Sunbeam Tiger Mkll

[titmouse88]

Hello Everyone

I was looking for a 240Z and I was getting much help from this site. I bid on a couple on Ebay.

Yesterday quite suddenly, an example of my dream car became available. Located in San Francisco I was was able to purchase it. It will be on it's way home soon. Thank you everybody that gave me great advice on buying a Z and too all who tried to locate one for me. I will eventually buy a 240Z, but right now my Tiger ll is all that I can handle.

Paul

[Carl Beck]

Hi Paul:

Good for you!! I hope you enjoy the Tiger. You do realize that there well be only a few people that will know the joys of owning one.

We took my wifes 1991 Thunderbird Super Coupe to a Ford Meet in Tampa a couple years ago just for fun (it has 9K miles on it). Out of a couple hundred Mustangs, twenty or so Early Birds - I think there were three Tiger's there. Everyone was wondering why Sunbeams were there... Most people didn't have a clue, until an owner opened the hood for them...

Just go easy on the starts, easy on the clutch and easy on the brakes - something a college roommate never did learn - we worked on his Tiger more than he drove it.

have fun...

Carl B.

[zhead240]

is that the maxwell smart tiger?( in red of course)

[Sailor Bob]

As to soliciting assistance from this site - all you have to say now is "sorry about that chief". Watch for the ejector seat too. Sorry.

No shame there, I think that is one of the sweetest cars ever made. One of my freinds Dads owned one and we felt priveledged to get a look at it in his driveway when he had it out for a spin or wash.

Recently saw it shown on "101 cars you have to drive". Only thing I wondered was - How is it for interior room? Could a big guy drive it? The host looked pretty tall in the saddle.

Congratulations on your purchase.

[DougN]

A Tiger is an excellent choice - someday I'd like to be able to add one to my garage! Best of luck!

[ggarrard]

Paul - Well done...and congratulations... I'm jealous. A fellow in our village has one, along with a 240Z, a couple of 510s and a Triumph GT6 race car. I stop by his place monthly to get my fill of diversity...:-)

GWGarrard

Osgoode ON

[Oiluj]

I'm Jealous! Nice looking Tiger. Have fun and go easy at first, lot's of throttle steer in the corners.

[Marty Rogan]

Hello Everyone

I was looking for a 240Z and I was getting much help from this site. I bid on a couple on Ebay.

Yesterday quite suddenly, an example of my dream car became available. Located in San Francisco I was was able to purchase it. It will be on it's way home soon. Thank you everybody that gave me great advice on buying a Z and too all who tried to locate one for me. I will eventually buy a 240Z, but right now my Tiger ll is all that I can handle.

Paul

Congrats Paul!

That's a sweet looking car. I owned a 1966 Tiger in '83-'84, at the same time that I owned my first 240Z. It was the exact same color combo as this one. An amazingly fast little car, but suspension technology was pretty crude back then, so watch those corners!

They are really rare cars. Only 7,000 total world production were made. There are probably less than 2,000 left today.

If you think working on a Z is hard, you should try one of these! They shoe-horned a Ford V-8 in there. To change the #8 spark plug, you have to remove a grommet behind the clutch pedal, lay up-side-down and stick your jointed extension socket wrench through the hole to get to it. It can take 2-3 hours just to change that one plug! It makes changing the heater hoses in a Z seem easy by comparison.

Man, 20 years later and I still regret selling that car. Enjoy it!

Marty

[titmouse88]

Thanks everyone for the words. I have been looking for one of these cars for years. This is a 1967 Sunbeam Tiger Mkll. One of 536 made. Maybe 250 left in the world with a lot of those un-drivable. This is #477 of that year. While this was being made, Chrysler bought the company and were not to pleased to see one of there vehicles powered by Ford. Unfortunately, one of their engines would not fit in the car so they ended production.

In the new Get Smart movie, there is a Sunbeam Tiger in it. I think the movie was made in Ontario Canada and they couldn’t find a Tiger. They then bought a Sunbeam Alpine and from England, got re-production trim and made it look like a Tiger.

That is a problem with the Tiger’s; there are a lot of fakes (Algers) out there, especially on Ebay. The one man to contact to find out if it is authentic would be Norman Miller. He personally made sure I got a real Tiger ll

This is a Carroll Shelby designed car. This car was made for the US market and mostly for the west coast. The Mkll has a Ford 289 power plant. It was a poor man’s AC Cobra. Recently Carroll Shelby sold off his cars. I believe his own personal AC Cobra recently went for $5.5 million. There is one car he refused to sell out of his collection…His Sunbeam Tiger!

I’m glad I’m older now because if I had this car when I was young, who knows what kind of trouble I could of gotten into.

Paul

[HS30-H]

This is a Carroll Shelby designed car.

Ouch!

Congrats on your new car, but sticking a Ford small block into a Sunbeam Alpine is perhaps best described as something a little less than 'designing a car'.......

I think a little bit of kudos should remain with the Sunbeam design team and the Rootes Group, whatever the engine and transmission fitted. Any mention of the Tiger's 'Shelby' history should not forget the names of Ken Miles and ( one of the automotive world's great hands-on geniuses ) Phil Remington.

But anyway, enjoy!

[beezee]

Hi Paul, nice find. Happened to be at a wednesday cruise night in Georgetown about a month ago and seen one there. Looked pretty authentic 289 v-8 , badging etc.

[titmouse88]

HS30-H

Yes, Phil Remington and Ken Miles were instrumental in putting the Sunbeam Tiger together. But Shelby American that was in charge of the project. Phil and Ken were employees of the company. That just is the reality of this world; the “captain of the ship” gets all the credit. There was no doubt many more people had a hand at bringing the Sunbeam Tiger to production.

Throughout history the boss will always get credit, One of the major reasons the Sunbeam Tiger is in demand as a collectible is Carroll Shelby’s name. Not Phil or Ken.

Yes I agree that it wasn’t a complete redesign to come up with the Tiger, but at the same time you just don’t shoe-horn a V8 into a car that was made to have a 4 cylinder and expect it to work and drive the way it is suppose to. If you are ever in California, maybe you will see Carroll Shelby cruising around in his Sunbeam Tiger.

In the meantime, I will “enjoy” my 1967 Sunbeam Tiger Mkll (designed by Carroll Shelby) very much.

With your permission of course!

Paul