Last updated June 28, 1995
If it was ever made it will be collected. This is true of everything, including Sunbeam factory literature. This article started out as a simple quest to find information on the stock options for my Series II Alpine. The deeper I dug the more I learned and the more people I met who were very knowledgeable on Sunbeam literature. Since I collected all this information, I decided to organize it and write an article for our membership to read.
I originally offered to write an article detailing the factory sales brochures issues for the Alpine from Series I to V, but after reading an article by Rande Bellman, (Which I have had since July of 1993, Sorry for taking so long Rande!) I do not feel qualified to write an article with the detail of Rande's on the Tiger. I hope someone else will take up this task. I have decided that my contribution will be two other articles. First I will cover the information that I have learned during my "literature search" and sometime in the future, I will write a detailed article on Sunbeam Accessory Brochures.
Table 1 lists the Rootes reference number, the model the literature covers and the title or a description of the brochure. The list has been sorted by numerical order. Three major groups can be seen. Literature that was given Rootes part numbers, literature for the home market and literature for export.
The first group contains factory manuals that were included with the car, bought for maintenance or were for special tuning of race vehicles. Specifically, these manuals were - Owner's Handbooks, very similar to today's owner's manuals, Work shop manuals which were used by the dealers or owners for repair reference, and parts lists used when ordering replacement parts, which listed every part (by Rootes part number) in an Alpine or Tiger and contained drawings of almost every part. All of these books are very helpful in the restoration and maintenance of Sunbeams. Reprints of owner's manuals, workshop manuals and special tuning manuals are readily available. Parts lists are harder to find but with a little looking or through the club's wanted ads a copy can be found.
The second group consists of sales literature that was given out at the Sunbeam dealerships in England. Most of the Rootes literature has a reference number on the last page. Brochures were issued in numerical order for each market. A series of letters followed the numbers and indicated the market and type of drive. All of the literature for England were marked with an H for Home Market. Other abbreviations were Ex = Export Market, LHD = Left Hand Drive, RHD = Right Hand Drive, CAN = Canada, FR = France, GM = Germany, USA = United States. Two sizes of brochures were printed for the Alpine. The folded sizes were 5.5 x 7 in. and 8.5 x 11.5 in. and when unfolded the sizes were 14 x 19.5 in. and 23 x 25.5 in. respectively. Both were very similar with the larger ones having more details of the new model`s features.
Many of the export brochures were almost identical to their home market counterparts. Only minor changes were made to reflect different country requirements. The most common difference was showing the cars as left hand drive. Sometimes this was done just by printing the original art from the other side and painting in or air brushing out the gas cap. It is interesting to note the decline in the number of sales brochures printed from 1959 to the 1964. This may be due to the smaller number of Series III and IV Alpines produced or may have represented a cut back in advertising due to the worsening financial condition of the Rootes company.
Some interesting unusual brochures were also printed. Rootes provided a service for purchasing a car in Europe, driving it while on holiday and then having it shipped back to your home country. Rootes also printed brochures which were to help their salesmen sell the cars by listing "Confidential Facts". Most of the facts were identical to those listed in the regular sales brochures but were given in far greater detail. Color chip books were also available. These contained small samples of the available paint colors for choosing which color your new Sunbeam would be. Brochures with the current prices were also printed.
When Chrysler took over Rootes the numbering system seems to have been dropped. The only Rootes/Chrysler brochure I have seen is a Green and White brochure which covers the Tiger and the Series V Alpine. It boldly proclaims, "Chrysler's New Sunbeams."
I hope that this list is helpful to all our Sunbeam literature collectors. I would gladly welcome information or xerox copies of any Tiger or Alpine literature that is not on this list. I would also be interested in receiving any corrections of errors in the original list. Please mail them to me and if I receive enough, I will publish an updated list. Finally, I would like to thank everyone who contributed to this list, especially Rande Bellman and Scott Christie.
| Reference Number | Model | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Rootes Part Num. | ||
| 6600259 | Alpine | Voucher Book |
| 6600681 | Alpine I | Owner's Manual, 1959 |
| 6600719 | Alpine I | Factory Parts List, 7/59 |
| 6600736 | Alpine I | Workshop Manual, In German |
| 6600806 | Alpine II | Owner's manual, 1960 |
