I became infatuated when I saw my first Tiger. It was in 1965, when my older brother and I were walking in a parking lot at Cottonwood Cove at the Colorado River. There it was – a shiny, new Forest Green Mk 1. Only I had no idea what it was at the time, but told my brother that it was a very nice-looking car. He replied that it was nice looking, but more important, it had a Ford V8 under the hood.
It was a couple of years before I had my driver’s license and time to look for a car. Like many fathers, mine was concerned that my first car be a very safe one. Eventually, I settled on a 1962 Mercury Meteor S-33, a sporty version of a typical “mid-sized” American car. At least it had a 260 in it!
After a few years of safe and sane motoring, I felt the need for something with more oomph. While looking in the Green Sheet Advertiser (10 cents to list one’s car for sale back then), I spied an interesting ad. “1968 Sunbeam Tiger, red w/ black interior” was all it said, plus a phone number. I called the number and made arrangements to see the car. The man selling it said he was the second owner. For the test drive, he would not let me drive it, but drove me around a bit. He was asking $1,800 for it. I told him I wanted to think about it. Later, after talking about the car with my brother, he told me that some of the Tigers had 289s in them and asked me about this car. So I called the phone number and talked with the man’s wife and asked her about the engine. She did not know. I called the owner later and offered him $1,600. It was his turn to think about it. A couple of days later, he called back and accepted my offer. I still did not know what engine sat in the engine bay.
That is how, in August of 1970, I became the owner of my Sunbeam Tiger Mk II. I did not know it was a Mk II until later, after I had joined C.A.T. and found out there were different models.
So today (December 30) is my Tiger’s 50th birthday. While I am not the original owner, I have had the car for most of its life. I drove this car in most of my college years. This is the car I used to court the second love of my life (and not necessarily in that order), Michele, while we were students at UC Riverside. We drove it from Riverside to some of the C.A.T. meetings, which were held in those days in an upstairs conference room at Galpin Ford, on Roscoe Blvd. in San Fernando Valley. We drove off to our honeymoon in this Tiger. Later, this is the car in which I taught Michele how to drive a car with a stick shift. It was perfect for this – with lots of torque and a fairly light body, it was harder to stall when taking off in 1st gear.
My car had suffered from some of my youthful indiscretions and I dreamed about making it look like it did when it rolled off the assembly line at the end of 1966. I started early buying NOS and LAT parts for it, including some of the Mk II parts that had been replaced with Mk 1 equivalents when the car was in the body shop. After many years of collecting parts and dreaming about it, I finally bit the bullet and took my car to Dale’s for restoration. I cannot thank Dale enough for working with me on my vision and I was extremely pleased with the final product!
And so, on its 50th birthday, I had planned to make sure the battery is well charged, clean it up, and take it (along with Michele) for a nice drive. But SoCal is getting some much-needed rain, but I am hoping for a break in the weather later today. And maybe I’ll toss one or two back, toasting the men (and women, if any) who put together my Carnival Red beauty and rolled it off the assembly line 50 years ago today!
It was a couple of years before I had my driver’s license and time to look for a car. Like many fathers, mine was concerned that my first car be a very safe one. Eventually, I settled on a 1962 Mercury Meteor S-33, a sporty version of a typical “mid-sized” American car. At least it had a 260 in it!
After a few years of safe and sane motoring, I felt the need for something with more oomph. While looking in the Green Sheet Advertiser (10 cents to list one’s car for sale back then), I spied an interesting ad. “1968 Sunbeam Tiger, red w/ black interior” was all it said, plus a phone number. I called the number and made arrangements to see the car. The man selling it said he was the second owner. For the test drive, he would not let me drive it, but drove me around a bit. He was asking $1,800 for it. I told him I wanted to think about it. Later, after talking about the car with my brother, he told me that some of the Tigers had 289s in them and asked me about this car. So I called the phone number and talked with the man’s wife and asked her about the engine. She did not know. I called the owner later and offered him $1,600. It was his turn to think about it. A couple of days later, he called back and accepted my offer. I still did not know what engine sat in the engine bay.
That is how, in August of 1970, I became the owner of my Sunbeam Tiger Mk II. I did not know it was a Mk II until later, after I had joined C.A.T. and found out there were different models.
So today (December 30) is my Tiger’s 50th birthday. While I am not the original owner, I have had the car for most of its life. I drove this car in most of my college years. This is the car I used to court the second love of my life (and not necessarily in that order), Michele, while we were students at UC Riverside. We drove it from Riverside to some of the C.A.T. meetings, which were held in those days in an upstairs conference room at Galpin Ford, on Roscoe Blvd. in San Fernando Valley. We drove off to our honeymoon in this Tiger. Later, this is the car in which I taught Michele how to drive a car with a stick shift. It was perfect for this – with lots of torque and a fairly light body, it was harder to stall when taking off in 1st gear.
My car had suffered from some of my youthful indiscretions and I dreamed about making it look like it did when it rolled off the assembly line at the end of 1966. I started early buying NOS and LAT parts for it, including some of the Mk II parts that had been replaced with Mk 1 equivalents when the car was in the body shop. After many years of collecting parts and dreaming about it, I finally bit the bullet and took my car to Dale’s for restoration. I cannot thank Dale enough for working with me on my vision and I was extremely pleased with the final product!
And so, on its 50th birthday, I had planned to make sure the battery is well charged, clean it up, and take it (along with Michele) for a nice drive. But SoCal is getting some much-needed rain, but I am hoping for a break in the weather later today. And maybe I’ll toss one or two back, toasting the men (and women, if any) who put together my Carnival Red beauty and rolled it off the assembly line 50 years ago today!