My mark 1a was ordered from autosports in Houston with the hardtop and it
arrived with one in matching forest green. The sales order totalled $4111 with
ammeter,
top, backup lights, radio, and traction masters. Seems cheap now!
Sent from my Verizon Wireless Phone
----- Reply message -----
From: "rande" <rande@thecia.net>
Date: Sat, Jan 1, 2011 17:01
Subject: [Tigers] hardtops
To: <tigers@autox.team.net>
There is some debate whether Rootes actually shipped some Tigers that were not
Gran Turismo models with matching hardtops if they were ordered with the car.
Norm Miller and I have copies of the same b&w photograph from Smart Motors,
Madison, WI showing a truckload of cars being unloaded, circa 1966 (i.e. Tiger
IA's). I maintain that the photo is clear enough that one can find at least
one Tiger with a matching hardtop, and this is the period after Rootes melded
the two models into one with SOME of the GT features on all Tigers. Norm
maintains
that Tiger's assembled after the handful available either as Sports Tourer or
Gran Turismo were not available with matching hardtops.
First, for folks who haven't seen a true Gran Turismo model(I'm using Rootes
spelling from the original brochures that featured both the Sports Tourer and
the Gran Turismo) what separates the GT is the area behind the front seats
that's
upholstered differently and is missing the front panels of the Sport Tourer
folding top stowage area. When Rootes chose to limit the models of the Tiger,
the full carpeting, wood instrument panel, and wood steering wheel of the GT
was installed while keeping the Sport Tourer folding top and rear upholstery
for the Mark I. For the IA, they added the black padded bolster at shoulder
height on the doors from the GT.
I think all of the brochures from Mark I through the Mark II offered matching
hardtops from the factory when ordered at the same time as the car. What's a
little confusing to some owners is that it was common to piggyback black
hardtops
installed on Tigers as a convenient shipping method to parts departments in
the States, according to Wally Swift.
A couple of writers during the period of sales wrote that they specified
hardtops
for their cars, and they had to be painted to match(and it was a poor match,
they say).
So, to answer question #1, yes, a handful were available in two models, up to
about the 200th VIN, and by one estimate, the number of Gran Turismo's built
was around 15.
Skipping to question #3, finding a hardtop from an Alpine Series III or later
will probably work. I am told that somewhere in production, the latching design
was changed, and I don't know where the cutoff point for that was. A quick check
of the parts catalogue could not find that change.
Rande Bellman
B382000048LRXE
(originally an Embassy Black car with an Embassy Black hardtop, so that tells
you nothing).
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