antonesv Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 Starting working on Amt Blueprint Sunbeam Tiger. going to use the extra 427 out of polar lights mercury kit. i owned a 1:1 tiger for about 3 hours. a tow truck dropped it off, my dad came home from work and told me to get it out of his driveway. next day it was gone. it was in pretty bad shape, i was 17, and no place to put it. the only thing i have left is a manual that was in it. this is my inspiration for the build. Thanks for looking Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
my name is nobody Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 Brutal. this would be an awesome vehicle in 1:1. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick2005 Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 Thats gonna be a sick build. Also just FYI but I believe the valve covers are flipped backwards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Agent G Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 I will be watching this one. I feel your pain. At 16 I was the proud owner of an E Type for one month. Got it running, replaced the top, gave it a shake down, and found out just how expensive insurance was. I never plated the beast, I drove it occasionally "after hours" with Dad's plate hastily wired to the back. Sold it and wish I never did. G Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjordan2 Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 (edited) I will be watching this one. I feel your pain. At 16 I was the proud owner of an E Type for one month. Got it running, replaced the top, gave it a shake down, and found out just how expensive insurance was. I never plated the beast, I drove it occasionally "after hours" with Dad's plate hastily wired to the back. Sold it and wish I never did. G Knowing a bit about E-Types, I can't understand at all why you wish you hadn't parted with it. Unless you are heir to a British lord's mammoth estate. Jaguar's Sir William Lyons, commenting on the C-Type, said that Jaguars should last at least 3 years. Edited January 18, 2012 by sjordan2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Handley Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 Wayne, if the insurance on that was in any way comparable to what my '85 Lebaron Turbo cost me when I first got it ay the age of 18, I couldn't blame you! Luckily I didn't need to pay full coverage on that car, liability cost me $1900/yr to start, then dropped down to $1500/yr after I turned 19........if I had gotten full coverage it would have been $3200/yr, and I only paid $2300 for it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antonesv Posted January 18, 2012 Author Share Posted January 18, 2012 thanks patrick. i fix them last night after the photos. and still don't like the way they fit on the heads. oh well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wagoneer81 Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 Furious. Ball. Of. Aluminum. Foil! I'll be watching... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirkpitt289 Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 I had a teacher back in high school that use to have a Tiger. He had some great stories. Like every time he would punch it off the line he would feel this tap on his right leg. Turns out it was the cigarette lighter popping out from the force of launching off the line. I can't wait to see more of this build Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Agent G Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 I (dad and I ) paid a whopping $2500 for the car in 1973. Put about $1000, give or take, into it. At 16, not quite 17, it was a mind boggling $3100 a year to insure the car, which was nine years old by then. Even if Dad had plated it, the cost was staggering. Skip I guess hindsight is always more rosy. I just loved that car, my buddy's father had one, a '63. He restored it from the ground up, and watching him was fascinating. Oh well, memories. G Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lownslow Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 nice build Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrewDawg15 Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 I love these cars! If I remember correctly, you could get these with a 289, which was plenty of power...a 427 is just insane! I'm definatly tuned in for more Jimmy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FASTBACK340 Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 (edited) Back in the early 80's I worked at an independent European Auto repair shop. Great place in a wealthy neighborhood on the South Shore of Long Island. We had customers with some unusual grey-market cars which were quite popular back then (Turbo BMW's, standard shift M-B 450SL's, Siata's, etc...) and one had an old Sunbeam Tiger. Man, talk about a scarey ride! And working on it.... In order to remove the last 2 spark plugs on the drivers side you went INSIDE the car, reached down next to the accelerator pedal, and removed a rubber plug in the side of the bulged firewall to get at `em. And let's not mention the 8"disc brakes and matching sized drum brakes out back.Stopping was always a questionable request with this little widow maker. But when your 22 yrs. old, it's pure adrenaline. I probably wouldn't go near one today.But seeing the look on the guys face next to you at a red light when he hears a muscle car and see's a go-kart was priceless. You idea of a 427 Tiger is overkill at it's best. So freakin insane it's perfect! You'd need stones of steel to drive it for sure. Just put some brakes in it.... Edited January 18, 2012 by FASTBACK340 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrObsessive Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 This is going to be a neat project! I've always loved these cars as well, and wanted one badly back in '86 when there was a '66 for sale locally. It was black with a red interior with the 289, and the fellow wanted $6000 at the time. I thought the price was a bit steep for what was then a 20 year old car--------I can kick my self now as that car is going for many times that now! I ended up buying a '69 AMX 390 instead of the Tiger and had just as much speedy fun, although I'd LOVE to have a Tiger today! