When people think of Sunbeam, they may not see the manufacturer in the same light as other companies like Aston Martin or Jaguar. Sunbeam’s history is noteworthy, as it broke the 1922 Land Speed Record and took a starring role as the first James Bond car in Dr No. One man who recognised the company’s merits is Ron Moir, owner of a 1968 Sunbeam Alpine Series V.
Moir recalled when he bought the car. “It was about 1996 and was being sold up in Dufftown. I went up to take a look at it and ended up putting in a bid. But it was weeks and weeks before the owner got back to me and to be honest, I’d sort of forgotten about the whole thing. But then I got a call saying that I’d been successful and that if I wanted the car I’d need to pick it up on Friday. It all went very quickly after that as I winched the motor on to a trailer and drove it back to Aberdeen.”
Moir then spent the next 20 months restoring the Alpine. As a trained mechanic, he was able to complete a lot of the work himself.
“It had been stored in a damp garage for 16 years before I got it. It was a lot of work to get it back roadworthy and I did most of it myself with some help from a friend for the bodywork. Then it was a case of painting it and going through the paperwork to get it on the road. Once it was all ready to go, I gave it my son as a 21st birthday present. That wasn’t my original plan when I got it, but with the time the car took to restore, it coincided nicely with the occasion and my son likes cars too, so I thought it was fitting.”
Ron’s son, Andrew loved the car and spent a lot of time driving it. When Andrew relocated to Dubai for his job, Ron started taking care of it again. “Andrew named him Hamish…and Hamish was named after the 1980s Dundee United goalkeeper Hamish McAlpine. Andrew was a sports reporter you see, so it was his two passions combined – sports and cars. He moved abroad about eight years ago but I’m still just the custodian of Hamish. I love to take him out so it’s the perfect set-up really.”
Hamish has been in the Moir family for 22 years, demonstrating the appeal of Sunbeam models.
