I drive my Sunbeams all over.
So far I've driven my Tiger from Atlanta to Maine, Wisconsin and Minnesota.
I've driven in a 400 mile rally to south Georgia, requiring 400 miles to
return home.
I'm contemplating a drive to Seattle.
I drive locally quite often.
My car was 100% stock on the Maine trip but the motor needed a rebuild and
was "upgraded" to 5-bolt 289 prior to the other trips, but otherwise the car
remains stock.
In the future I may well return to the original 260 rebuilt along the lines of
a
260 HIPO.
Stock Tigers are GREAT drivers.
True, stock Tigers do not have the power or handling of a Ferrari - but if
they did they wouldn't be Tigers :)
Also there is a reason that "correct" items such as air cleaners and fan
shrouds command
high prices - the original look is as valuable as it is desirable.
Lots of folks modify their Tigers to obtain more power, or different gears, or
an improved
front suspension or more fuses.
Others want a big radiator or an aluminum dash or a fancier steering wheel.
The list goes on and on as does the list of "justifications."
But for me, as a driver, I don't need nor want to make big changes. A stock
Tiger is a super
road car.
I had much the same experience with my first Tiger, bought in 1970.
Incidentally, I drove my Alpine from Atlanta to the South Dakota SUNI and back
- also a blast to drive on a road trip :)
Mods are mods are mods but the mantra that stock Tigers are not good drivers
in my opinion is quite a stretch :)
Rgds
Allan Ballard
Mk1a Tiger
Series IV Alpine
Sent from my iPhone
On Jan 30, 2012, at 8:15 AM, Larry Paulick <lpaulick1@verizon.net> wrote:
> Yes. If you want a driver, why would you live with a car with only two
fuses, an ackerman angle that makes the suspension potentially very dangerous,
and a heater that is marginal at best.
>
> I have changed my driver to correct those and other issues.
>
> Glad I did.
>
> Larry
>
> On 1/29/12 8:44 PM, MWood24020@aol.com wrote:
>> Well said.
>>
>> Fact is, there are a bunch of things Ian and Rootes would have done with
>> the Tiger, if the budget allowed, to make it a better driver.
Unfortunately,
>> the intended development of the Tiger never happened, as Rootes was
>> gaining speed on their economic downslide coincident with the Tiger's
short
>> production run.
>>
>> Stock Tigers are nice to look at, but if you have any interest in actually
>> driving the car, they are extremely flawed and frustrating. But, that
isn't
>> to say that I can't appreciate a concours correct Tiger...I just wouldn't
>> have any interest in driving the car...and I'm a driver :-)
>>
>> Mike
>>
>>
>> In a message dated 1/29/2012 9:35:22 A.M. Pacific Standard Time,
>> modtiger@comcast.net writes:
>>
>> You know, its a real shame that Ian Garrad didnt live longer and allow
>> more current owners to meet and understand his personal perspective. Ian
>> created this car in order to make Sunbeams more competitive on the race
>> track so that he could bring knowledge of the cars to a wider audience
>> and sell more Sunbeams. This son of the Rootes Competition Director knew
>> this was his mission. He also wanted to sell more LAT options, which
>> were developed to make the Tiger more competitive and change them from
>> the as manufactured basis. They were produced to be modified from the
>> factory specifications with a wide range of these LAT options sold
>> through the retail dealers.
>>
>> He embraced these changes and modifications and others. At our early
>> Tiger meets, he thoroughly enjoyed seeing what the owners had done to
>> their Tigers with their own creativity. He also really liked the Jaguar
>> XJ6 sedan I built in the late 70's with a 351 Winsor, C6. We even
>> discussed taking it back to England to the Jaguar people to show them
>> what level of performance was possible with the Ford engine and
>> transmission transplanted. It never happened, but he saw the potential
>> performance opportunity 10 years after hed been pushed out of the
>> automotive industry.
>>
>> Those of you that never had the chance to meet and know Ian, dont
>> really fully understand this Marques history of embracing change.
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