This is the adventure about the acquisition of a 1927 Sunbeam Model 1, as told by Ruud van Bijnen.
Tuesday, December 13, 2022. It’s almost nine o’clock and I am sitting on a bench opposite the WH Smith stationary shop in the hall at Victoria Station, London. It has been a long but interesting ride on several Flixbuses that started the previous evening at 20.00 hrs in the centre of Eindhoven, The Netherlands. While I’m waiting for my appointment my thoughts wander back to that moment in the summer of ’22, in the workshop of Yesterdays Vintage Motorcycles in Nederweert. I happened to be there one afternoon when some new acquisitions were rolled in, fresh from Italy. The Sunbeam that was parked close to me immediately caught my attention because of its stunning original condition and the excellent enamel and nickel finish, transpiring through its somewhat dusty, neglected appearance. This bike would fit perfectly in my small collection of unrestored, original machines but one in, one out, so I traded the Sunbeam for my 1913 Peugeot V-twin.
OP2902, a 1927 Sunbeam Model 1, frame A1037 engine H1041 was accompanied by a modern V5C only, the document was issued in 1987 and showed two former keepers since the last British owner registered it in his name in 2002. Sometime after 2002 the ‘Beam went to Italy and all that was known was that it had languished, apparently unused, for a number of years in a private collection. Contact with the last documented British owner didn’t go very smoothly, but I managed to find out that OP2902 was accompanied by an information file when sold, but this file was nowhere to be found and apparently had got lost in Italy. But a former owner’s name was known: Geoffrey Morris, well-known vintage enthusiast from Wallington. We got in touch via email and Geoff was very pleased to receive news about his old Sunbeam, of which he remarked: “I should never have sold that bike…” (familiar sentence, isn’t it?). The good news: Geoff had kept the original information file and had transferred only some copies, excellent foresight! The bad news: he was apprehensive about sending the documents and photos to The Netherlands as he didn’t trust the Royal Mail to take good care of the precious documents. So I offered to come over and spend a day together and take custody of the Sunbeam’s history file……..
Ah, there’s a gentleman standing in front of WHSmith, holding a big white envelope and looking around as if he’s expecting someone. That must be Geoff! We have a nice meeting but the planned day together falls a bit short because of a British Rail strike that afternoon, which forces Geoff to take an early train back to Wallington.
Geoff’s documents provide an oversight of the bike’s history from 1927 till December 2001. It was owned for nigh on 60 years by Harry Brumbill from Tanworth-in-Arden, a small village south of Birmingham and some 30 miles from the Sunbeam’s birthplace. In 1927, when he was 35 years old, Harry saw an advert in The Birmingham Post and Mail – a Sunbeam motorcycle for sale at Yardley Wood and he thought he must have it. He cycled to Yardley Wood – a distance of about eight miles- to see if it had been sold and saw it was in splendid condition for it had only done one journey to Wales. He was told if he wanted it he would have to leave a deposit. As he had no money on him he hurriedly pushbiked back to Tanworth to ask his mother if she had any money to lend him. She managed to find him £5 whereupon he cycled back to Yardley Wood and made sure that the Sunbeam was kept for him until he had raised enough money to pay for it. Once in his possession, it became his pride and joy. He always looked after it most carefully and kept it in a dry outhouse attached to the cottage. He never rode it far, just locally. After the war Harry bought a Morris Minor, and from the 1946 tax disc in the holder you might conclude the machine wasn’t ridden after that year. But Harry kept on maintaining it well for 40 years. The last sentence of his obituary in the local newspaper on January 23, 1987 reads: “A cheery character and described as a friend to everyone, Harry Brumbill could be seen outside his cottage with his precious old Sunbeam only a month before his death.”
Harry had offered his Sunbeam to the National Motorcycle Museum shortly before his death, but there was no interest in the bike because they already had enough Sunbeams. It was bought privately then by one of the Museum’s associates, who took it to Verralls in London. Geoff remembers: “I saw it and immediately agreed to buy it- in late 1986. I used it for a number of runs and rallies and it was excellent to ride; with ‘hands off steering’. It was fast for a 350 and I could easily keep up with the 500s. Eventually something else came along and I made a mistake in selling it to Brian Verrall in December 2001 as I should have kept it.”
Geoff made no changes to the bike apart from new elastic bands under the saddle. But after he passed it on a different headlamp and new rubber handlebar grips and knee grips have been fitted by someone. And new transfers, because most of the originals had been completely polished off by Harry. A good clean out of the tank and carburettor and fresh oil and petrol was all OP2902 needed to come to life again. I hope it will give me as much pleasure as it gave to Harry and Geoff!
Photo credits to Ruud van Bijnen and Yesterdays Antique Motorcycles
an article by Ruud van Bijnen for The Girder Club
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