1966 Sunbeam Tiger Mark IA Sport Roadster

In similar fashion to Carroll Shelby's successful Cobra, the Rootes Group asked Mr. Shelby to perform similar hot-rodding with their Sunbeam Alpine sports car. The Alpine 1.6-liter four was replaced by a 4.2-liter Ford powerplant which offered nearly twice as much horsepower as the outgoing engine. It was named the Sunbeam Tiger and entered production in June of 1964, more than a year after Shelby's first prototypes were initially released.

The Pressed Steel Company Limited in Oxfordshire, England, supplied painted and trimmed bodies. The engines and gearboxes came from Ford in the United States. The assembly was handled at the Jensen Motors Limited plant in West Bromwich, England. In comparison to its Alpine counterpart, the Tiger had a stronger gearbox and rear axle. The rack-and-pinion steering in the Tiger was vastly superior and it could race from zero-to-sixty mph in less than ten seconds on its way to a top speed of 117 mph.

In 1967, Sunbeam introduced the Series II Tiger. The major improvement was to its engine, which was upgraded from 165 horsepower to 200 horsepower, thanks - in part - to an increase in displacement from 260 to 289 CID.

This Series 1 Tiger has been given a recent restoration. It is finished in dark blue metallic over a grey interior. It has a wooden steering wheel and freshly rebuilt Jaeger gauges mounted in a refinished wooden dash. It has the more potent 289 CID engine of the Series II Tiger.

By Daniel Vaughan | Nov 2015