Sunbeam Tiger

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Sunbeam Tiger
Transmission
Ford 4-speed manual
Dimensions
Wheelbase86 in (2,184 mm)[1]
Length156 in (3,962 mm)[1]
Width60.5 in (1,537 mm)[1]
Height51.5 in (1,308 mm)[1]

The Sunbeam Tiger is a high-performance

royalty
on every car produced.

Two major versions of the Tiger were built: the Mark I (1964–1967) was fitted with the 260 cu in (4.3 L)

Ford V8; the Mark II, of which only 633 were built in the final year of Tiger production, was fitted with the larger displacement Ford 289 cu in (4.7 L) engine. Two prototype and extensively modified versions of the Mark I competed in the 1964 24 Hours of Le Mans, but neither completed the race. Rootes also entered the Tiger in European rallies with some success, and for two years it was the American Hot Rod Association's national record holder over a quarter-mile drag strip
.

Production ended in 1967 soon after the Rootes Group was taken over by Chrysler, which did not have a suitable engine to replace the Ford V8. Owing to the ease and affordability of modifying the Tiger, there are few remaining cars in standard form.[2]

Background

The Sunbeam Tiger was a development of the

inline-four engine, recognising the cachet that "powered by Ferrari" would likely bring. Negotiations initially went well, but ultimately failed.[4]

In 1962 racing driver and Formula 1 champion Jack Brabham proposed to Rootes competition manager Norman Garrad the idea of fitting the Alpine with a Ford V8 engine,[a] which Garrad relayed to his son Ian, then the West Coast Sales Manager of Rootes American Motors Inc. Ian Garrad lived near Carroll Shelby's Shelby American operation, which had done a similar V8 conversion for the British AC Cobra.[6]

Initial prototypes

According to journalist William Carroll, after measuring the Alpine's engine bay with "a 'precision' instrument of questionable antecedents" – a wooden

260 V8 engine appeared to be suitable,[5] which apart from its size advantage was relatively light at 440 lb (200 kg).[7] Ian Garrad asked Shelby for an idea of the timescale and cost to build a prototype, which Shelby estimated to be eight weeks and $10,000. He then approached Brian Rootes, head of sales for the Rootes Group, for funding and authorisation to build a prototype, to which Brian Rootes agreed.[7]

Ian Garrad, impatient to establish whether the conversion was feasible, commissioned racing driver and fabricator Ken Miles to build another prototype as quickly as he could. Miles was provided with a budget of $800, a Series II Alpine, a Ford V8 engine and a 2-speed automatic transmission, and in about a week he had a running V8 conversion, thus proving the concept.[9]

Shelby began work on his prototype, the white car as it came to be known, in April 1963,[10] and by the end of the month it was ready for trial runs around Los Angeles.[11] Ian Garrad and John Panks, director of Rootes Motors Inc. of North America, tested an early version of the car and were so impressed that Panks wrote a glowing report to Brian Rootes: "we have a tremendously exciting sports car which handles extremely well and has a performance equivalent to an XX-K Jaguar[b] … it is quite apparent that we have a most successful experiment that can now be developed into a production car."[11]

Provisionally known as the Thunderbolt,[12] the Shelby prototype was more polished than the Miles version, and used a Ford 4-speed manual transmission. The Ford V8 was only 3.5 inches longer than the Alpine's 4-cylinder engine it replaced, so the primary concern was the engine's width.[13] Like Miles, Shelby found that the Ford V8 would only just fit into the Alpine engine bay: "I think that if the figure of speech about the shoehorn ever applied to anything, it surely did to the tight squeak in getting that 260 Ford mill into the Sunbeam engine compartment. There was a place for everything and a space for everything, but positively not an inch to spare."[10][14]

Development

View of the cramped engine bay
Lack of space under the bonnet makes some maintenance tasks difficult.

All Rootes products had to be approved by Lord Rootes, who was reportedly "very grumpy" when he learned of the work that had gone into the Tiger project without his knowledge. He agreed to have the Shelby prototype shipped from America in July 1963 for him and his team to assess. He insisted on driving the car himself, and was so impressed that shortly after returning from his test drive he contacted Henry Ford II directly to negotiate a deal for the supply of Ford V8 engines.[15] Rootes placed an initial order for 3000,[16] the number of Tigers it expected to sell in the first year,[17] the largest single order Ford had ever received for its engines from an automobile manufacturer.[18] Not only did Lord Rootes agree that the car would go into production, but he decided that it should be launched at the 1964 New York Motor Show, only eight months away, despite the company's normal development cycle from "good idea" to delivery of the final product being three to four years.[19]

