Erich,
You should try to get a copy of "Tiger: The making of a sports car" by
Mike Taylor, as well as the Sunbeam Alpine-Tiger gold portfolio, which
is a collection of reprints from magazine articles in the Alpine and
Tiger production era. Find someone to lend you their copy of The Book of
Norman. These books and a few others will give you tons of background
information on the various production details and differences between
the marks.
The original tire was 13 x 5.90 Dunlop RS 5. Modern equivalent is
approximately 165R13, but people fit everything from that to 185/70R13
and 205/60R13s, on up to 225/45R16's.
The Mark 1 Tiger was produced from the Alpine Mk IV bodyshell, while the
Mk 1A and Mk II were produced from the Mk V. Major body difference is
the use of a steel clamshell to hide the soft top on the Mk1, while a
vinyl cover was used on the Mk1A and Mk II. Minor differences show up
throughout Mk1 and Mk1A production, the most obvious being the migration
from round corners on the hood, doors, and trunk to (easier to produce)
square corners. Norm Miller has done a thorough study of the evolution
of the body styles, and his book gives a brief glimpse at the mysteries
of Tiger production sequence and the resulting muddle of serial number
vs. body style discrepancies.
With two people, it takes only a few minutes to install the hardtop,
assuming it fits properly.
Regards,
Theo
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