1955 Sunbeam Alpine (1 of 6 'Works Prepared')

The very stylish Alpine was mechanically uprated from its saloon siblings, with a modified cylinder head, carburettor, manifold and exhaust system to boost power to 80bhp while the chassis was reworked to cope with the extra horses. Further improvements culminated with the Mark III model of October 1954, with new Stromberg carburettor, standard Laycock de-Normanville overdrive gearbox and a revised dash. Always expensive, the Alpine sold in very limited numbers and only 3,000 were built before production was discontinued in October 1955. A team of six Alpines contested the 1953 and 1954 Alpine Rallies, the 2.3-litre engines uprated with larger inlet valves and ports and a higher compression ratio boosted power to 97.5bhp while the close-ratio gearbox made 120mph obtainable during top speed runs at Jabbeke in Belgium.

Strong performances by Moss and the team saw a new batch of six works team cars (based on the Mark III Alpine) built for the 1955 running of the event only for it to be cancelled following the tragedy at Le Mans that year. Strong brakes, a slick gear change and a gutsy engine add up to an excellent package and the Alpine has a loyal following today.