I bought the Alpine on Ebay. Why Ebay? I really can’t say. Perhaps I was emboldened by the sale of my Factory Five 818 on the internet site, BringaTrailer.com. Perhaps it was the lure of an auction. Or the idea of a rust free California car.
For whatever reason, I thought about bidding on a Sunbeam Alpine from LA CarConnection. It was advertised to be rust free and in running condition. As I will report in future posts, one of these statements proved true. The other not so much.
The Ebay description said the car needed a little TLC. True, the front bumper was missing and the paint looked dull. But the body was straight and there were no signs of rust. A few Sunbeams had sold locally on Craig’s list, one for $10,000 that looked ok and a
nother for $3,400 that looked pretty rough. And there were a few Alpines advertised in Hemming’s Motor News that looked nice but with asking prices from $15 to $20,000. There was one for $5,000 but that one had a crushed fender. What could go wrong?
I bid on Ebay using “sniping” software, programs that place bids at the last minute so other bidders may not have time to react. It worked perfectly, and I won the auction at (what I thought) was a reasonable price.
I arranged for a car transporter through a broker 
recommended by the seller, LA Connection since they ship cars regularly. They found a truck and driver who were heading east that weekend, and the Alpine was delivered in a week from purchase. Very fast and excellent service. Delivery was to a local shopping center rather than to our home because our neighborhood streets are narrow.
Now some bad news. The seller called to tell me that the brakes weren’t so good and I should plan to use the emergency brake when driving it home. I was not happy so I arranged for a tow truck to meet the carrier in the parking lot and bring the Alpine
to our garage. Turns out that the Alpine’s battery was dead so driving it, even if I had wanted to do so was not an option.
The tow driver was very nice and a bit amused. He was kind–and skilled–enough to get the Alpine into the garage. It didn’t roll all that easily, an ominous sign…
Sunbeam 