Malcolm Thorne falls for the charms of the Sunbeam Tiger, as he marks 50 years since its demise by sampling the last one built and meeting some of the Ford V8-powered model’s biggest fans.
1967 was a poignant year for fans of British roadsters. Yes, it’s true that a number of exciting new models were launched – the Triumph TR5 endowed Canley’s sports car with six-cylinder motivation in place of its endearing but agricultural four-pot, while Abingdon’s MGC also promised a lusty ‘six’, albeit with mitigated results – but at the same time one of the decade’s finest sporting models was quietly withdrawn. A victim of corporate politics following the Chrysler takeover of Rootes Group, the demise of the brilliant but Ford-engined Sunbeam Tiger was a matter of considerable regret.
The Tiger’s genesis began back in 1962 when Jack Brabham suggested a V8-powered Alpine to Rootes competition manager Norman Garrad, who in turn mentioned it to his son Ian – the firm’s West Coast sales manager in the USA. Before long, Garrad Jnr had enlisted chicken farmer, Le Mans winner and father of the AC Cobra, Carroll Shelby to engineer a prototype. It reputedly cost $10,000, with the funds ‘borrowed’ from the American marketing budget. Meanwhile, a second car was completed before the first by former Shelby race engineer Ken Miles at his workshop on Cahuenga Boulevard, Hollywood. “Ken and I took it for a test drive,” recounted Ian Garrad in 1980. “I must admit to furtively looking for a change of underwear when we hit the fast lane, but within five minutes I knew that we had a winner.”
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