1955 Sunbeam S7 de luxe, 487cc. Registration number UAU 574 ...

Estimate

£6,500 - £7,500

1955 Sunbeam S7 de luxe, 487cc. Registration number UAU 574 (non transferrable). Frame number S7 7392. Engine number S8 7655.
Sold with the V5C, R.F.60, two keys, 1970 MOT and tax disc, photographs of the restoration, and receipts for parts.
When the 1946 S7 was unveiled to the post-war biking public, it was one of the most technically advanced motorcycles of its age. With its all-aluminium, unit-construction, single overhead-camshaft, horizontally split engine, it also boasted shaft drive, a smooth power delivery and numerous other technical refinements that that BSA (the new owners of Sunbeam) hoped would be a big hit with the buyers, unfortunately this was not to be.
Designed by Erling Poppe and Gerry Bayliss, the S7 was intended to be the company flagship, a machine to rival the high-specification wartime Wehrmacht BMW R75—which was offered to the firm as part of the post WW2 reparations deal. They decided to stick with their own design with all the development problems that that entailed.
After the first run of all black finished machines was sold, a much improved 25bhp S7 was offered, which, in 1949, was improved further with the introduction of the Mist Green De Luxe model.
Throughout its production run, the S7 and S8 (which were sold side by side) were continually improved. But the fundamental design was never developed as far as it might have been, and the accumulation of crisis-management fixes coupled with falling sales led in 1956 to its discontinuation—although bikes were still available from stock until 1957.
In total, 7658 Sunbeam S7s were built—which includes 5554 De Luxe models.
UAU has known history back to 1963 when it was owned by Edward Broughton of Nottingham; our vendor used to walk past it on his way to school, at this time it had a sidecar attached. C. Hibbett owned it in 1969 and then Keith Bamford in 1970. Our vendor bought it from him in the 1980's as a project and stored it until 1990 when he commenced a total strip down and restored it to the high level you can see today. Since then it has been stored and only occasionally been used. He is now having a sort out and decided to part with the S7.