Okay, I'll add to the age discussion. I bought my 1965 Tiger from the
original owner, an airline mechanic who was a coworker of a neighbor, in 1968.
The car was cherry, had about 35K miles on it, and I paid all of $1100 for it.
I was 29 at the time; I'll turn 67 this month. The Tiger is unrestored,
though not quite as original as it was, has 102K miles and runs like a top.
It still looks decent, but old age is beginning to take its toll on many small
things. I autocrossed the car for 6 years and then decided it was worth
saving, so it has led the life of Riley (there's a term the younger owners
might have trouble with) ever since.
Perhaps a bit more interesting was the acquisition of my son's 1966 Tiger in
1983 when he was 18. That car had had a hard life with lots of body repairs,
including a kluged front sheetmetal repair. We acquired an older Alpine, and
my son helped his remarkably talented classmate, also 18, replace the front
clip properly and paint the entire car. As a result of our Tigers, no fewer
than 3 of my son's friends wound up owning Alpines -- Tigers were hard to
find. One of those friends has restored his Alpine to better-than-new
condition. They're not kids any more -- my son is 41.
Jim Burruss
Near Huntsville, Alabama
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