functionality with running the club membership. You will still get renewal letters, but you will also have the option to look at your membership information and make any amends or change from Single to Family membership. The most important is that your club email address is up to date, as this will be linked with the club forum as well. We may also me moving to a once-a-year renewal date, so we may instigate a 6 month or 18-month payment so that we can all have our renewals once a year instead of twice yearly.

Everyone seemed to miss the announcement of a trip to Normandy! Both in the magazine and by email from Mark! Never the less, we went –Mark, Julie & Phil Davison along with Mary and

myself, meeting Phil’s friend (and fanatical car collector) Patrick Bastiens and his wife Christine. We spent a day and a half in Normandy and what a humble feeling it was. Seeing all the monuments, museums and war graves of those who gave their lives so we could have our freedom and liberties today (well kind of!). Some thanks to Simon Hutchings who gave Mark some great guidance on where to stay, where to go, what to see and (most importantly for me) where to eat.

We had an extra couple of hours, so we also visited Bayeux and the Bayeux Tapestry Museum. Considering that it’s 950 years old, there were more people there “reading” it with help from a headset than members reading the club magazine.

I urge you all to read the magazine, it is there for your information and to keep you updated and advise what we’re doing, where we’re going and what we have for sale to keep your Sunbeam Lotus going. We are forever inundated with requests and questions for so many things which are always in the club magazine and have been for months.

Next up is National Day at Chatsworth House on Sunday 20th July 2025. This is a FREE event for you BUT you need to contact Mark Higman (all the details are elsewhere in this magazine for you) in order for him to arrange your tickets. We look forward to seeing you there.

PERRY C. ANTONIOU CHAIRMAN – MEMBER NO. 750

MEMBERSHIP

FIRSTLY A WARM WELCOME to the new members who have joined since the last magazine. I hope that you found the contents of the membership pack interesting reading, & don’t forget that the committee are here to help you, so please do not hesitate to make contact with any questions.

The Facebook Group is also a great sources of advice & information, so if you haven’t yet joined, then I would highly recommend that you do.

At the recent AGM I presented my report on the accounts & membership numbers, but as I explained, I had only received the statutory financial report from our accountant that very morning, so the numbers for the last financial were taken from the management accounts.

PROFIT & LOSS ACCOUNT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31st AUGUST 2024

PROFITS RETAINED BALANCE SHEET AS AT 31st AUG 2024

ASSETS

It is recommended that there is no change in membership charges for the coming year, & all classes of membership remain at £30

At the AGM I also explained that my health problems were very likely to prevent me continuing as Treasurer & Membership Secretary, & that I would not be continuing with these roles, or as a committee member.

I think that I’m the last remaining member from the original committee that was formed after SLOC was established in 1991, & as such I have to thank all members, past & present, for their help & support over such a

Doubtless there will be an announcement soon regarding the new officials, & obviously there will be a handover period, so please bear with us during this phase.

I will continue to be a member, & attend events as my health allows, so hope to see you some time soon.

Good luck to you all & your families in the future – DAVE MERLANE

Having finished applying liberal amounts of rust converter to every surface I could access I commandeered my daughter’s Volvo XC60 as it has a tow bar and loaded up the shell onto a trailer to take it from here in Edinburgh over to Eamonn Boyle at ATC Bodyworx in Kilmarnock.

Upon arrival Eamonn showed me around his facility and various cars they were working on including a TVR, Subaru Impreza and an immaculate Fiat Strada. They do rally cars, modern & historic, and have done the body and paintwork on various Sunbeams and Avengers. Eamonn was complimentary about the metalwork and repairs undertaken by Jon Ogilvy. Shell offloaded (Sunbeam shells weigh so little) and back home.

Eamonn & his team have been hard at work on the interior, underside and engine bay of my shell, taking it back to bare metal and applying Novel epoxy primer. Results so far are looking good.

As I write I am still undecided about colour. Those of you who follow the SLOC FB page will have seen the poll and of the 44 votes cast just over half were in favour of Talbot Moonstone blue.

Once the shell is ready for colour I intend to go over to Eamonn and get some spray outs done and decide from there. So for the time being you’ll just have to wait and see what I do but what I can tell you is that it will be BLUE.

Aside from body matters, work continues on readying all the parts required for the rebuild. The heater unit matrix has been removed, pressure and flow tested and refurbed. New UJs on the prop. Steering column stripped, painted and fitted with new bushes. Brake lines made up using old but original factory Sunbeam ones as templates. Carpets ordered. Radiator stripped and fitted with offset cores to aid cooling. Door handles painted and locks checked. Headlight adjusters fabricated. I have a bundle of nuts, bolts and other fittings that are off for cleaning and passivation. I want to have as many parts as possible ready for fitting so that I am not held up on the rebuild sourcing parts.

