John Marston's Eldest son, Charles, was in charge at Villiers and rapidly expanded the highly profitable company. When faced with a claim for death duties, after has father's death, he sold John Marston Limited to a consortium of wartime munitions manufacturers who had done well out of the war and were looking for somewhere to invest their money. After John's death, Thomas Cureton, who was John's right-hand man became chairman. Sadly he soon died and was replaced by Sidney Bowers. In 1919 the consortium was taken over and became part of Nobel Industries Limited, and civilian production was authorised by the Government.

Sunbeam quickly produced a new catalogue, which listed what were basically models from the 1916 range, and new versions of the W.D. machines. The catalogue included the new 3.5hp. 'Sporting Model' which was nearly identical to the 'W.D. 3.5' and sold for 95 guineas. There was also a 3.5hp. 'Standard' model which sold for the same price. There was a new 8hp. machine, that was basically the 8hp. JAP powered W.D. machine. It sold for 115 guineas with a sidecar. The 'Number 1' sidecar now sold for £27 guineas and the 'Number 2' sidecar sold for 35 guineas. These prices soon increased due to the rapid inflation, which followed the war.

Prices continued to increase until 1921, when the 3.5hp. models sold for 171 guineas. The new models were well received by the general public. The press considered that they were amongst the most handsome machines on the road and the 3.5hp. single was described as the Rolls Royce of singles.

Motorcycle sporting events restarted in 1919 and Sunbeam continued to have a high profile and be very successful. Competitions were dominated by Sunbeam riders such as George Dance, Tommy De La Hay and John Greenwood. A new Sunbeam range was developed in readiness for 1920. The new machines included the famous laminated leaf spring front fork, which was to be an important feature of future Sunbeam machines. Larger cylinder cooling fins were introduced along with drum brakes on the 3.5hp. model. Another introduction was detachable and interchangeable wheels. 1920 was to be an important year for the Sunbeam competition team. The company achieved its first T.T. victory when Tommy De La Hay came first in the Senior Race at an average speed of 51.79m.p.h. W.R. Brown came third on a similar machine and George Dance had the fastest lap at nearly 56m.p.h.

The 1921 catalogue included three versions of the 3.5hp. model, the 'Standard', the 'Semi-Sporting', and the 'Sporting Solo Sunbeam T.T. Model'. Prices reached their highest ever. The 8hp. machine sold for 176 guineas and the 'Number 2' sidecar cost an extra 50 guineas. Prices soon began to fall as ex W.D. machines became available to the general public. This caused a lot of problems in the industry as many manufacturers now suffered from over production, because the motorcycle buying public were snapping up these ex W.D. bargains in preference to new models. The price of the 8hp. machine soon fell to 160 guineas and the sidecar fell to 47 guineas.

In 1921, George Dance made a series of superb runs at Brooklands. In the 350c.c. class he set a new record at 82.25m.p.h. in the Flying Kilometer, and achieved 82.19m.p.h. in the Flying Mile. In the 500c.c. class he achieved 93.99m.p.h. in the Flying Kilometer, 87.35m.p.h. in the Flying 5 Miles and 82.69m.p.h. in the Standing 10 miles.

Two new models were introduced in 1922. The 'Longstroke T.T.' 3.5hp. machine made its appearance , as did the 4.25 hp. Sunbeam, which was mainly sold as a combination.

Back in Wolverhampton this caused big problems, because the win led to a disagreement between Alec Bennett and Tommy De La Hay. They each wanted to be regarded as the leading Sunbeam rider.

Sidney Bowers became involved and chose Tommy, and so Alec Bennett left Sunbeam to work for Douglas. He didn't ride again for Sunbeam until 1929.

Alec Bennett.