- Messages
- 162
Just out of the Service in 1973 I was driving a nice MGB after someone had exposed me to the world of sports cars. It wasn’t long before I was unhappy with power output of the stock MG, so I bought a second MG & was in the process of stuffing a 289 Ford into it. It wasn’t going well & when I asked a friend for help, he replied “Why don’t you just buy a Tiger?” I said. “What’s that?” I found the Tiger in the local paper for $1800 & sold the MGBs. Boy, that 36 years went fast!
The car was only six years old but well used. The only MK-2 trim still on the car was on the rockers. In the first few years, I did the usual modifications of 289HP heads, Crane Cam, headers, F4B, Hurst, etc. There were not too many other Tigers in Florida that I knew of & I did not even know that mine was a MK2. After I realized that the trim for my car was different, I set out to find it. Luckily, I stumbled onto another local MK2 owner who needed a front fender. Both of our cars were only daily-drivers then, so to him the fender was more important than all of his Mk2 trim. Originally Carnival Red it was last repainted in 1978. It was my daily-driver until 1982 when I got my first “second” car. The engine & tranny have never been out of the car or rebuilt, someday I hope to rebuild it properly, but for now it still takes me where I want to go.
My wife & I have five other vehicles between us now, but why do friends who have known us for years always ask if we still have our Tigers? I will have mine until the day I die! How about you?
The car was only six years old but well used. The only MK-2 trim still on the car was on the rockers. In the first few years, I did the usual modifications of 289HP heads, Crane Cam, headers, F4B, Hurst, etc. There were not too many other Tigers in Florida that I knew of & I did not even know that mine was a MK2. After I realized that the trim for my car was different, I set out to find it. Luckily, I stumbled onto another local MK2 owner who needed a front fender. Both of our cars were only daily-drivers then, so to him the fender was more important than all of his Mk2 trim. Originally Carnival Red it was last repainted in 1978. It was my daily-driver until 1982 when I got my first “second” car. The engine & tranny have never been out of the car or rebuilt, someday I hope to rebuild it properly, but for now it still takes me where I want to go.
My wife & I have five other vehicles between us now, but why do friends who have known us for years always ask if we still have our Tigers? I will have mine until the day I die! How about you?