| 6600809 | Alpine II | Parts List, supplement |
| 6600865 | Alpine I & II | Workshop Manual, WSM 124/3 |
| 6600937 | Harrington Alpine | Owner's Manual, Harrington |
| 6600938 | Alpine III | Owner's Manual |
| 6600951 | Alpine II | Sunbeam Harrington Supplement to Workshop Manual, 1962 |
| 6600960 | Alpine II | Special Tuning, 1962 |
| 6600988 | Alpine III | Workshop Manual |
| 6600992 | Alpine I-V | Parts List |
| 6600993 | Rootes Range | Man Hour Schedule, 1964 |
| 6601053 | Alpine IV | Owner's Manual |
| 6601102 | Alpine I-IV | Workshop manual, WSM 124/2 1964 |
| 6601124 | Tiger Mark I | Owner's Manual |
| 6601125 | Tiger Mark I | Workshop manual, WSM 143 |
| 6601206 | Tiger Mark II | Workshop manual, WSM 144 |
| 6601231 | Alpine V | Workshop manual, WSM 145 |
| 6601245 | Alpine V | Owner's Manual |
| 6601339 | Tiger Mark II | Owner's Manual |
| Home Market | ||
| 0643/H | Alpine I | New Sunbeam Alpine |
| 0644/H | Alpine I | New Sunbeam Alpine |
| 0694/H | Alpine I | Prices, Color Schemes and Dimensions, Small Size |
| 0753/H | Alpine II | SB Alpine, Sleek, Swift, Spectacular, Now with larger 1.6 L Engine, Large Size |
| 0756/H | Alpine II | SB Alpine, Sleek, Swift, Spectacular, Now with larger 1.6 L Engine |
| 0779/H | Alpine II | The Sunbeam Story, Alpine and Rapier |
| 0850/H | Alpine II | Sunbeam the Sucessful Marque, Alpine and Rapier |
| 0945/H | Alpine III | The Spectacular New Sunbeam Alpine, Large Size |
| 0946/H | Alpine III | The Spectacular New Sunbeam Alpine, Small Size |
| 0990/H | Alpine IV | The Spectacular New Sunbeam Alpine |
| 1010/H | 1964 Sunbeam | New Sunbeam Range, Alpine and Rapier |
| 1044/H | Alpine IV | 1963, Large Size |
| 1028/H | 1964 Sunbeam | Price List, October 16, 1963 |
| 1091/H | Alpine IV | Sporting Performance with Touring Luxury |
| 1131/H | Tiger Mark I | Black Cover with red car and tiger's head. |
| 1158/H | Tiger Mark I | Confidential Sunbeam Tiger Facts for the Salesman |
| 1159/H | Tiger Mark I | Black Cover with red car and tiger's head. |
| 1206/H | Alpine V | Single Sheet - Blue car |
| 1228/H | 1966 Sunbeam | New Sunbeam Range, Tiger IA, Alpine and Rapier |
| 9307/H | 1967 Sunbeam | New Sunbeam Range - Alpine, Rapier and Imp |
| Export Market | ||
| 6004/Ex/CAN | Tiger Mark II | One Sheet - Black cover with white car |
| 7174/Ex/USA | Alpine I | New Sunbeam Alpine - Inside Facts for the Salesman |
| 7176/Ex/USA | Alpine I | The New Sunbeam Alpine, Sleek, Swift, Spectacular, Large Size |
| 7177/Ex/RHD | ?????????? | . |
| 7181/Ex/USA | Alpine I | The New Sunbeam Alpine, Sleek, Swift, Spectacular, Small Size |
| 7248/EX/LHD | Alpine II | Sunbeam Alpine - Now with larger 1.6 L Engine, Large Size |
| 7249/Ex/USA | Alpine II | Sunbeam Alpine - Now with larger 1.6 L Engine, Large Size |
| 7255/Ex/USA | Alpine II | Sunbeam Alpine - Now with larger 1.6 L Engine, Small size |
| 7256/Ex/FR | Alpine II | French Sales Folder, Small Size |
| 7260/Ex | Alpine II | Salesman's Data Book - Facts for the Salesman |
| 7669/Ex/USA | Alpine II | The Sunbeam Story - Alpine and Rapier |
| 7693/Ex/GM | Alpine II | German Version of 7249 |
| 7698/EX/USA | 1962 Sunbeam | Three Color folder of Sunbeam Line, Small Size |
| 7704/Ex/USA | Alpine III | The Spectacular New Sunbeam Alpine, Large Size |
| 7705/Ex/FR | Alpine III | French Version of 7704 |
| 7709/Ex/USA | Alpine III | The Spectacular New Sunbeam Alpine, Small Size |
| 7746/Ex/USA | Alpine IV | Alpine - Sporting Performance with Touring Luxury, Large Size |
| 7751/Ex/USA | Alpine IV | Alpine - Sporting Performance with Touring Luxury, Large Size |
| 7763/Ex/USA | Tiger Mark I | First Tiger Brochure, Printed in black, white and blue. |
| 7772/Ex/LHD/RHD | Alpine IV | Sporting Performance with Touring Luxury |
| 7773/Ex/USA | Alpine IV | Sporting Performance with Touring Luxury, 1964 |
| 7786/Ex/LHD | Alpine IV | 1965 Single Sheet |
| 7787/Ex/USA | Alpine IV | Color one page Spec. Sheet with white car |
| 7801/Ex/USA | Tiger Mark I | Black Cover with red car and tiger's head. |
| 7823/Ex/LHD | Alpine V | Greater Power - Higher Performance |
| 7824/Ex/USA | Alpine V | Greater Power - Higher Performance |
| 7831/Ex/USA | Tiger Mark IA | Black Cover with White car |
| 7855/Ex/FR | Alpine V | French Version of 7824 |
| 8240/Ex/USA | Alpine IV | Rootes Travel Services Abroad |
| Miscellaneous | ||
| No Reference # | Harrington A | The 1.6 Litre Sunbeam Harrington Alpine, Small Size |
| No Reference # | Harrington B | Sunbeam Harrington LeMans - New Pace Setting Performance, Large Size |
| No Reference # | Harrington B | Harrington LeMans - Cover shows car #35, Small size |
| No Reference # | Harrington C | The 1.6 Litre Sunbeam Harrington Alpine "C" Type, Small Size |
| No Reference # | Harrington D | Part Color Sheet - Harrington D |
| RL282 | Series II | Dealer's Tri-fold Color Folder, Paint Chips |
| No Reference # | Alpine V | Large Post Card |
| No Reference # | Alpine V, Tiger IA | Green And White - Chrysler's New Sunbeams, Tiger and Alpine |
| No Reference # | Alpine I | Rootes Travel Services |
| No Reference # | Alpine III | Before You Make that New Car Decision |
| No Reference # | Alpine III | Italian Version of Series III by Touring of Milan, Nuova Linea Sunbeam Alpine |
Back to the Alpines page.