Sunbeam alpine (1959-’68)

Rootes’ Sixties sports car has it all – looks, charm and affordability. Here’s what to look for before you buy

What have I done? I have just spent about six times that which I’ve yet previously spent on a car, on a vehicle that has twice as many cylinders as I’m used to, will consume about double the amount of

Losing Fisher & Ludlow (which had made monocoque bodies for the Standard 8 and 10) to the British Motor Corporation led Standard-Triumph to choose separate-chassis construction for its next small car.

(1962-1969)

(2015-TO DATE)

The post-war story of Rover provides one of the richest seams of intriguing might-have-beens and one-offs that you’ll find anywhere in the history of the automobile. There was everything from Topolino