Installing such a large engine in a relatively small vehicle required some modifications, although the exterior sheet metal remained essentially the same as the Alpine's. Necessary chassis modifications included moving from the Burman recirculating ball steering mechanism to a more modern rack and pinion system.[20]

Although twice as powerful as the Alpine, the Tiger is only about 20% heavier,[21] but the extra weight of the larger engine required some minor suspension modifications. Nevertheless, the Tiger's front-to-back weight ratio is very similar to the Alpine's, at 51.7/48.3 front/rear.[22]

Shortly before its public unveiling at the New York Motor Show in April 1964 the car was renamed from Thunderbolt to Tiger, inspired by Sunbeam's 1925 land-speed-record holder.[23][c]

Production

Photograph
The chrome strips either side of the Tiger logo show this to be a Series I car

Shelby had hoped to be given the contract to produce the Tiger in America, but Rootes was uneasy about the closeness of his relationship with Ford, so it was decided to build the car in England.[25] The Rootes factory at Ryton did not have the capacity to build the Tiger, so the company contracted the job to Jensen in West Bromwich.[12] Any disappointment Shelby may have felt was tempered by an offer from Rootes to pay him an undisclosed royalty on every Tiger built.[26]

Jensen was able to assume production of the Tiger because its assembly contract for the Volvo P1800 had recently been cancelled. An additional factor in the decision was that Jensen's chief engineer Kevin Beattie and his assistant Mike Jones had previously worked for Rootes, and understood how the company operated.[26] The first of 14 Jensen-built prototypes were based on the Series IV body shell, which became available at the end of 1963.[27]

Photograph
The Tiger's interior is almost identical to the Alpine on which it is based.[28]

The Tiger went into production in June 1964, less than a year after completion of the Shelby prototype.

Borg-Warner 4-speed all-synchromesh manual gearbox, until Ford resolved its supply problems and was able to provide an equivalent unit as used in the Ford Mustang.[28]

Several performance modifications were available from dealers. The original 260 CID engine was considered only mildly tuned at 164 hp (122 kW), and some dealers offered modified versions with up to 245 hp (183 kW) for an additional $250. These modifications were particularly noticeable to the driver above 60 mph (97 km/h), although they proved problematic for the standard suspension and tyres, which were perfectly tuned for the stock engine.[33] A 1965 report in the British magazine Motor Sport concluded that "No combination of an American V8 and a British chassis could be happier."[34]

Versions

Dark-green open-top sports car
Apart from the bigger engine the changes to the Mark II Tiger were largely cosmetic: the most obvious are the speed stripes and the "egg crate" radiator grille.

Production reached 7128 cars over three distinct series. The factory only ever designated two, the Mark I and Mark II, but as the official Mark I production spanned the change in body style from the Series IV Alpine panels to the Series V panels, the later Mark I cars are generally designated Mark IA by Sunbeam Tiger enthusiasts.[35] The Mark II Tiger, fitted with the larger Ford 289 cu in (4.7 L), was intended exclusively for export to America and was never marketed in the UK,[36] although six right-hand drive models were sold to the Metropolitan Police for use in traffic patrols and high-speed pursuits; four more went to the owners of important Rootes dealerships.[37]

All Tigers were fitted with a single Ford two barrel

cross-ply tyres.[43] The lack of space in the Tiger's engine bay causes a few maintenance problems; the left bank of spark plugs is only accessible through a hole in the firewall, normally sealed with a rubber bung, and the oil filter was relocated from the lower left on the block to a higher position on the right-hand side, behind the alternator.[13]

Mark I

Sunbeam Tiger Mark I
Ford V8[22]

The Ford V8 as fitted to the Tiger produced 164 bhp (122 kW) @ 4400 rpm, sufficient to give the car a 0–60 mph (97 km/h) time of 8.6 seconds and a top speed of 120 mph (190 km/h).[22][d]

The Girling-manufactured

kerb weight of the car increased from the 2,220 lb (1,010 kg) of the standard Alpine to 2,653 lb (1,203 kg).[22]

In 1964, its first year of production, all but 56 of the 1649 Mark I Tigers assembled were shipped to North America,[35] where it was priced at $3499.[22] In an effort to increase its marketability to American buyers the car was fitted with "Powered by Ford 260" badges on each front wing beneath the Tiger logo.[47] The Mark I was unavailable in the UK until March 1965 when it entered the market priced at £1446.[48] It was also sold in South Africa for R3350, badged as the Sunbeam Alpine 260.[49]

A chrome strip along the sides was a quick way to distinguish the Tiger from the Alpine.

