Sunbeam Commercial Vehicles

S T D Motors chose to enter the large commercial vehicle market in the late 1920s, and once established they made petrol and diesel buses and electrically powered trolleybuses and milk floats.

Ownership switched from S T D Motors to Rootes Securities in mid-1935, and later that year their Karrier trolleybus designs were added to Sunbeam production lines.

In 1946 J. Brockhouse and Co of West Bromwich bought Sunbeam but in September 1948 sold the trolleybus part of the business to Guy Motors.

In the early 1950s the amalgamated Sunbeam, Karrier and Guy trolleybus operation was the largest in Britain and possibly the world.

In 1954 Sunbeam Commercial Vehicles moved within Wolverhampton from the Moorfield Works in Blakenhall to new extensions at Guy Motors Fallings Park.

At its height in the 1920s, Sunbeam Motor Car Company's Moorfield works employed 3,500 staff on their 50-acre (20 ha) site.

A smaller 2-axle model Pathan appeared in August 1929 fitted with a 6.6-litre engine developing 110 bhp capable of carrying a 26-seater single deck or luxury coach body.

Rootes Securities Limited announced in early July 1935 that sanctioned by an Order of the Court a subsidiary, Motor Industries, had entered into possession of the share capital of Sunbeam Commercial Vehicles Limited along with the other undertaking, assets and goodwill of Sunbeam Motor Car Company.

[14] The next month Jaguar Cars bought Guy Motors from the receiver hoping it might be feasible to coordinate and rationalise output with their recently acquired Daimler Company's buses.

[23] The next year thirty-one nations adopted "plans to save Europe's Heritage by removing overhead trolleybus cables, electricity and telephone wires and big unsympathetic shop windows.

"[24] The dormant Sunbeam Trolleybus Company legal entity was renamed Pressed Steel Fisher in 1978 and given by Michael Edwardes British Leyland's freshly separated car body business.

Bournemouth Corporation Tramways began that process in 1933, when they placed an order for 103 double-deck vehicles with Sunbeam, which were fitted with electrical equipment manufactured by British Thompson Houston (BTH) of Rugby.

An initial order for 60 was placed in November 1937, and the vehicles were fitted with BTH electrical equipment while the regenerative rheostatic braking system was produced by Ransomes.

The Cape Town network ran into the foothills of Table Mountain, requiring them to negotiate long gradients, but they performed well.

[29] Following trials with two Swiss-built trolleybuses, Coimbra in Portugal ordered six Sunbeams in 1950, with a view to replacing the tram system if they proved successful.

They were fitted with single deck bodywork by Park Royal Vehicles, with 40 seats and room for 35 standing passengers.

To cope with the steep gradients of the Coimbra system, they were fitted with 125 horsepower (93 kW) 600-volt motors, and each trolleybus carried two compressors, normally designed to work together, but each capable of maintaining the air supply for braking and door operation if one should fail.

[31] A variety of configurations was available and Hull Corporation trialled a Roe bodied Sunbeam in February 1953, which had a separate entrance and exit, and twin staircases.

This reduced the seating capacity to 54, but the design, which was specified by the Transport Manager Mr G H Pulfrey, was well-received, and an order for a further 15 such vehicles was placed in April 1953.

They were both 12–15 cwt models, with a British Thompson-Houston (BTH) motor, which was controlled by magnetic contactors, similar to those used on Sunbeam-BTH trolleybuses.

[35] The motor was mounted in the middle of the vehicle, and drove the rear axle through a Hardy-Spicer propeller shaft and double reduction gearing.

The front hubs were mounted on taper roller bearings, while the back axle included double-reduction gearing and a removable differential, to assist maintenance.