A Truly Original OwnerAnd oh yes, the car was originally purchased by my father too...
Dad took delivery of Ti April 9, 1966, from "Bill Drange Imported Cars", a small local dealer in Vallejo, CA. Interestingly, this dealer location continued to operate as an independent automobile lot until but a few years ago. I had hoped to knock on the current manager's door and ask for some perfectly preserved sales brochures from the 60's, surely they would have been pleased to rid themselves of these old documents. Alas, it wasn't to be. Google Maps street view image of the dealer as it was last year (2015). More kismet, the dealer is located on the corner of Pennsylvania (Dad's birthplace) and Sonoma. A drive-by this year showed no cars to be found. A newspaper search was able to pull out a few of the regional Sunbeam adverts of the time. To the left is a picture of the introduction advertisement for the 1965 Sunbeam Imp. At bottom center you can find Bill Drange. The Owners' Service Book, with Lubrication and Maintenance Vouchers, is shown on the right. This and the Warranty Booklet, all shown right, list his parent's home address in Fairfield, less than a 20 minute drive away. Ti was intended to be a frequently driven car and the 500 mile service was performed less than a month later with 1040 miles clicked off. My wife is now putting similar miles on her leased vehicle, commuting 20-40 miles a day regularly. Not too shabby a start! Clearly Ti's owner was enamored with him.... ...Just as Dad was with his wife, shown on the home page and depicted at left during a visit to the Main Post, Presidio, San Francisco.... ...And as he was with his parents and Chief shown at left. The 6000 mile service was not to be performed within the 24 month warranty period, however... Little things like continuing his tours of service during the Vietnam War likely made regular dealer service on Ti somewhat less of a priority... Which is not to say he and his buddies would not have played around with Ti a bit while they were stationed on breaks at the base... We can start to see the beginnings of trying to push the car into a meaner appearance with the picture at left... An open grill looked "more Cobra-like", shame those bits and pieces often went missing... |
Good is rarely good enough...For pilots this is especially true. As was commonplace at the time, the stock Ford Small Block V8 "260", was pulled out of the car in order to rebore the cylinders and try to up the power. Unknown to many at that time, the Ford 289 as used in the AC Cobra FIA and seemingly similar to the 260, was not identical. Cylinder walls of the 260 often did not have enough thickness after boring to prevent overheating issues and worse, wall failure (cracking).
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More history to come... >1970...Having children changes all sorts of priorities, but Dad never stopping loving cars. Check out the Oddballs page for more info on the eclectic varieties. Missing from the page are a 1970 Mach 1 (bummer), a mid 70's Monte Carlo (less bummer...) and a beloved 1978 Audi 5000 that no one could talk Mom or Dad into scrapping, even after multiple break-ins and an engine bay fire. My first car...a stick at least... made sense.
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Timeline
1966: Pilot Training School: 1966 Graduated, Williams AFB. Ordered car to specification...
May 1966: Purchased Car ; Beginning of April/May 1966.
1966-1967: Minot AFB, ND
- Winnipeg drives
- Helicopter School in TX AFB
1967-1968: Modesto (Daily driver for mum)
1968: Travis AFB (see pictures Feb 1968 above)
1969-1970: Elmendorf AFB, AK
- Motor out
1971-1976: Modesto CA
- Repaint Yellow
1976-1980: Storage, Travis AFB Storage
1980-1989:
- Rarely driven
1990-2013: Driveway
2014-Pres: Restoration....
May 1966: Purchased Car ; Beginning of April/May 1966.
1966-1967: Minot AFB, ND
- Winnipeg drives
- Helicopter School in TX AFB
1967-1968: Modesto (Daily driver for mum)
1968: Travis AFB (see pictures Feb 1968 above)
1969-1970: Elmendorf AFB, AK
- Motor out
1971-1976: Modesto CA
- Repaint Yellow
1976-1980: Storage, Travis AFB Storage
1980-1989:
- Rarely driven
1990-2013: Driveway
2014-Pres: Restoration....
Vaca Valley Raceway, Pacific Coast Finals, SCCA, Sept 1964
Vacaville is about 15-20 miles east of Fairfield. Vaca Valley Raceway hosted a number of interesting races until being lost to the farmland. Many Sunbeam Alpines performed well here, but this Program also lists a new entrant to the B Production Class. See pages 7 (ad), p12 (Production Class Groupings), p20 (ad), p22 (Sunbeam Tiger regional dealers, with Bill Drange listed), p24 (full page Sunbeam Alpine Tiger B Production race car advert), p28 (race footage of Alpine with a Porsche 356 mind the fields in their own way). Such a great program, I could easily imagine my father having attended the event. But, that would be unsubstantiated. Sorry not to reference the owner and/or scanner of this fantastic document. Great stuff!