Project $$$$$ Car (s)

If you haven't seen this one yet . . . . heavy restoration costs, yes.

http://bringatrailer.com/listing/1966-sunbeam-tiger/

Saw that yesterday...in a nut shell you get 1 Tiger with a vin, a 2nd Tiger w/o a vin and 1 Alpine. If you had a huge shop that you could lay it all out and make one real nice Tiger it would be a fun project. See where the price goes......
I sold a similar lot in 2008 for $10k, looking back that was a good deal.

GA Tigers in a basket

When the word restoration is spoken it immediately brings to mind Wall Street bucks. Truly restored cars end up on a trailer for the most part and get pushed off for a show and then back in the box. If you live on Wall Street that may be fine but you miss out on enjoying the car.

Since I started to rebuild my car I have had a change in heart. from wanting a full resto to one of a nice rebuild where I don't worry about driving the car to the store, except the Wall Mart where all the car jackings occur. One must have some discretion in where to drive. So when i look at this bag of bones i see cars that are fun to drive and I don't care how many points they would earn in a concourse. The second Tiger is a tough choice, maybe put the fenders on it and get rid of it? Or make a modified wonder of it? Maybe not. The guy did find the serial plate for it. Take what's left of the Alpine to the dump after removing any sellable parts.

I don't have a shop which would make choices a lot easier. But then I plan on enjoying my car and not just look at it.

Hard not to comment

Sure there are lots of pics but none up on a lift. If there was a nice inventory of what's Alpine and what's Tiger in the boxes of gauges and it could be an easier ballpark to figure a market value. It is very interesting to read the auction terms seller pays 250 up front and buyer pays 5% premium up to $5000 if I remember coll wreck tly

Plus on on the driver restoration Artist.

I thought it was interesting he listed the vin of the wrecked tiger as 8382002004LRX ... Nothing odd the dlva got b and 8 mixed.... What worries me is claiming that number given its clearly a round corner car and should be a b947.... Something fishy on the ex-driver / parts car... Maybe stolen?

Warren said:

Sure there are lots of pics but none up on a lift. If there was a nice inventory of what's Alpine and what's Tiger in the boxes of gauges and it could be an easier ballpark to figure a market value. It is very interesting to read the auction terms seller pays 250 up front and buyer pays 5% premium up to $5000 if I remember coll wreck tly

Plus on on the driver restoration Artist.

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Warren, I don't think lift pictures are practical where they sit. Getting them to a lift would be a nightmare. At the current price ($15,000) it's a string deal. Much higher and it's going to be a little sketchy on whether it's worth it or not.
The non tagged Tiger is worth a lot in parts.

Project Expenses Plus

We constantly remind project newbies that acquiring parts & projects are just the tiny tip of a large Titanic berg. Comes the infinite man-hours of repair/restoration and the road gets bumpy. Then there's the ugly money thing. I can't tell you how many times we've seen projects stall because the family wants to know if Dad is ever coming home again, or worse, he's uninvited . . . . . . .

Lift

Be happy with jack stand pics. Good point on the round corner trunk . I had commented and fine tooth oggled pics before the vin was posted . I have seen a couple bill of sale cars come into California they get a state ID tag on them. The last couple I have seen were in the same as claimed variety I'm sure we all wish it was local a tempting pile of stuff, Dunlop's a cool 13" wheel set shame they aren't pictured better.

0neoffive said:

We constantly remind project newbies that acquiring parts & projects are just the tiny tip of a large Titanic berg. Comes the infinite man-hours of repair/restoration and the road gets bumpy. Then there's the ugly money thing. I can't tell you how many times we've seen projects stall because the family wants to know if Dad is ever coming home again, or worse, he's uninvited . . . . . . .

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Nobody said it was an easy project. I can only assume someone willing to buy, knows what's in store. If they dont, shame on them. But this ad does display what I've been saying, "lots of Tigers out there, projects stalled". Be patient and there are deals and good cars.
He are two I looked at yesterday.

Forgot picture.......

B.A.T.

Most times it seems like its Beat a Tiger or w/e. Randy you are preaching to the choir here maybe a trip there is in order Go beat it down there or lift it up as a nice collection of parts.

Wonder what the trans and rear end are from. What a nice grab bag with numbers that may not go with a round corner car. Be nice if they included a pic of the found tag and its color.

0neoffive said:

We constantly remind project newbies that acquiring parts & projects are just the tiny tip of a large Titanic berg. Comes the infinite man-hours of repair/restoration and the road gets bumpy. Then there's the ugly money thing. I can't tell you how many times we've seen projects stall because the family wants to know if Dad is ever coming home again, or worse, he's uninvited . . . . . . .

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P. Scofield said:

Forgot picture.......

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Paul are these the 2 in a field you have been talking about for a while that the guy won't sell?