Mark II

Sunbeam Tiger Mark II
Overview
Production1967
633 made
Ford V8[22]

Priced at $3842, the Mark II Tiger was little more than a re-engined Mark IA; by comparison, a contemporary V8 Ford Mustang sold for $2898.[unreliable source?][12] The larger 289 cu in (4.7 L) Ford engine improved the Tiger's 0–60 mph (97 km/h) time to 7.5 seconds, and increased the top speed to 122 mph (196 km/h).[55] Officially the Mark II Tiger was only available in the US, where it was called the Tiger II.[32][40] By the time the Mark II car went into production Chrysler was firmly in charge of Rootes, and the "Powered by Ford" shields were replaced by "Sunbeam V-8" badges.[56]

Demise

Tiger with USA original equipment wheels and tyres

Rootes had always been insufficiently capitalised, and losses resulting from a damaging thirteen-week strike at one of its subsidiaries, British & Light Steel Pressings, coupled with the expense of launching the

Anthony Wedgewood Benn approached BMH and Leyland to see if they would buy out Chrysler and Rootes and keep the company British, but neither had the resources to do so.[59] Later that year Chrysler was allowed to acquire a controlling interest in Rootes for a further investment of £20 million.[60]

Manufacturing a car powered by a competitor's engine was unacceptable to the new owner,

bonnet without major modifications.[62] Compounding the problem, the company's small-block V8 engines had the distributor positioned at the rear, unlike the front-mounted distributor of the Ford V8. Chrysler's big-block V8 had a front-mounted distributor but was significantly larger.[2] Shortly after the takeover Chrysler ordered that production of the Tiger was to end when Rootes' stock of Ford V8 engines was exhausted; Jensen assembled the last Tiger on 27 June 1967.[63] Chrysler added its pentastar logo to the car's badging, and in its marketing literature de-emphasised the Ford connection, simply describing the Tiger as having "an American V-8 power train".[64]

Rootes' design director Roy Axe commented later that "The Alpine and Tiger were always oddballs in the [Rootes] range. I think they [Chrysler] didn't understand it, or have the same interest in it as the family cars – I think it was as simple as that."[65]

The Tiger name was resurrected in 1972 when Chrysler introduced the Avenger Tiger, a limited-edition modified Hillman Avenger intended primarily for rallying.[66]

Competition history

There is no doubt that the Tiger is somewhat misnamed, for it has nothing of the wild and dangerous man-eater about it and is really only as fierce as a pussy cat.

Autocar roadtest, 1964[67]

Three racing Tigers were constructed for the 1964

Lister.[23] But they were still steel monocoques, and made the Le Mans Tigers 66 lb (30 kg) heavier than a road-going Tiger at 2,615 lb (1,186 kg), almost 600 lb (270 kg) more than the winning Ferrari.[69] The standard Ford four-speed manual transmission was replaced with a BorgWarner T10 close-ratio racing transmission, which allowed for a top speed of 160 miles per hour (260 km/h).[f]

Both Tigers suffered early mechanical failures, and neither finished the race.[g] The engines had been prepared by Shelby but had not been properly developed, and as a result overheated; Shelby eventually refunded the development cost to Rootes.[72] All three of the Le Mans Tigers have survived.[23]

Once Rootes had made the decision to put the Tiger into production an Alpine IV minus engine and transmission was shipped to Shelby, who was asked to transform the car into a racing Tiger. Shelby's competition Tiger made an early appearance in the B Production Class of Pacific Coast Division

Daytona Continental.[73] The Tiger was also raced on quarter-mile drag strips, and for two years was the American Hot Rod Association's national record holder in its class, reaching a speed of 108 mph (174 km/h) in 12.95 seconds.[74]

1965 Sunbeam Tiger works rally car front view
Tiger works rally car, built by the Rootes Competition Department. This car competed in the 1966 Monte Carlo Rally, driven by Andrew Cowan and Brian Coyle.

