shooftie

Nice to see they’re using telescopic shock absorbers. My 1963 Sunbeam Series II Alpine had lever-action dampers. Talk about a dealer-only item. Of course the dealer was Chrysler and the prices weren’t that bad — but you had to wait three weeks for any part at all.

It also came with a hand-starting crank, and I actually used it — once, to see if it worked. It did.

The neatest thing it had, barring the constant stream of oil smoke through the cabin and the allegedly convertible top, was a little knob on the distributor, calibrated in degrees, with which to change the timing ad libitem.

Perhaps the next was that since the water pump was coaxial with the fan, a broken belt merely meant that you had to keep the speed >/= 85 mph and she’d cool just fine from the fan windmilling. Below that speed you had three or four minutes for all purposes.

Great car in its way, and the only one I’ve ever seen where I thought the fins looked both fitting and attractive.