Ok so what's F'tang yang kipperbang? And what's it got to do with auction
items at eureka ?
It's the seventies and I take my MGB roadster to this guy who's got a body
shop .while I'm there his wife arrives and she's driving a 65 tiger. I end up
buying a tiger from the man but its really a rot box and only fit for the
junkyard. The man (who is now a big buddy) tells me of a tiger body shell
that's just come in from Tenerife! I go and see the shell .
Now the owner (called ken dalziel) has got two tigers and a shell. I buy the
shell .This "tiger" did some serious racing in Tenerife and mainland Spain.
The other two cars that Dalziel is selling used to belong to a guy called Alan
Fraser, one is what's called a group 3 racer, the other is called the monster
tiger and is fitted with some real trick gear. Dalziel also owns some flash
tiger that was once raced at Le Mans. "Do you want to buy the monster" dalziel
asks ?
How much?-- $2000! That's too much! How about the Le Mans car?
"Make me an offer"-------- we cant agree on a price------ so I stick with the
shell!
A phone call from Switzerland --
It's a mate of mine -" I met this guy on the plane, we got talking and it
turns out he owns a tiger he wants to sell-he says its something
Called a MK11?". I go and see the man .
"look I'm sorry I haven't got the original engine but I've got a 289HIPO
---never been used---- if you want it?"
I buy the car, later, I find out its PP1,the first MK11 tiger built.
SO WHATS THIS GOT TO DO WITH EUREKA OR THE AUCTION?
Hold on!-- I'm getting there.
This man phones ,he's got some literature on Rootes group cars that he wants
to sell. I go to his house and he has two garages full of factory
information-you name the car? He's got experimental notes, pictures,
confidential documents etc in boxes everywhere. He tells a story about
Chrysler emptying their library and dumping the stuff in rubbish skips! He
managed to salvage as much as he could!
He asks if I want a competition dept. aluminium hood for a tiger?
To make him happy -I accept it as part of the deal!
I'm looking at a10 year old copy of "cats whiskers" the magazine for the tiger
club UK .There is an advert selling old NEW factory panels .I phone ,after
all, its only been 10 years since he put them up for sale!
He's still got them - plus he says he has a hard top for a tiger ,in
aluminium ? he must mean an early alpine ?
It turns out to be for a tiger-never seen one before-so I buy everything he's
got including 2 rear wings, 4 front wings, series 11 alpine, 3 engines still
in their packing cases , steel h/t for a tiger and enough new chrome parts to
fill a small truck !
I had to pay him $400-- I feel robbed.
I'm at Coys auction .A factory rally tiger is for sale. reserve price is
£35000 ! it reaches£29000 and then the bidding stops!
Two weeks later I contact the owner and he accepts one of my Tigers and a
Healy in exchange for the Rally tiger!
I hate Healeys and the tiger had cost me $4000 from Texas - I just hate to be
out of pocket!
After researching the cars history it turns out that the car had won the GT
class of one of THE major endurance races-SPA FRACORCHAMPS 1967 plus an
international rally, TOUR OF BELGIUM 1966.and a whole heap of other events
never mentioned in any of the tiger books!.
I guess I was pleased !
A few weeks later I was offered the Targa Florio works tiger-the owner was
going bankrupt -well I just had to buy it !
WHAT ABOUT THE EUREKA AUCTION?
Hang on !
The phone went the other night it was Ian hall . Ian asked if I would
Like one of his old jackets?
Ian was asst. competition manager to Marcus Cambers, rally driver and the
companies no 1 navigator. He was the man that made sure Peter Harper was so
successful as a rally driver!
Anyway Ian sent me a little present to be auctioned at Eureka
It's a sunbeam tiger rally jacket which was issued by the Rootes Group for
their drivers to wear!
Turns out that this jacket is a genuine LAT-18 item!
It's a BRAND NEW 32 year old piece of history straight from the pages of
Norman millers book (check out pages69and 92).
The jacket is off white(oyster) in colour with tiger badge on the lapel, large
tiger patch on the back, braid in black and orange down the front, slash
pockets- stand-up collar size38/40.
The label on the collar says --- Pacific athletic company, Los Angeles-San
Francisco !
Other items for sale will include Shelby signed photos and posters and perhaps
another big surprise?
I always find it astonishing what people store away in their loft's , garages
and back yards!!!!!!
YES I'm a lucky sod when it comes to tigers-so why can't I win the lottery ?
Why is everything else a pain in the neck?
F'tang Yang Kipperbang !!!!!!! ?????
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