Folks,
I know that there were no Tigers brought into New Orleans. Land around the
port here is too scarce to use for even short-term car storage. Houston was
the usual southern POE for imported cars at the time, but I don't know for
sure if Rootes used a southern POE.
My Tiger came from Love Motor Company in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, but I don't
think I ever knew the POE. Love was primarily a used car operation with
little or no inside showroom and no real shop to speak of. Mine was the
first Tiger they got and I know of only one other new Tiger they sold. They
may not have kept the Rootes franchise through the end of Tiger production.
Incidentally, I would still like to know where that car is now. It was
probably built in late 1964 with a serial number around B9470900 to
B9471700. My brother traded it in to a Pontiac dealer in Los Angeles (maybe
Hollywood?) in 1968 while on vacation. I don't have the serial number, but
it was a paint code 53, Wedgewood Blue, car. It had a four barrel, probably
Autolite, on a Ford manifold and weld-on Traction Masters. If any one has
any information on a Tiger like that, I would appreciate hearing from you.
A. C. Tynes
New Orleans
> -----Original Message-----
> From: tigers-bounces@autox.team.net
> [mailto:tigers-bounces@autox.team.net] On Behalf Of Tod Brown
> Sent: Monday, March 09, 2009 10:22 PM
> To: tigers@autox.team.net
> Subject: [Tigers] How Did the Dealers Get the Cars?
>
> Hi All:
>
> Somewhere in the dark recesses of my mind I seem to remember
> that shipments from the Jensen factory in England came to
> Long Island City (on Long Island, just outside NYC) and to
> LA. Perhaps also to New Orleans, as well? In October of
> 1966, when I went to order my Tiger at Nu-Trend Motors in Mt.
> Kisco, NY (Westchester County, north of NYC), I wanted a
> Midnight Blue (code 58, IIRC) car and placed the order. A
> day or two later, the dealership called and said that if I
> wanted a Midnight Blue car, I would have to wait about six
> weeks, since they didn't have any in Long Island City. So, I
> could wait or I could have either BRG or white. I chose
> Forest Green, code 86, and the car arrived a couple of days
> later. I do remember getting together with several Tiger
> owners from the NYC/Long Island area occasionally in the
> early days and their mentioning the depot at LIC. When the
> cars arrived at the dealership, they were coated with a
> substance called cosmoline, which was sprayed on to protect
> the finish while making the ocean voyage. It was near
> impossible to get it all off, so traces remained for years
> after. When I finally had the Tiger repainted after all the
> years, I remember that there were two things that finally
> disappeared - the cosmoline and some of the leftover rice
> from our wedding that a couple of my "friends" had poured
> into the windscreen vents and any other accessible crevice.
> Perhaps some of the members from SoCal will remember the
> situation on the West Coast.
>
> Tod
> B382002384LRXFE
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