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SLIDER: 1954-1957 Sunbeam Mk III

This may look like a Sunbeam-Talbot 90, but it isn’t.  The 90 was built between 1948 and 1954, in Mk I, Mk II and Mk IIA versions, the latter being the last model to carry the Sunbeam-Talbot name.  From 1954, the car was marketed as the Sunbeam Mk III and badged on the radiator shell as Sunbeam Supreme.

The 90 was launched in 1948 along with the smaller-engined Sunbeam-Talbot 80.  The body, available as a 4-door 4-light sports saloon or 2-door drophead coupe, appeared completely new though it continued some major pressings from the pre-war 2-litre.  The 90 saloon featured the original Aero-Minx “pillarless” join between the glass on the rear door and the rear quarter window with its distinctive Sunbeam-Talbot reverse slope.

For the Mk III that appears in our Slider, there were some minor styling changes to the front with enlarged air intakes on each side of the radiator shell, but the most significant identifier to a Mk III is the group of three small portholes just below each side of the bonnet near to the windscreen.

A Sunbeam Mk III was outright winner of the 1955 Monte Carlo Rally.


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