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patami Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 In 1:1 world that would be a highway rocket. But allways nice when some one shoehorne in a overzitse engine in a car. Go for it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GTMust Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 In England back in the early sixties when the Sunbeam Alpine (on which the Tiger was based) came out, it was considered more of a "ladies sporty car", when compared to the MG's, Triumph's and other "manly" sport's cars around at the time. I remember seeing the Tiger for the first time and thinking..... WHY? I'm not sure of the actual chronology, but I believe the Tiger was conceived as an alternative and possible competitor to the Cobra, which we all know was originally a converted AC Ace. Unfortunately, from what I remember of the time, it was initially considered by the average enthusiast, as a bit of a joke..... and it wasn't until it showed it's abilities on the race tracks that people started to take it seriously. Now, of course, it is a much admired and collected automobile. Funny how things turn out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robertw Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 The Alpine/Tiger is a kit that I'd like to see Round 2 find and reissue. It was out as an AMT Blueprinter issue in the early 90's so I would think that the molds still exist. I built the old Get Smart kit and would like to build it again. rob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjordan2 Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 (edited) If I were to actually get around to building something, it would be my memory of a day in college (late 60s) when some friends and I broke into an abandoned racetrack and had our own minirace: a Sunbeam Tiger, a 427 Corvette convertible, a Jaguar OTS E-Type and my Alfa Giulietta Spider Veloce. Needless to say, the Corvette was the clear winner (the owner was a fearless guy who kept coming within inches of the grandstand wall, and became a Navy SEAL after graduation). Scary fun until we had to start avoiding cars that spun out in the esses, not to mention a couple of grazing horses who had deposited their feces on the track. Edited January 18, 2012 by sjordan2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antonesv Posted January 19, 2012 Author Share Posted January 19, 2012 might have to use a cobra jet scoop(boss 429) instead of the boss 302 scoop for clearance. not that i'm complaing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Most Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 Feel like an idiot now... just sold the one I had. Guess I'll live vicariously through this buildup now! I like it- kind of a Shelby-tuned Tiger vibe about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FASTBACK340 Posted January 20, 2012 Share Posted January 20, 2012 This is such a cool build! Looking forward to seeing how you do the hood. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cato Posted January 20, 2012 Share Posted January 20, 2012 Although this is a 'fantasy' build Anthony, here's a well intentioned suggestion to help pull off the illusion. The plug wires need to be scaled down. The originals were 7mm diameter and they were black. That's roughly 1/64" or .016" in 1/25th scale. Can't tell if there are headers on but you will need to leave out the inner fenders to get them in. And the radiator.... and the steering rack... OH never mind! It's a fun build with a lot of license! Keep going and show us how! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bridgebuster Posted January 20, 2012 Share Posted January 20, 2012 I'm going to be building a Tiger soon for a buddy of mine who sold his original Tiger (and of course regrets it), but now has a Tiger and 2 Alpines. He LOVES to rally. The only real drawback that I can remember with the Tiger is that almost all of them came with a 2.88 rear end and close ratio box. They were tough on clutches because of the ratio. Really neat mod is an electric OD unit with much shorter rear end ratio and a 5 spd. wide ratio tranny. Now THAT thing would launch!! I'm going to do his with a close to stock 260, but I'm planning one for myself with a Cleveland 351. I'll say this, though, we outran the GA State Patrol one night going out I-20 W out of Atlanta. I guess the 2.88 had its virtues after all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Haubenschild Posted January 20, 2012 Share Posted January 20, 2012 Thats going to look great! , I actaully saw a sunbeam with a 289 drag race and man that thing could go Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Johnny Posted January 20, 2012 Share Posted January 20, 2012 That would be one wirld ride if you could get it to hook up! I had a 1:1 Alpine when I lived in Wi. . We squeezed a High Performane 289 out of a rusted out Fairlane 500XL into it. never got it streetable. traded it for 6 305 Hondas 3 Hawks, 2 Scramblers and 1 dream! Guy that bought it got it running and was beating the pants off the local Chevelle, Camaro and Mustang guys! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.