Rootes entered the Tiger in European rallies, taking first, second and third places in the 1964 Geneva Rally.[73] Two Tigers took part in the 1965 Monte Carlo Rally, one finishing fourth overall, the highest placing by a front-engined rear-wheel drive car, and the other eleventh.[75] After finally having sorted out the engine overheating problem by fitting a forward-facing air scoop to the bonnet, Rootes entered three Tigers in the 1965 Alpine Rally, one of which crossed the finishing line as outright winner. Scrutineers later disqualified the car however, because it had been fitted with undersized cylinder head valves.[76] By the end of the 1966 Acropolis Rally though, it had become clear that low-slung sports cars such as the Tiger were unsuited to the increasingly rough-terrain rally stages, and the car was withdrawn from competition soon after.[h] In the words of Ian Hall, who drove the Tiger in the Acropolis Rally, "I felt that the Tiger had just had it – it was an out of date leviathan".[78]

In popular media

Photograph
Rear view of a 1966 Sunbeam Tiger showing the twin exhausts

The 1965 Tiger Mark I gained some exposure on American television as the car of choice for

Maxwell Smart in the spoof spy series Get Smart.[79] The Tiger was used for the first two seasons in the opening credits, in which Smart screeched to a halt outside his headquarters, and was used through the remainder of the series in several episodes.[80] Some of the scenes featured unusual modifications such as a retractable James Bond-style machine gun that could not have fitted under the Tiger's bonnet, so rebadged Alpine models were used instead.[80]

Don Adams, who played the protagonist Maxwell Smart, gained possession of the Tiger after the series ended and later gave it to his daughters; it is reportedly on display at the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles.[80] During its early years Rootes advertised the car extensively in Playboy magazine and lent a pink Tiger with matching interior to 1965 Playmate of the Year Jo Collins for a year.[81]

A Tiger Mark 1 is driven by one of the lead characters in the 1965 film Bunny Lake Is Missing. The V8 engine note is unfamiliar in an English setting but emphasises that the driver is American.

The Tiger also featured in the 2008 film adaptation of the Get Smart TV series.[82] A replica Tiger had to be constructed using a stock Sunbeam Alpine and re-created Tiger badging as no available Tiger could be found in Canada, where the film was produced. The production team recorded the sound of an authentic Tiger owned by a collector in Los Angeles[83] and edited it into the film.[79]

References

Notes

  1. ^ Jack Brabham proposed the idea to Norman Garrad after he and Stirling Moss had co-driven an Alpine to second place overall in the Production Car Class of the Los Angeles Times Grand Prix held in October 1962 at Riverside, California.[5]
  2. E-type Jaguar.[11]
  3. ^ The 1925 Sunbeam Tiger was the last car to be competitive as a land speed record holder and a circuit-racing car.[24]
  4. ^ The standard Series II Alpine had a top speed of 98.6 mph (158.7 km/h) and accelerated from 0 to 60 mph (97 km/h) in 13.6 seconds.[45]
  5. ^ Other sources give estimates of the total number of Tiger IIs assembled as 536,[51] 534,[52] and 571.[53] Rootes allocated consecutive serial numbers to each car, and although it was well known that the last Tiger II to be produced was B-382100633[52] the number of the first was for some time believed to be B-382100101, which subtracting one number from the other would give a production run of 533 inclusive. But the first production Mark II Tiger is now known to have the serial number B-382100001, suggesting a run of 633 cars.[54]
  6. ^ The Lister-bodied Tigers were timed during the race at 157.7 mph (253.8 km/h),[70] but the fastest Fords and Ferraris were lapping more than thirty seconds quicker than the Tigers.[69]
  7. ^ The first car suffered a piston failure after three hours and the second a broken crankshaft.[71]
  8. ^ The Tiger had 5 inches (130 mm) of ground clearance, a lot for a sports car but not for a rally car.[77]

