• One of some 70-or-so surviving 12-16hp models • Roughly assembled 'kit of parts' when acquired • Benefiting from extensive works by specialists I S Polson • Further restoration required • Engine needs a full rebuild Founded by John Marston, a God-fearing Victorian industrialist who foresaw the growth in demand for private transport, Sunbeam was first associated with beautifully made, though expensive, bicycles.

Although comparative latecomers to motor car manufacture, Wolverhampton-based Sunbeam quickly established a fine reputation alongside Lanchester, Wolseley, Austin and Daimler at the heart of the expanding Midlands motor industry.

Sunbeam's early production comprised mainly four-cylinder models, which have survived in greater numbers than any of its aforementioned contemporaries.

By the outbreak of WWI the Sunbeam range consisted of four-cylinder 12/16hp and 16/20hp models plus the 25/30hp.

Fewer than 5,000 of the 12/16hp model were made between 1910 and 1914, this example ...