All,
I had planned to lurk for a few days to get a feel for the list culture,
but the threatened deluge of postings hasn't happened -- yet. So I'll
just jump in. Please pardon me if I'm a bit long-winded.
I must confess that I used to have a Tiger but - in a fit of perceived
"maturity" - I traded it for something more "responsible" just before
getting married, long ago and far, far away. While stationed at
Goodfellow Air Force Base, San Angelo, TX, in 1966-67, I saw the car in
a parking lot where it sat unmoved for weeks at a time. I tracked down
the owner to see if he might want to sell it since he didn't seem to be
using it very often. In early 1967 my wallet became $2000 thinner and I
became the proud owner of a red 1965 Sunbeam Tiger, which I now
understand to have been a Mark I, with its folded top completely hidden
under metal panels, proper "eyebrows" over the headlights, etc. (Now
imagine a single male under 25 trying to get insurance for that car!)
It was stock except for the addition of after-market traction bars, a
pair of goofy convex mirrors the original owner had stuck on the fenders
and a new white vinyl top to replace the original which hadn't fared too
well under the Texas sun. Also, it had been completely repainted after
a minor parking lot ding to the left headlight surround. I later
removed the bar and emblem from the grill to make it look "meaner."
(Sorry!!) The only identification I can recall is that its original
Texas license plates were "HKS 80" and the fact that, after I returned
to Florida and registered it there, I traded it in at a Chrysler
dealership in Tallahassee in 1969 or early 1970. (No, I won't admit
what I traded it for!) The FSU student who subsequently bought it spun
it out the first time he drove it and backed into a light pole, caving
in the rear bumper and denting the body and trunk (boot) lid.
(Somewhere in the dozens of boxes of miscellaneous stuff I've acquired
over the years - and moved all over the country - I may still have the
emblem. So don't shoot me yet.)
I will probably never have the opportunity to own another Tiger, much
less track down and reclaim my original, so I am resigned to seeing
other people's cars and building a model to complement my fading
memories and pictures. Are there any Tigers in or near the Twin Cities,
Minnesota, that would welcome a visit from a total stranger armed with a
camera? Are drawings and/or photographs available that could help me
turn an old AMT 1/24th scale model kit into an accurate representation
of my Tiger? I particularly need detailed pictures of the panels that
enclose the retracted top and the locations of the snaps for the tonneau
cover. (Okay, so I'm a detail freak -- what model railroaders call a
"rivet counter." But the current "Get Smart" offering from Johnny
Lightning just doesn't cut it, although it is better than nothing. Sort
of.)
In his reply to my request for information, along with a referral to
this list, Norman C. Miller sent a photograph showing the panels in
question, which goes a long way toward answering one of my questions.
Thanks, NCM.
Bob Fann in Plymouth, Minnesota
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