Citations

  1. ^ a b c d Robson (2012), p. 111
  2. ^ a b Markus, Frank (February 2012), "1960 Daimler SP250 vs 1966 Sunbeam Tiger – British Brawn", Motor Trend, retrieved 11 April 2013
  3. ^ Robson (2012), p. 47
  4. ^ Carroll (2001), p. 10
  5. ^ a b c Carroll (2001), p. 11
  6. ^ Robson (2012), p. 96
  7. ^ a b Robson (2012), p. 97
  8. ^ Carroll (2001), p. 13
  9. ^ Robson (2012), pp. 97, 99
  10. ^ a b Robson (2012), p. 99
  11. ^ a b c Robson (2012), p. 103
  12. ^ a b c Moody, Keith (September 2011), "1966 Sunbeam Tiger", Classic Car Mart, archived from the original on 13 March 2016, retrieved 11 June 2013
  13. ^ a b c Clarke (2005), p. 108
  14. ^ Shelby & Bentley (1965), p. 218
  15. ^ Robson (2012), pp. 103–4
  16. ^ a b Gunnell (2004), p. 178
  17. ^ Carroll (2001), p. 47
  18. ^ Carroll (2001), p. 34
  19. ^ Robson (2012), p. 104
  20. ^ Robson (2012), p. 101
  21. ^ Robson (2012), p. 174
  22. ^ a b c d e f g Clarke (2005), p. 8
  23. ^ a b c d Melisson, Wouter, "Sunbeam Tiger Le Mans Racers", Fox Sports, archived from the original on 25 January 2012, retrieved 10 May 2013
  24. ^ Holthusen (1986), p. 33
  25. ^ Robson (2012), p. 105
  26. ^ a b Robson (2012), p. 106
  27. ^ Robson (2012), p. 107
  28. ^ a b Robson (2012), p. 109
  29. ^ Robson (2012), p. 95
  30. ^ Robson (2012), p. 112
  31. ^ Robson (2012), p. 113
  32. ^ a b Robson (2012), p. 9
  33. ^ Clarke (2005), p. 26
  34. ^ Carroll (2001), p. 49
  35. ^ a b Robson (2012), p. 118
  36. ^ Robson (2012), pp. 125–7
  37. ^ Hingston (2007), p. 127
  38. ^ Robson (2012), pp. 110, 125
  39. ^ Clarke (2005), p. 125
  40. ^ a b Langworth & Robson (1985), p. 397
  41. ^ Robson (2012), p. 125
  42. ^ Robson (2012), pp. 86, 110, 125
  43. ^ Cheetham (2006), p. 299
  44. ^ Robson (2012), p. 110
  45. ^ "The Sunbeam Alpine (Series II)",
    The Motor
    , 28 December 1960
  46. ^ Robson (2012), p. 108
  47. ^ Robson (2012), p. 117
  48. ^ Robson (2012), p. 120
  49. ^ Clarke (2005), p. 69
  50. ^ Robson (2012), p. 633
  51. ^ "Sunbeam Tiger Mk1, Mk2 – Grab a tiger by its tail", Classic Old Cars, archived from the original on 10 May 2012, retrieved 28 May 2013
  52. ^ a b Phelps, Peter (April 2007), "The HRO Mk II Tiger: Built, But Never For Sale!" (PDF), Cats Whiskers, Sunbeam Tiger Owners Club, pp. 16–17, archived from the original (PDF) on 11 January 2015, retrieved 28 May 2013
  53. ^ Buckley (1999), p. 235
  54. ^ Carroll (2001), p. 56
  55. ^ Clarke (2005), p. 98
  56. ^ "Sunbeam Tiger MK 2", Road & Track, pp. 82–83, September 1967
  57. ^ Robson (2012), p. 201
  58. ^ "British Firm Sale Planned by Chrysler", Spokane Daily Chronicle, 23 February 1965, retrieved 22 May 2013
  59. ^ Dunnett, Peter J. S. (5 September 2013), The Decline of the British Motor Industry: The Effects of Government Policy, 1945–79 (ebook), Routledge Revivals, pp. 1951–3, , retrieved 5 April 2013
  60. ^ Robson (2012), pp. 201–2
  61. ^ Robson (2012), p. 128
  62. ^ Clarke (2005), p. 95
  63. ^ Robson (2012), p. 126
  64. ^ Carroll (2001), p. 58
  65. ^ Robson (2012), p. 129
  66. ^ Thompson, Andy, Zatz, David (ed.), "Hillman Avenger (Dodge Polara – 1500 – 1800 – Avenger) and Hillman Tiger", Allpar.com, archived from the original on 6 December 2013
  67. ^ Robson (2012), p. 122
  68. ^ Clarke (2005), pp. 104–5
  69. ^ a b Robson (2012), p. 163
  70. ^ Carroll (2001), p. 41
  71. ^ Robson (2012), p. 164
  72. ^ Robson (2012), pp. 163–4
  73. ^ a b c Carroll (2001), p. 51
  74. ^ Carroll (2001), p. 53
  75. ^ Robson (2012), p. 179
  76. ^ Robson (2012), pp. 179, 182
  77. ^ Clarke (2005), p. 107
  78. ^ Robson (2012), pp. 186–7
  79. ^ a b "Smart's Sunbeam: A behind-the-scenes look at the iconic car that stars in the new "Get Smart" movie", Motor Trend, March 2008, archived from the original on 22 February 2013, retrieved 14 April 2013
  80. ^ a b c Riley, Chris (8 July 2008), "The Get Smart Cars", News Limited Community Newspapers, archived from the original on 11 March 2016
  81. ^ Carroll (2001), p. 52
  82. ^ "Big stunt. Get Smart crashes in - The big picture", The Sunday Times, 20 July 2008
  83. ^ "Get Smart Tiger Sunbeam", Star Car Central, archived from the original on 16 April 2013, retrieved 16 May 2013

Bibliography

External links