Well stated Bob. I would agree that it is hard to get a price on an Alger
because they are often not found to be Algers until after the fact. Thus,
there is a "tainting" of the car once it is past off as real (and paid too
much for) and then found to be a fraud (and likely sell for less than it
might be worth even as an Alger). Likely a car stated to be an Alger from
the start would draw more money (though not too much more).
Perhaps if one were to look at the Cobra and the value of a clone vs the
value of a real one you could get a ratio of the difference of what the cost
between an Alger and a Tiger SHOULD be.
Too bad there is not a catagory for Algers in the general "Tiger World."
It would be respectful of the labors (and improvements) that have been put
into a Sunbeam Alpine and at the same time honor the Tiger for what it
really is. I guess that the fraud issue is just too great to easily get
past.
Hopefully someday even the Tiger will get the respect it deserves. I have
been familiar with the car car since it came out and I was 7 years old.
Sigma one it is the "poor man's Cobra." Number two most of them are rusted
(a reality that depends on treatment). Number three you can't get to any
bolts on the car (a reality that depends on your patience). And number four
it could be an Alpine fraud (a reality based upon you nowledge and
investigation - before the sale). I think if the general automotive world
could get beyond those four things (and they are all passable) the value of
the Tiger would likely go up $15,000 or more (my opinion) based on the
selling price of other what I see as less significant cars. Tom Witt
B9470101
----- Original Message -----
From: "Bob Palmer" <rpalmer@ucsd.edu>
To: "Dieter Schmied" <dieter@one.net>; <tigers@autox.team.net>
Sent: Friday, March 08, 2002 6:55 PM
Subject: RE: Fake tiger on Hemmings
> Dieter,
>
> OK, I'll jump in where angels fear to tread on this one.
>
> This is a perennial question on the List Dieter.
>
> Your impression is very reasonable and probably typical of people with a
> casual acquaintance with Alpines and Tigers. To be as brief as possible,
> Tigers are not modified Alpines, but were specifically built by the
Pressed
> Steel Limited division of Rootes to be Tigers. Also, the chasses were sent
> to Jensen for final assembly rather than on Rootes' Alpine assembly line.
> There are several distinguishing features on a genuine Tiger chassis that
> are essentially impossible to duplicate starting with a series IV or V
> Alpine. These are the basic facts of the matter. From here on, Tiger
owners
> tend to bifurcate along two extreme points of view, the first being , if
it
> walks like a duck and squawks like a duck, then it's a duck; or, if it
isn't
> the original chassis with the original VIN and rivets, then it's a fake
and
> ought to be hauled away to car purgatory.
>
> Nobody has tried to argue that an "Alger" can't be everything a Tiger is,
> depending on how much care and effort is put into the "conversion". Also,
> not very many argue that a prospective buyer doesn't have the right to
know
> the car's provenance. How much more is a "real" Tiger worth? I don't have
> any good numbers to gauge that, but the bidding price for an "Alger"
> invariably drops once the "cat" is out of the bag. The reasons are partly
> esthetic and partly practical. One likely problem with an Alger is
> registration, since the VIN was probably taken off a wrecked Tiger and
> installed on the Alpine chassis. This is an arguably illegal procedure and
> has the potential for grief down the road - like worst case scenario, the
> state haul's the car off to the crusher.
>
> I've tried to be both brief and fair to both sides of this controversy.
>
> Tac'd in S.D.,
>
> Bob
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