Automobile Makes and Models Sunbeam

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On August 13, 1920, Sunbeam merged with the French company Automobiles Darracq S.A.. Alexandre Darracq built his first car in 1896, and his cars were so successful that Alfa Romeo and Opel both started out in the car industry by building Darracqs under licence. In 1919 Darracq bought the London-based firm of Clement-Talbot to become Talbot-Darracq in order to import Talbots into England. Adding Sunbeam created "Sunbeam-Talbot-Darracq," or "STD Motors". In addition to quality limosine, saloon... Read Full Story

STD Motors went bankrupt in 1934 at the height of the Great Depression. By this point only Talbots was still a success, and in 1935 that portion was purchased by the Rootes Group. The receivers eventually sold the rest of the company to William Lyons of "SS Cars," who was looking for a name change given the rising Nazi connotations. But just as the deal was supposed to close, Rootes purchased Sunbeam out from under Lyons, who was justifiably upset. He then changed the name of SS Cars to... Read Full Story

John Marston was apprenticed to the Jeddo Works of Wolverhampton as a japanner (metal lacquerer). In 1859, at the age of 23, he bought two existing tinplate manufacturers and set up on his own, John Marston Co. Ltd. Marston was an avid bicycler, and in 1877 set up the Sunbeamland Cycle Factory, producing bikes known as Sunbeams. Between 1899 and 1901 the company also produced a number of experimental cars, but none of these were offered to the market. The first production car named as a... Read Full Story

But by this point Rootes was itself in financial trouble. Talks with Leyland Motors went nowhere, so in 1964 30 percent of the company (along with 50 percent of the non-voting shares) was purchased by Chrysler, which was attempting to enter the European market. Ironically, Chrysler had purchased Simca the year earlier, who had earlier purchased Automobiles Talbot, originally the British brand that had been merged into STD Motors many years earlier. Chrysler's experience with the Rootes empire... Read Full Story