I found it on ebay. It was located in New Hampshire. I had been looking for a Tiger for about nine months at the time and saw many Tigers sell on ebay that were of dubious condition and with questionable authenticity. The pictures looked good with no rust evident, a rarity in the N.E.
I called the sellers (number was in the auction description) and got the VIN and JAL numbers. With them, I called Norman Miller to get the skinny. He assured me that all of the car numbers were correct and it looked to be the real deal.
I called the sellers back, we agreed on a price and I then sent them a deposit in order for them to end the auction. A flight to see the car was necessary and one of the sellers picked me up at the airport and drove me to his shop. The car was clean and positioned on a lift where I could do a good examination.
It was in excellent shape with no rust! The story goes that it has been off the road since 1972 and that four different guys had bought/sold and worked on restoring (very lose term) the car over the years. These four individuals all lived within a 40 mile radius.
I asked Randy Willett to meet me at the shop as I wanted his opinion of the car. He gave me the head nod as to the authenticity of the car in his opinion.
During this inspection, the sellers kept letting me know that I could step out of the agreement if I wanted. With some pressing I found out that after the ended the auction early, they received several phone calls from angry people who had wanted to bid on the car. They knew that the selling price was low but stayed with our agreement.
I had the Tiger shipped in an enclosed car hauler from NH to Kansas. On the day that the car was supposed to be delivered, I got a phone call from the shipper. “Sir, something happened to your car in route”. They loaded an AMC Javelin with no engine or brakes behind mine. In the process, it got away from them and smashed into the back of the Tiger. ~$3000 worth of damage occurred. The shipper dropped the car off with Greg Johnson (a metal sculptor and auto restorer) in Wichita, KS. Greg did fantastic work on the car and the damage was completely removed with just about no body filler used. The shipper paid the bill.
That was about 18 months ago. I have completely gone through the car and have had to correct and restore most of the “restored” car. It is finally now reliable and I just completed 1400 mile round trip to SUNI 5. The car also now sports TAC #739 too. Yep, it's the real deal.
I am also happy to say that this car received third place at the SUNI V Concours in the stock Tiger class.
I called the sellers (number was in the auction description) and got the VIN and JAL numbers. With them, I called Norman Miller to get the skinny. He assured me that all of the car numbers were correct and it looked to be the real deal.
I called the sellers back, we agreed on a price and I then sent them a deposit in order for them to end the auction. A flight to see the car was necessary and one of the sellers picked me up at the airport and drove me to his shop. The car was clean and positioned on a lift where I could do a good examination.
It was in excellent shape with no rust! The story goes that it has been off the road since 1972 and that four different guys had bought/sold and worked on restoring (very lose term) the car over the years. These four individuals all lived within a 40 mile radius.
I asked Randy Willett to meet me at the shop as I wanted his opinion of the car. He gave me the head nod as to the authenticity of the car in his opinion.
During this inspection, the sellers kept letting me know that I could step out of the agreement if I wanted. With some pressing I found out that after the ended the auction early, they received several phone calls from angry people who had wanted to bid on the car. They knew that the selling price was low but stayed with our agreement.
I had the Tiger shipped in an enclosed car hauler from NH to Kansas. On the day that the car was supposed to be delivered, I got a phone call from the shipper. “Sir, something happened to your car in route”. They loaded an AMC Javelin with no engine or brakes behind mine. In the process, it got away from them and smashed into the back of the Tiger. ~$3000 worth of damage occurred. The shipper dropped the car off with Greg Johnson (a metal sculptor and auto restorer) in Wichita, KS. Greg did fantastic work on the car and the damage was completely removed with just about no body filler used. The shipper paid the bill.
That was about 18 months ago. I have completely gone through the car and have had to correct and restore most of the “restored” car. It is finally now reliable and I just completed 1400 mile round trip to SUNI 5. The car also now sports TAC #739 too. Yep, it's the real deal.
I am also happy to say that this car received third place at the SUNI V Concours in the stock Tiger class.
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