I do like Talbot Royal Blue as well as Talbot Kingfisher blue. Maybe I’ll do a Des O’Dell tribute car, or maybe Lotus Esprit Essex blue

Phil Davison has completed the engine rebuild - around 220 BHP and 170 torques should be enough!

NEXT EPISODE will be the big reveal (I hope!)

CHEERS CAM

FINALLY SUCCEED – (SORT OF)

Run over the Warcop military ranges near Appleby in Westmoreland the Pendragon Stages consists of 8 stages covering 70 miles of undulating and twisty tarmac roads.

It was an event we first contested in 2021 when it provided the most miles per £ of 3 tarmac rallies on August Bank Holiday weekend. We completed the morning stages but fell foul of an unfamiliar note on the first of the afternoon runs. “ left of mid over crest into k left over bridge”. Well, I concentrated on getting left of mid over crest OK, but so much so I was to quick into what followed and had to take avoiding action and go to the right of the bridge via the stream to land up on top of the remnants of a dry stone wall!

Due to Russia invading Ukraine there was no event in 22 or 23 so fast forward to August Bank Holiday 2024. This time it was exceedingly wet and we retired on the last of the morning stages when the axle literally broke in half.

So, for 2025 fellow old git Keith Fellowes was persuaded to accompany me in my ambition to actually get to the finish as regular co driver Rob Thompson was unavailable. Due to reasons only known to the military this years event was brought forward to 11th April. After our long trek north (via the British Commercial Vehicle Museum in Leyland) we met up at scrutineering in Kirkby Stephen where we were joined by service crew of Kelvin Windsor and Les Allfrey.

Sunday morning and it was hot and dry and we completed the first 8 mile stage without a problem. We were catching the car in front of us but he very obligingly went straight on at a square left without holding us up! However, on the run back down A66 to service that I noticed the volt meter jammed hard against the stop at over 16 volts. It dropped back to normal as we arrived at service and a check found nothing untoward so we carried on

although there was a long delay after a big accident, fortunately no injuries, just a lot of panel damage. After catching and passing another car on stage 2 we noticed the volt meter was now showing only 10.5 volts as we drove back down A66. So, with limited service time we connected a set of jump leads and topped the battery up by charging it from another car.

There was another long wait at the start of SS3 and so we thought about it and decided we needed to change the alternator. Unfortunately there was insufficient time after 3 and so we carried on to SS4 where things went wrong. As I grabbed the handbrake on a hairpin I knocked the cut out off and there was not enough in the battery to restart the engine. Undeterred, I let the car roll backwards with the intention of bump starting it in reverse, but, with limited rear visibility due to being strapped in with full harness belts all I succeeded to do was roll into a ditch!

We got pulled out and were able to bump start the car and get back to service where Kelvin and Les struggled to change the alternator on a very hot engine. They did a sterling job and we rejoined, running last

on the road, which meant we were catching several cars – great fun but not the way to set fast times. Not that it mattered as we had taken a maximum on SS4 which dropped us around 7mins 30 secs. At the finish the temps were way up and so the service crew suffered more burnt fingers to remove the thermostat and we carried on. On SS6 we caught the other Sunbeam on the event which pulled aside at the entrance to a chicane. Problem was it just sort of pulled over to reveal a big round straw bale right in front of us! Our only option was to take to the grass and miss the chicane altogether!

Our final effort to provide work for the service crew was a bent wheel after cutting a

corner on the penultimate stage.

After all the delays it was gone 7pm by the time we got packed up and set off south so we stopped a night and got home Monday evening happy at finishing on the 3rd attempt and surprisingly 48th out of 65 finishers, which would have been around 33rd without or maximum. We were also best of the Talbots with a Samba 50th, the other Sunbeam 51st and an Avenger in 57th.

OLD GIT BILL COOK

CHATSWORTH HOUSE

SUNDAY 20th JULY

This year we are piggy backing into the Great British Motor Shows’, Chatsworth Classic & Performance Motor Show.

IF you would like to attend this event with free entry? You MUST contact me to request a ticket for yourself; your car and (if needed?) one other person AND bring the ticket(s) with you.

I will also need to know, if you are bringing a car to sit on the club stand? Or not?

You can reach me on mhigman7@aol.com events@sunbeamlotus.com or 07920 538498

ALL THE RELEVANT INFORMATION REGARDING... What time do I need to be there by? How do I get there? Is there camping? Can I arrive late and leave early? When can I leave?

Do Moonstone cars look better with silver, or black stripes?

How should I react when I don’t win Car of the Day?

Is it going to rain? etcetera…….

