The Alpine name, dormant since 1955 reappeared on a new two-seater sports car in 1959. The monocoque body shared its floorplan with nothing more exciting than the Hillman Husky, a utilitarian Minx derivative. But the styling was sharp (with prominent fins on early cars) and there was a twin-carb 1494cc to provide reasonable performance.

In 1960 the Alpine was upgraded with a 1592cc engine, and the following year a fastback coupe version built by Harrington was approved by Sunbeam´s parent company Rootes as an official model. Three distinct types were offered between 1961 and 1963, all of them rare.

In 1963 a host of detail improvements were made to the Alpine including revised suspension, better seats, quarter lights and an optional hardtop. The fins were trimmed in 1964, and the final cars built from 1965 to 1968 gained a 1725cc twin-carb engine with 92.5bhp.

If you wanted more power than that, you needed a Sunbeam Tiger – effectively an Alpine fitted with a 260ci (4261cc) Ford V8 engine developing 164bhp, turning it into 120mph (193km/h) motor car.

The Tiger II of 1967 offered even more pace, thanks to a larger 289ci (4727cc) Ford Mustang engine with 200bhp. But the Tiger was killed off in its prime, in 1968, after Rootes was taken over by the American Chrysler company. Chrysler objected to the use of a Ford engine in one of its products, and Chrysler´s own V8 wouldn´t fit.

Both the Alpine and Tiger are underrated cars, lacking the image of flashier MG,Triumph and Austin-Healy rivals. As classic sports cars go, they´re bargains.