'When we bought the Mk I, for a grand or so more, we could have bought a 289
Cobra. Dealers had 'em sitting on the lots and they were dealing.
But we already had a teeny-tiny car that was a cramped beast with
uncomfortable seats, a small trunk and bolt-on side curtains. It was an
early Austin Healey 3000. We liked the Healey a lot, and have always missed
it. But . . . compared to the Cobra--and the early Healey--the Tiger was a
nice car.
It still is, and it always will be.
One of my favorite Tiger quotes: "While it is true a pig cannot be made
into a race horse, he can be made into a very fast pig!" Ramon
I also remember a quote from R&T magazine comparing the then-new Cadillac
Seville(1975)
to Mercedes-Benz by summerizing that while the Seville was not a very good M-B,
it was nonetheless a very good Cadillac. A car is what it is.
As someone who grew up very close to the two Shelby production
facilities(Princeton
St and Imperial Hwy-LAX)and has been a student of and coveted Cobra 289's since
they were new, I'm under no illusion that my Tiger is just a Cobra with a solid
rear axle. No doubt Wayne Carini was letting his enthusiasm go little wild in
the short video segment. It's also very hard to compare an extremely rare
original
FIA Cobra with a very nice standard Tiger Mark I for pricing purposes.
It's one of the facets of Wayne's show.He does something similar with Ferrari's,
to the effect of,and I'm paraphrasing, "I know you may not have a million
dollars
for this 166 model, but you could get into the Ferrari fold by buying a 308
or 328 for around $20,000."
Now, I'm off to Lime Rock Park for the vintage races.
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