On a side note.. and I'll apologise in advance, but what is it with people in the states leaving convertible cars in fields/ driveways etc.. roof down/missing and not at least putting a tarp over the open area to stop the interior and floors from just rotting away.... I just don't get it.... Then they say project they won't get to.... Why would you make the project 100% worse by destroying the trim and rotting out the floors...Bng

+ Artist

2nd what Artist said... I did a down to the last nut and bolt resto/mod on my current Tiger, and now I don't want to drive it, because the bottom looks just as good as the top, and if I drove it, it would get dirty and I'd have to clean it, or it'd get all dinged up. I stupidly sold my beater Tiger when I had the current one about done and didn't need it for reference any more. I'm seriously considering buying another kind of junky Tiger, or a decent Alger, for a car to drive around that I don't have to worry about. Maybe put the restored one back to bone stock with a 260 and stock front suspension and brakes, and put the 331 and Dale's front suspension in the junky driver? I'd probably have a lot more fun that way.
Bob K.
B9471705

michael-king said:

Paul are these the 2 in a field you have been talking about for a while that the guy won't sell?

On a side note.. and I'll apologise in advance, but what is it with people in the states leaving convertible cars in fields/ driveways etc.. roof down/missing and not at least putting a tarp over the open area to stop the interior and floors from just rotting away.... I just don't get it.... Then they say project they won't get to.... Why would you make the project 100% worse by destroying the trim and rotting out the floors...Bng

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Mike, yes, those are the cars I've been trying to buy for about 12 years. The open car did have a convertible top on it years ago but it has slowly deteriorated. You're going to get a kick out of what the guy said when I begged him to guard them against the elements. He said: "yeah, I used to keep them covered with tarps but the tarp would only last for about a year". LOL!
What do you say to a guy like that!
I'm not sure how the degree of restoration morphed into this conversation. It's all personal choice when it comes down to how far your going to take a car. Personally, I like a nearly perfect car. I can't take something 1/2 way. If I'm doing work for someone else, I give it the same degree as if it's mine. It won't stop me from driving it, but I think it's very important with Tigers given the spread of value. Not that I'm selling, but you never know what life will bring.

$25,000

And that is not just the only news.I recently heard a new vendor will be along with bits from original stamping molds. So most all can be fixed.

It's About Time !!!

Warren said:

And that is not just the only news.I recently heard a new vendor will be along with bits from original stamping molds. So most all can be fixed.

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Hopefully, those "original molds" still have sharp edges and the skills to prep metal for high-pressure stamping haven't been lost to history. Annealing is not for the novice . . . . . .

25 big ones

I hate to drag ya all back to what the original post was about but 25 grand for a bag of bones! Tiger 1 was a complete car but rustoleum in a can isn't going to be enough. It did have a neat set of wheels seldom seen. There was a pile of parts that made you drooool. Boxes of gauges, valve covers (3 sets at least), 3 blocks, spare heads, carbs,six extra seats, tranny, differential (66), bumpers, side trim, badges, bell housing, some new seat suit, foam and rubber diaphragms etc...
Then there was Tiger 2. No fenders or front end. Rusted out floors and trunk even the bottom edges of the trans tunnel were gone. Frame rails rusted. No motor, trans or differential. A tough piece to move around. But it did have a hard top to start with. But! No serial number, and a Jensen number ending in 2004. I wish I could remember the first digits. Interesting that the tag he had for the car ended in the same numbers. In reality it would be a Herclean effort to restore this car. Maybe that's what the Alpine was for. The Alpine was marginally better than Tiger 2. Although missing the drivers door the front end was mostly usable. You couldn't really tell if the frame and floors were useable but then is it a real Tiger if you do? And what number would it be?
Tiger 1 is the thing of value and after you restore it, yeah it will be bigger bucks if the market continues upward.
The number of old farts that remember the Tiger back when are dewindling. Will the future hold an interest by the next generation, will they have the financial wherewithal to be able to pay those escalating prices. We'll see....

artist said:

The number of old farts that remember the Tiger back when are dewindling. Will the future hold an interest by the next generation, will they have the financial wherewithal to be able to pay those escalating prices. We'll see....

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What you say about the Tiger is exactly what many are saying on the Shelby site. The only thing that I have to say is since the Tigers have started to sky rocket in price the more people become aware of them.

My only personal advice regardless of the car is to buy it, drive it and enjoy it.

That hood looks vaguely familiar...

Rusting hulks

michael-king said:

Paul are these the 2 in a field you have been talking about for a while that the guy won't sell?

On a side note.. and I'll apologise in advance, but what is it with people in the states leaving convertible cars in fields/ driveways etc.. roof down/missing and not at least putting a tarp over the open area to stop the interior and floors from just rotting away.... I just don't get it.... Then they say project they won't get to.... Why would you make the project 100% worse by destroying the trim and rotting out the floors...Bng

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Probably is a 'States' thing. I can't tell you how many times I have found a property littered with cool cars that I wanted at least one and the owner refused to sell. Same story usually, "yeah, I'm going to restore that someday" And, the guy is in his late 70s or even 80s. I have a friend that has built some awesome cars. Had one on the cover of Hot Rod mag many years ago. Still has some great cars too in various stages of resto. Now in his 70s, his 'current 'projects have been almost done for 15 - 20 years! Then, out in the yard are some really rare cars just begging to be brought back. My only comment is that it is sort of a disease. They like having them even if they never get to them. One car I tried to buy, he said no. I said why not. His answer: "It's yard art" go figure. We think they are crazy but to them it's their own private museum, conversation pieces. Way off topic but an interesting subject. Who knows what lurks in the hearts of men? Maybe the shadow knows. lol