Description
Pavilion Gardens | Buxton, Derbyshire
Viewing: Tues 28th April 2026 from 12pm
Auction: Wed 29th April 2026 from 9am
Location: St John's Rd, Buxton SK17 6BE
1925 Sunbeam 14/ 40 Tourer
Desirable and more usable Colonial model
Estimate
£28, 000 - £34, 000
Registration No: DS 9153
Chassis No: 5500E
MOT: Exempt
Desirable Colonial model, featuring a four-speed gearbox, tachometer, cooling fan, and water pump
Previously featured in the 1993 Lady Chatterley television series
Subject to a previous extensive restoration and still presenting excellently
In the current ownership for ten years, and well used during this time
Offered with a significant history file
Sunbeam's initial post-Kaiser War offerings were based on its pre-war designs and the first truly new model was the four-cylinder 14 introduced in 1922. A major step forward, it evolved into the 14/ 40 of 1924. This was powered by the same four-cylinder OHV 2, 121cc engine, featuring magneto ignition and Claudel Hobson MZP carburation. This unit was mated to a three-speed gearbox with right-hand change, suspension was by semi-elliptic leaves at the front and cantilever units at the rear and four-wheel brakes were standard fare. The newcomer was offered with a variety of different bodies—two and five-seat Tourers, Coupé, Sports model, Saloon, and Weymann Saloon. A total of some 2, 850 14/ 40s were manufactured during the model's two-year reign.
It was common for British car-makers of the Edwardian and vintage eras to offer Colonial versions of their popular models, which were more robustly built to cope with the more extreme terrains and temperatures of foreign lands. This Colonial 14/ 40 differs from the standard 14/ 40 in having a cooling fan, wire wheels, a four-speed gearbox, four-wheel brakes, a water pump and a tachometer. It was originally despatched to New Zealand, residing around the Auckland area, before moving to the Melbourne area of Australia.
It was imported into Britain in 1990 by Bob James of Wales, and shortly after was sold to Mike R. Berry, a well-known Rolls-Royce and Bentley specialist. During 1992, the Sunbeam was filmed for its rôle as the personal car of Sir Clifford Chatterley (James Wilby) in the television mini-series Lady Chatterley, which aired in 1993. After filming, it received a light overhaul, being repainted Light Grey and reupholstered with complementary Dark Red leather. Berry continued using it for the rest of the 1990s, and took it on the VSCC’s Welsh Rally, but after he sold it, it was off the road for several years prior to 2012. The present keeper, acquired it in 2016 and, as a former employee of the motor industry, has used it regularly and serviced it himself every May.
The Sunbeam comes with a very impressive history file including the V5C, many photographs including some from the Lady Chatterley filming, many Chatterley-related documents from London Film Productions Ltd., technical drawings, tax discs dating back to 1991 and a similar run of MOT certificates, an original Sunbeam 14hp List of Spare Parts, and many invoices. We were pleased to see it start and run beautifully during our photoshoot.
