A special Sunbeam

The article on the Hi Cam Sunbeam (OBA 94) reminded me of a special I built many years ago. It started with me acquiring a 1940 B28 600cc engine for no special reason, just that it was rare. The engine was quite tall, about 24 inches (61cm) and very heavy. A friend gave me a 1955 Norton Dominator frame as payment for work I had done for him and Norm Aldridge gave me the forks (nice people!). Wheels, tank, seat, headlamp, etc came from swap meets and the AMC gearbox from a friend. The bike went together reasonably easily so it was an AMC special.

Taken on its first rally, the Hat Head Rally on the NSW north coast, it took out first place in the 19501960 group, which really surprised me as I didn’t think specials featured much to many bike people. I called it a Sunbeam just because of the timing cover. The late Barry Jarvis took great delight in telling people it was a prototype Sunbeam. My wife Merle says it’s a waste of two good bikes. Oh well, you can’t please everyone. The photo above shows the bike with the Hat Head trophy.