THE TALE OF THE TIGER

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SUNBEAM The Take of the Tiger

Interesting cars tend to mirror the per- power; nevertheless, some owners here in sonality of their creators. Ever since the world America still regard foreign sports cars fitted of cars began, they have been studded with with these engines as underpowered and the original ideas of great designers and engi- "fussy." (In Europe crippling taxes on gas neers who have expressed themselves in the restricted manufacturers from developing automobiles they have developed and driven. larger and more powerful engines.) This then This is particularly so in the case of high was the problem we at Rootes were con- performance cars — Bentley, , Bugatti, fronted with after nearly 20 years of selling and Porsche, for example: These designers at Sunbeams in the U.S.A. different times made great contributions to the The Sunbeam Tiger owes its existence to development of the high performance car as the foresight of two men, one English and we know it, and their cars were conceived one American. The first one was Carroll with two ends in view — Speed and Safety. The Shelby, possibly the greatest driver means to those ends however, were very and constructor America has ever produced; different. the other Ian Garrad, Rootes' West Coast Ettore Bugatti, for instance, was a wildly manager, a sports car enthusiast whose father temperamental artist by instinct, whose cars used to race Sunbeams and Talbots during were built with the delicacy of a watch, and the roaring twenties. were just about as easy for the average me- Garrad had long felt that there was an ex- chanic to repair. W. 0. Bentley, as typically cellent market for an ultra high performance English as Bugatti was Italian, produced sports car in the Sunbeam line to supplement powerful, imposing, solid sports touring cars the Alpine. One day in April 1963, having that somehow reflected their Anglo-Saxon watched 's Cobra-Fords trounce designer. all opposition in yet another California sports However, exotic engineering tour-de-forces car race, Garrad saw the answer to his prob- are very much inclined to be too expensive lem — if the Alpine chassis could be fitted to be a practical proposition in today's com- with the Ford 260 V8 Fairlane engine he petitive markets. Consequently, recent sports would have a real winner, for the engine car trends have been towards highly tuned had all the necessary qualifications, plenty of production engines to give the necessary power, light weight, compact over-all dimen- sions, nationwide availability of parts, and had resembled a "Hot Rod," or failed to meet enough "speed options" to satisfy the most his stringent requirements in quality control, demanding enthusiast. Carroll Shelby himself the project would be finished. instantly saw the potential of such a car. It The apprehension was short lived. The could be made capable of at least 125 mph, showing was an immediate success. Ian Gar- have Sunbeam's traditional impeccable han- rad briefly explained the details of the car dling and would offer vivid accelleration, but and gave performance figures, which were re- without losing any of the creature comforts ceived with faint disbelief until Lord Rootes, for which the standard Alpine was famous, an ex-racing driver himself, took the car out. and equally important, at a price far below With Garrad as passenger, the car was given any other competitor from Europe or Detroit. its final and most critical test. It was hurled Shelby and his dynamic organization in through the twisting English lanes, braked Venice, California went to work. By the end repeatedly from over 90 mph to a standstill, of May 1963, the first prototype was running, and cruised at over 100 mph down Britain's and after a short road test had confirmed all new super highway close to the Rootes plant expectations, the car was then taken to River- in Coventry (the Detroit of England). side Raceway for high speed testing. At this After an hour's run, Lord Rootes pulled point Shelby and Garrad decided to consult in through the gates to where his two sons, , one of California's star sports car Geoffrey and Brian Rootes, together with a racers, and himself a highly skilled racing car group of engineers had been anxiously wait- constructor to help with the chassis and sus- ing. The smile on their Chairman's face was pension appraisal. To the delight of everyone enough — words were unnecessary; the Tiger concerned, only minor modifications were was born. needed. Otherwise the car was perfect. Next With a proud tradition of automobile man- came the endurance running. The car behaved ufacturing since 1898, the Sunbeam engineer- perfectly on the track, but it had to perform ing team assigned to the Tiger project started properly both in downtown traffic and on from scratch. Regardless of what Shelby and long high speed runs over the desert and his boys had done in California, they had a through the mountains. Accordingly, it was fixed policy of development and testing which lugged round Los Angeles in top gear, and every Sunbeam had to go through. This car cruised at speed across the Mojave Desert, was no exception.- The name Sunbeam was at where ambient temperatures regularly reach stake — even more, the name Tiger, for the 110 degrees F. first Tiger was built for Sir Malcolm Camp- At this time the car was still a secret ex- perimental project, although some Los An- geles sports car drivers left gaping at lights by an apparently standard Alpine may have guessed something was afoot. Only a handful of top Rootes U.S.A. executives knew of the existence of the car, but by July 1963 it was felt that the time had come for the car to be presented to the Rootes Board in England. The showing of the car to Lord Rootes himself was awaited with some trepidation, as he is renowned for his meticulous approach to engineering and for the accuracy of his marketing judgment. If in any way, the Tiger bell to attack the land speed record in the So, the beliefs, confidence and tireless '30's. From Belgium pave to the North Afri- efforts, of the dedicated team of Rootes offi- can desert and over the Pyrenees went the cials were rewarded, for the car was immedi- Sunbeam testers in prototype Tigers. Mean- ately acclaimed by the press and public alike time, a team went to Detroit and negotiated as a winner. with the Ford Motor Company to purchase This, then is the brief background of the engines and transmissions. The months rolled Sunbeam Tiger — a car conceived by enthu- by, but on and on went the relentless testing siasts in America for Americans, and made and developing from Coventry. The engines by one of the most famous names in auto- and transmissions made by Ford to our speci- mobile history — Sunbeam — by craftsmen fications soon began the long journey from from Coventry, who, for centuries, have taken Detroit to England. pride in their skills. The first car, the Shelby built Tiger, came Here is the car for the young in heart, the back to the States for thousands of miles of enthusiast, the afficionado, the connoisseur — further testing, to ensure that the modifica- for those who enjoy, respect and appreciate tions made in Coventry for production rea- perfection in anything they buy. Last, but by sons were suitable for the roads of America. no means least, this is the car for anyone who Then the great day arrived, and the Tiger was enjoys driving. given its premiere at the New York Inter- You will be proud to own a Tiger, "The national Auto Show in April, 1964. World's Fastest Sports Car at $3499."

SPECIFICATION OF THE SUNBEAM TIGER

Engine. Ford V-8 valve-in-head unit, eight cyl- Rear Suspension. Semi-elliptic leaf springs, di- inders in 90 deg. V. rect acting telescopic shock absorbers. Bore and stroke: 3.80 X 2.87 in. Steering. . Cubic capacity: 260 cu. in. Engine develops 164 h.p. at 4,400 r.p.m. . Girling 9.85 in. diameter disc brakes Compression ratio —8.8:1. front, 9 in. diameter drum brakes rear, with servo assist. Rear Axle. Semi-floating design with hypoid . 5.90 X 13 in. Dunlop 'RS5' Road Speed final drive. 2.88 axle ratio. with tubes. Wheel Base. 86 in. Front Suspension. Fully independent front wheel suspension. Overall Length. 155.5 in.

To Test Drive the new Sunbeam Tiger see your local Rootes Motors Hunbeam dealer