Can all be found on the Great British Motor Shows, Chatsworth website page: https:// greatbritishmotorshows.com/event/chatsworthclassic-and-performance-motor-show/

One other thing to make my life a tad easier please. It would be most appreciated if you can order your tickets as soon as possible. Tickets are NOT “sale or return”. SLOC must buy the tickets in advance and then forward to you. So, please be understanding of this fact and not believe you can request tickets after 13th July.

Hedgehogs are our friends…..not flatmates. Please lookout for them.

MARK HIGMAN – SLOC 950

NEWS COMMITTEE

It was a sad day at Castle Combe last month when Dave Merlane officially resigned from his committee positions after so many years since his first role editing our newsletter in January 1992. I can’t begin to describe the amount of work that he has put in during that time, keeping on top of our finances for the bulk of it and running the membership for many a year now – having done the latter for a few years I know exactly how time-consuming it can be, and that’s before the advent of the forum and social media! In all my time in the chairman’s seat, Dave was our solid foundation and trusty goto; willing to bounce ideas off, telling me what was a good idea and what was not, and he has remained so throughout Perry’s time in the chair (who himself has now overtaken the length of time of his predecessor, so congrats to him on that). The dedication and effort involved in keeping us running - not just the timehas been immense, particularly when he has been undergoing treatment in recent years, and we owe a huge debt of gratitude to our Mr Merlane. We enter a new phase and can only hope that we build on the legacy that he is leaving, and wish him all the best.

GRAEME LAWTON HISTORIAN.

Our new subtle design allows the wearer to show their love of all things Sunbeam Lotus without shouting about it. We have a limited selection in stock but can have other sizes and colours made to order, including in men’s sizes. £25 plus postage.

3.50

BASEBALL HAT

UMBRELLA:

PIN BADGE: 1” Diameter

WOOLLY HAT: take the club with you on your chilly winter drive with this comfy black beany hat with embroidery. With 3M Thinsulate to keep your noggin warm! £15 plus postage. If

Sunbeam

Sunbeam Lotus MUGS (SLOC2)

LATEST PARTS

IGNITION COOLING

CABLES

FUEL

GASKETS & SEALS

MISCELLANEOUS

Historian

CORNER

IT’S NOW OUT IN THE OPEN – I am writing a book! (About the Sunbeam Lotus, of course…) I hadn’t been entirely sure when to make this public knowledge but the publisher (Amberley) has recently announced a release date of February 2026 and you can place an order on Amazon. However, we would prefer that you buy a copy through the club so that we can at least add a few coppers to our coffers from it. If you wish to put your name on the list, please contact me and we will keep you informed as to how and when we will process orders.

Oh, I haven’t actually finished it yet! I still have the daunting task of filling some pages and deciding what not to include from all the information available to me, although that does mean that I have a better idea about what I should be putting in this very magazine for you to read. I am excited about that, so am now making efforts to create a set of articles for Ian to include.

I do still have scope to include any interesting historical photos that you might have; anything from ‘in period’, i.e. when the cars were new or in their first few years of use. Anything rallyingrelated would be particularly great to consider. All I ask is that the pictures are your own so that we can clear copyright easily. If there are any aspects of the car or the works team that you are keen to learn about, please also let me know just in case it’s something I haven’t considered; the more geeky it is, the chances are that I will put it in our mag rather than in the book but you never know. Right, must crack on…

GRAEME LAWTON HISTORIAN.

GRAHAM ATKIN RIP

I was saddened to hear that former Lotus engineer Graham Atkin had passed away recently. We all owe him so much for his work on the 900-series engine. I am honoured to have met him a few times, and have some notes from talking to him that were destined for the book. Graham started as a student apprentice at Jowett Cars before moving to David Brown working on Aston Martins in Leeds and then to Lotus in 1967, where he worked on their new slant four engine. By 1975 he was Powertrain Manager, later dealing with Des and Chrysler at the beginning of the Sunbeam project; he ran the white 2-litre Lotus Sunbeam prototype for three months during development but never drove a 2.2 before he was lured to Rover in 1979. He returned to Hethel in 1985, though. Regrettably, I was unable to attend his funeral but did raise a glass in his memory on June 27th.

GRAEME LAWTON

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.

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

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 and a FREE Club Tax Disc Holder Contact chairman@sunbeamlotus.com or give Perry a call one evening

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

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.

UNDER BONNET DECALS

The club now has the following under-bonnet decals in stock

ENGINE OIL LEVEL

The engine oil level decal for the standard Airbox (both S1 & S2)

. SERIES 2:

SERIES 1:

VARIOUS WINDOW CLING DECALS

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!

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.

GENERAL 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.