ROVER produces Sunbeam Cars

After Sunbeam had already delivered numerous vehicles of its 16hp model as passenger cars to the British armed forces before the start of the war, further deliveries were made at the beginning of the war, also to the Russian Army and to allied forces. The 16hp chassis was also fitted with ambulance bodies in fairly large numbers.

In 1915, the War Department decreed that Sunbeam should concentrate more on the production of aircraft engines and aircraft. Production of the 16hp chassis with car and ambulance bodies was transferred to Rover Co Ltd. According to the few available documents, ROVER produced 1,781 Sunbeam chassis. The bulk of these were probably ambulances.

As the Sunbeam cars built at ROVER were less powerful than the original Sunbeam 16hp, it is thought that Louis Coatalen, who joined Sunbeam as chief designer in 1909 and was co-director with William M Iliff from 1914, may have "slightly altered" the production plans of the 16hp.

Leider sind nur wenige Abbildungen erhalten. Diese stellen wir gerne vor:

	⇒ to the ROVER-Sunbeam Staff Cars
	⇒ to the ROVER-Sunbeam Ambulance Cars