Remembering Ian Garrad
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Remembering Ian Garrad The Tiger combines the exhilaration and precision of a sports car with the adrenaline rush of a V-8 musclecar Ken Mattice Here’s a car that was specifically created by The Rootes Group to capture a place in the ultra-high performance sports car market of the 60’s. The Sunbeam Tiger was offered with numerous Dealer supplied performance enhancement options that allowed the buyer to increase the performance to any level desired. The Rootes Factory created internal Performance Programs to compete in races and rally’s in Europe and supported several race teams in the USA, dedicated to demonstrate the capability of the Sunbeam Tiger. Ian Garrad was not only responsible for the creation of the Tiger Prototypes; he was in charge of all the LAT Options and race support programs in the USA. Ian was a Rising Star in the Rootes Group corporate world, rising from a Factory Rep position in Toronto Canada in 1951, to Manager of West Coast Sales for the Rootes Group by 1961 in Los Angeles. It was during this period that the Rootes Team Drivers of the day, Graham Hill, Jim Clarke and Stirling Moss, pointed out to Ian that the Sunbeam Alpines that they were competing with in SCCA races were great handling cars, but they needed MORE POWER. The rest of the story has been told many times by many authors, but the basics remain the same. Ian took charge, made preliminary evaluations, found corporate funding, were none was available, selected not one but two fabricators to produce working prototypes, risked his career by shipping the best prototype back to England to demonstrate to management a car he hoped would capture a significant piece of the 60’s performance sports car market. He succeeded, but the Tiger was short lived. Labor problems in Great Brittan caused the Rootes Group to seek outside funding and a buy-in by the Chrysler Corporation. Chrysler completed this purchase in late 1965 and there was no place for Ian in the new organization. When STOA “re-discovered” Ian in 1971, he had moved on with a totally new business, but he quickly became excited that so many Tiger owners had formed Clubs and held relatively large gatherings. He was very supportive of all the owners clubs and even got the Rootes Family in England to donate a trophy “The Lord Rootes Trophy” to honor the “best” Tiger at our annual meets. He attended these meets until his health failed and he passed away in 1986. Tom Hall World Ralley World AHRA Competition Shelby Carroll SCCA Torque AHRA Competition Sunbeam Tiger V8 Ken Miles Ken SCCA Torque Doane Spencer Norman Garrad Norman AHRA Competition Ken Miles Ken Torque Ken Miles Ken L LAT Torque Garrad Norman Sunbeam Tiger World Ralley World Carroll Shelby e Mans Hollywood Sport Cars L HollywoodSpencer SportDoane Cars L World Ralley World e Mans Torque e Mans World Ralley World Rootes Group V8 Ken Miles Ken Sunbeam Tiger LAT AHRA Competition Shelby Carroll SCCA Torque Rootes Group Shelby Carroll Sunbeam Tiger V8 LAT Hollywood Sport Cars Rootes Group Miles Ken L V8 Sunbeam Tiger Spencer Doane e Mans Carroll Shelby Doane Spencer Miles Ken LAT Ralley World HollywoodL Sport Cars L AHRA Competition e Mans e Mans Sunbeam Tiger SCCA V8 SCCA TorqueGarrad Norman Ken Miles Ken Doane Spencer LAT Garrad Norman AHRA Competition LAT Garrad Norman Doane Spencer Doane Hollywood Sport Cars Ralley World World Ralley World TorqueGarrad Norman Ralley World LAT AHRA Competition Rootes Group Rootes Group Hollywood Sport Cars V8 Sunbeam Tiger Torque Shelby Carroll Carroll Shelby Carroll SCCA AHRA Competition Torque SCCA V8 Torque Rootes Group V8 LAT Ken Miles Ken LAT SunbeamL Tiger Ken Miles Ken L Sunbeam Tiger Carroll Shelby e Mans Doane Spencer e Mans Carroll Shelby Doane Spencer Miles Ken Hollywood Sport Cars L Doane Spencer Doane HollywoodSpencer SportDoane Cars L AHRA Competition e Mans Norman Garrad Norman e Mans V8 SCCA Garrad Norman V8 SCCA Garrad Norman Torque LAT LAT Hollywood Sport Cars Hollywood Sport Cars Norman Garrad Norman Sunbeam Tiger AHRA Competition L Doane Spencer SCCA e Mans LAT V8 Sunbeam Tiger Ralley World AHRA Competition World Ralley World Ken Miles Ken.