The Sunbeam Venezia was intended to help the Rootes Group, which owned Sunbeam, to try to improve their market share in continental Europe, working through their Italian subsidiary, by introducing a unique Italian bodied car for the European market. The design drew heavily on components from the Rootes Group parts bin, utilizing the chassis of the Humber Sceptre, a 1592cc engine as found in the Humber and contemporary Alpine, and grille and headlight trim derived from other Rootes group models. Using Touring’s superleggera construction, the external body is made out of aluminum fitted over a lightweight steel frame on the original Humber chassis. This lead to a car that was about 50 kg lighter than the Humber it was based on.
Perhaps naming a car after an Italian city with no roads, was a poor choice, but the car was a failure in just about every way. Since the UK and Europe weren’t part of the same customs union and there were high import duties on cars at the time, the duty on the Italian built Venezia made it too expensive to sell in Britain, despite being badged as a British marque. In Italy, the 1592cc engine didn’t have the performance of comparably priced Alfa Romeos, Lancias, and other Italian cars in that price range so the car didn’t sell well there. That left the rest of Europe as the only real area to sell them, in areas that also had other manufacturers to draw upon. As a result production ceased after 3 years and with fewer than 200 made.
I purchased this car from a fellow collector out of California after he imported it from Europe. It spent most or all its life in Belgium, where at some point, the engine was upgraded to a bored out Holbay engine of 1840cc fed by a pair of Weber DCOE carburetors and reputedly putting out 130 horsepower, noticeably outperforming the original 88 horsepower engine. It was restored in the 1990s, though the restoration is showing some signs of wear and a few flaws. The dashboard had been veneered with walnut burl veneer, which I don’t believe is original and the veneer is cracking in areas due to the expansion and shrinkage over time. The rest of the interior appears as original, though some restoration work will likely need to be carried out soon as the foam in the seats is starting to fail.
In driving, the car drives reasonably well. With a comfortable performance and acceptable handling. It isn’t a sports car but is a viable car to drive around town and handles itself reasonably well, with the electric overdrive allowing for it do perform well on the highway as well as in town.
