Over the long weekend the spouse and I visited Gualala on the North Coast
above San Francisco. We had, for reasons that seem stupid now, left our
Alpine at home. What should we see one evening but an absolutely pristine
SV being driven up Hwy 1? After giving pursuit for half a mile or so I
followed it to its garage and attempted to explain to the nice lady who got
out of it why I was in her driveway. As soon as I told we'd left our Series
V at home, she knew exactly why we were there, and was happy to see us. We
chatted for a while and she has an absolutely wonderful story about it.
She is the original owner, bought it new in Berkeley right from the showroom
floor. She had an MG at the time, but these were contentious times in
Oakland (and she was involved in some of the contentions) and her boss felt
that she'd be safer in a car with a hard top. They went to the dealership
and when she saw she could get a Sunbeam with a hard and a soft top, she
ordered it right away. She has had and driven it ever since. After things
got too rough in Oakland, and they tired of the police protection, her and
her husband decided to move to quiet and solitude of the North Coast. She
has been there ever since. She mentioned that there is a gentleman in
Annapolis who works on it for her and that he absolutely loves the car. He
had told her just the other day that "I've been working on your car ever
since I was a teenager." She said that it did not seem that long but that
he actually had been working on it for about 25 years now. She just turned
over 50,000 miles on it. She'd always promised to give it to her daughter.
Her daughter wanted it when she was sixteen, she wanted it when she was 18,
she really wanted it when she was 21, but now that she is over 30 and has
kids of her own, she says, "mom, maybe you should keep it a little longer."
She keeps the car well taken care of and the garage is carpeted and did not
appear to have any oil stains at all. There is a little rust, but not much,
and it is only visible if you look closely. She still has the original
radio and speakers. I did not ask too many other 'car-guy' like questions
as she and the wife were having too much fun talking and I was having way
too much fun just admiring it. I left my card and promised on our next trip
up we'd bring our Sunbeam. She would not let us go without a jar of
homemade raspberry jam.
If any of you get up that way, be sure to stop by the antique store where
she works (in Gualala you cannot miss it, there's only one) and say hello.
I guess she gets people in the store all the time asking about her car.
She's an absolute joy to talk to and it certainly made me wish I'd brought
mine along. Oh well, next time.
-Patrick
rested, sunburned, and tired
SV
Richmond, CA
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