There were three Sunbeam Alpines. This is the second one made from 1959 to 1968. The first one was a cabriolet version of the Sunbeam-Talbot 90 and was named the Alpine because the Talbot was so successful in the Alpine rally. The third one was a coupe on the Arrow (Hillman Hunter) platform. I suppose this second one is most famous for being the first James Bond car in the movie of Dr No. Although as the book predates the car, the book was 1958 and this car was released in 1959, we must assume Fleming meant Bond to drive the earlier Talbot 90 based Alpine. There is internal evidence for this in the earlier book of Live and Let Die where Bond was issued with a Talbot 90 to use on Jamaica by the local MI6 man Strangways and it is the same Strangways who is murdered at the beginning of Dr No and his Alpine which is used by Bond - he was obviously a fan of the marque, all nonsense I know.

The second Alpine was based mostly on the Hillman Minx, using the shortened floorpan from the Hillman Husky. It drew heavily on the Rootes Group parts bin, the Sunbeam Rapier provided its running gear. As it progressed from Series 1 to Series V the engines got bigger (1500cc to 1725cc) and the tail fins got smaller. The Vanguards model is the Series II made from 1960 to 1963. The Series II featured an enlarged 1,592 cc engine producing 80 bhp and revised rear suspension, but there were few other changes from the Series 1. When it was replaced in 1963, 19,956 had been made. A Series II with hardtop and overdrive was tested by The Motor magazine in 1960, which recorded a top speed of 98.6 mph, acceleration from 0–60 mph in 13.6 seconds and a fuel consumption of 31.0 mpg. The test car cost £1,110 including taxes.