Sunbeam Tiger - Page 2

berettafan · 07-13-2010, 09:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TechnoViking

A Sunbeam Tiger is a classic racing legend and a relatively rare, authentic piece of automotive history. A monster miata is a POS miata that some jackass welded a corvette engine into. My opinion, of course.

disagree...sorta...as well.

tigers from the rear are, IMO, ugly as it gets. awful looking to be honest. saw one at NJMP last year and at first i thought it was one of those amphicars.

i'll never drop the coin to put a v8 in a miata but having spent a few hours under one recently (doing sway bars) i have a pretty strong admiration for the simplicity and overall neatness of the design. nothing POS about it.

tcar · 09:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by berettafan

disagree...sorta...as well.

tigers from the rear are, IMO, ugly as it gets. awful looking to be honest. saw one at NJMP last year and at first i thought it was one of those amphicars.

The early Tigers (and Alpines) with the VERY, VERY, large ungainly tailfins are certainly a lot less attractive from the side and rear than the later ones, at least in today's idiom.

The later, "straight" rear fendered cars (all the cars pictured above) are better looking.

(Almost every car, US and European, even Mercedes, jumped on this tailfin fashion statement in the late 50's, early 60's. The Amphicar was right there in the hunt.)

dheinz · 07-13-2010, 12:57 PM

Here are more shots of the car 89911 wrote about...

tcar · 07-13-2010, 03:11 PM

BTW, the Tiger died when Chrysler bought Sunbeam (Rootes Group) in '64.

They were not going to sell a car with a Ford engine in it and none of Chrysler's V8's would fit in the Sunbeam engine bay.

Adios, Tiger.

FastCarFan · FastCarFan's Garage

Love Tigers. I wonder if there are more on the road today than they actually built. I bet a lot of Alpines have been "upgraded" to Tigers.

Very cool car. I saw a couple recently at the Mid-Ohio vintage races.

Tidybuoy · 07-13-2010, 06:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DARISC

Given a choice, if I was interested now, I'd opt for a Monster Miata.

Jeff Alton · 07-13-2010, 09:40 PM

I love them! Not sure I want to own one........

I think they are cool cars and with the correct mods would be a great weekend car.

Cheers

onlycafe · 07-13-2010, 09:46 PM

about fifteen years ago i was driving towards the city and stopped at a fruit stand just over the hudson and saw a tiger pull into the parking lot and out jumped andy rooney!

campbellcj · 07-13-2010, 10:31 PM

I kinda like 'em too. From what I have heard about the handling and brakes, I doubt I'd ever be interested in buying one though.

'65 at the Monterey Historics last year.

Jim Bremner · 07-13-2010, 10:31 PM

If they came with a TOPLOADER trans like theone that was built as a racecar story said. No way did it have a "weak trans" it's the same trans as in a Cobra, a 427 Galaxy etc. it's the SAME design that most of nascar runs even the chevy guys run ford 's toploaders!

Mike Andrew · 07-14-2010, 10:18 AM

A buddy picked one up for his wife as a birthday present a few years ago. I popped over and ended up taking it for a cruise. Pretty impressive in a straight line but the brakes and overall handling were not great. Unfortunately, his wife didn't like it and he rolled it over for a Jenson for himself.