Dealer option 260 HIPO

[SIV Allan]

I've seen a few articles that mention Tigers with a dealer installed 245 BHP 260 engine.

While I've seen plenty of owner modified engines, I've never seen a Tiger with a dealer installed 260 HIPO engine.

Just curious, has anyone encountered such a beast?

Here's a link to an article mentioning this engine option:

http://news.boldride.com/2013/12/the-sunbeam-tiger-the-other-shelby/40204/

The Tiger I made its debut in 1964. Equipped with a 260 cubic inch Ford V8 and Ford twin-choke carb, the car was capable of 164 horsepower in most versions. Some dealers offered an optimized model that could turn out 245 horses for an additional $250 ...

 

[Bob Knight]

260 HiPo

The first Tiger I owned, which I believe to have been B9470715, had the 260 HiPo engine in it. Also had a number of other LAT performance options: headers, Traction masters, 3.54 rear end gears, limited slip, and had the Cobra valve covers and a Cobra lettered aluminum oil pan. It had an Autolite 4 barrel carb on it when I bought it, quickly replaced with a Holley. Cast iron Ford 4 barrel intake with a C4 casting number.
I bought it from the original owner, it only had about 35k miles on it when I purchased it in 1982, was very original, and I have to no reason to believe it was ever modified. The original owner told me he bought it "from Shelby's dealership in Long Beach". After seeing a recent list in another post of the LA area Sunbeam dealers, I have no idea which dealership this might have been. Original owner said it was a "260 Cobra" engine. The car really ran good - sounded like a sewing machine with the solid lifter cam. Ran mid to high 14's in the quarter mile with tiny little 13" street tires. Looked just like (Exactly like!) the car in the article you attached. After I pulled the engine in the mid '80's, I disassembled it and decided it probably really was a 260 Cobra motor, not a warmed over Tiger 260. Inspection revealed that in addition to the solid lifter cam, the engine had been balanced, had polished rods and domed pistons, and the intake and heads had extensive porting work and it had 289 size valves with dual valve springs. No wonder it ran so good!
Bob Knight
B9471705

 

[HolyCat]

Didn't Know

I never knew there was a HiPo 260 - thought Ford only made HiPo with 289 cid. Did the HiPo 260s have 4-bolt mains also? I could see Shleby doing (or getting from Ford, with whom he was in bead) some special work to the 260s.

I think the article is referring to the various LAT options that the dealer could install, most of the HiPo parts except the block and rods.

David

 

[michael-king]

It was my understanding the 245 hp tigers were just a tiger fitted with the LAT super induction kit cam and upgraded distributor . in two of the period tests they talked about it like it would be a model and mentioned how traction masters would be stock on it.. But think this was pr from Garrard as both these articles showed the road test Tiger with the lat stripe kit and American racing mags with the lat specced engine.


Not so much a hipo 260 as a full LAT spec one.

 

[cobrakidz]

hipo 289's did not have 4 bolt mains--just larger main caps..

 

[chirodoc]

HI PO 260/289 ENGINES

Stock HIPO 289 K MOTORS/short blocks, didn't have forged pistons, ported heads with big valves, and a balanced rotating assembly, Even though the HIPO motors I've had in the past have been so modified. So I imagine that. the 245 hp motor was just LAT dealer bolt ons

 

[Bob Knight]

HiPo

I always suspected that my first Tiger had been a dealership demo car that had gotten more than the usual performance attention... definitely didn't look like it had ever been raced, but I suppose it's possible. The original owner never said how many miles it had on it when he bought it new. When we tore the original engine down and found all the race prep work, well, I have a hard time believing they'd go to that much work for a couple hundred dollar upgrade! All the time I drove the car with the original engine, I and my Tiger buddies assumed it was just a regular 260 with a cam, 4 barrel, and headers. I attributed the fact that I could keep up with the 289's and 302's to the 3.54 rear end gears.
I replaced it with a highly built 289, and the difference wasn't nearly as much as I'd expected, which was what made me take a look at the internals of the 260... I'd expected a 50% improvement in performance, it felt more like 20%. Tiger Mysteries!
Bob K.
B9471705

 

[Bullypit]

260 Hipo

Allan
I may have told the story about going on the tiger search in 1972 which resulted in my red car . Previous to thAt I looked at what I suspect was a dealer hipo in pensCola owned by navy pilot. It had the hipo solid lifter engine with f4b traction masters lat 9 wheels dress up kit chrome rollbar hArdtop black with red int fully loaded very fast absolutely no history off used car lot. I was scared of it and went with stocker with history - too bad...

 

[tigresunbeam]

Dealer option

See attached front page from Rootes Review dated 1998.
Invoice from Dealer For Option Cobra Engine . $ 600.00$ Freight 30.00$
What about seatbelt !!!!!!

 

[Duke Mk1a]

Mine got the ultra rare 347 HIPO.

 

[SIV Allan]

See attached front page from Rootes Review dated 1998.
Invoice from Dealer For Option Cobra Engine . $ 600.00$ Freight 30.00$
What about seatbelt !!!!!!

Thanks!

These type options do get referenced, including the 245 BHP 260, but remain very scarce at least to me.

 

[HolyCat]

Invoice Questions

The invoice looks more like it is from the importer, not the dealer. It certainly is not a sales order, since there is no buyer nor selling dealer listed. There is a space for the dealer's name and address, but it is blank. There is no date on the invoice, which seems strange. And was the heater a factory option? I had thought that the heater was standard on Tigers - but maybe not on the early ones?

 

[TigerBlue]

Window sticker

I read it as a dealers window sticker. Bet they always included a line for what was the standard heater.

The Rootes Review comments say the buyer opted for a 289. No 260 for him. The quality of the image is too poor to tell if the window sticker says 260 or 289.

And just checking? Does anyone out there not know Duke's rather large displacement.

Rick

 

[Moondoggie]

Mine got the ultra rare 347 HIPO.

Yeah but it won't last long, trust me I know !!! Wow and only $600 for that hipo 260 now that was a deal...Moondoggie

 

[Theorangetiger]

On a recent episode of "Fast & Loud" they bought a '64 1/2 Mustang with a factory HIPO 289. It is very rare and I never knew they existed. I am not a Mustang expert but I always thought the only V8 offered for the '64 1/2 was the 260.
The HIPO 289 was used in '63 fairlanes so it seems to me that Ford never made an attempt to offer any kind of performance 260.
It seems that the 260 and 289 came out at around the same time and all efforts for performance were dedicated to the 289. Of course production of the 260 ceased well before that of the 289.

 

[Warren]

Betcha

The aircleaner on the Fast n Loud show had a repop 289 hi po sticker on it and nothing more

 

[cobrakidz]

The 289K code ( hipo) was first offered in the Mustang in June of 1964. When the Mustang went on sale in April of 1964 3 engines were available.....170 cu in 6 cylinder, 260 V8 and 289 V8 (non hipo).

 

[Theorangetiger]

I know it's "reality" TV which means everything could be fake but it seemed pretty legit. They bought the car from the original owner who bought it new with her husband. The thing appeared very original even down to the rubber hoses.

 

[0neoffive]

Non HiPo

Dealer option for our new MK1A (ole' #78) was a 289 transplant which I bought after the brief road test. No HiPo or other toys except the valve covers were offered at that time. By the 2nd weekend it had a wild Crane cam with solids, a Holley 4bbl and Offy intake. Straight tube Thrush (mufflers?) made it easy for the red lights to find me anywhere in town.

 

[dlyle]

November 1964 Road & Track article

In this article they mention that they are able to sample a 245-bhp version of the car.