Sunbeam hoard

1fineAlpine

1fineAlpine

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I'm as excited as an 8yr old on Christmas Eve waiting for a long lost connection from my moms old boyfriends' dad, regarding supposedly a nice collection of Sunbeams. The story starts by my mom dating a guy (I think his name was Bill?) back in the late 70's to early 80's who had a white Tiger that he used to race/autocross around Spokane quite a bit. The first time I had ever heard about Sunbeams was my mom telling stories of how insanely fast this Tiger was, and how there was a hole in the hood because the motor was too big to fit under it. I could go on with more about this Tiger, but would need to ask my mom for more details. As the story goes, at some point in the late 80's to early 90's the Tiger was rear ended by an elderly lady and an Alpine rear half was the only replacement found at that time. Shortly after that, he was killed while falling a tree on his property. Fast forward to late August 2013, my mom bumps into "Bills" dad at the grocery store, and spends a few minutes catching up on how things are going. The dad tells my mom he still has his sons old Tiger, and several other ones as well. By this I'm not sure if he meant Tigers or Alpines....
 
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...but it definitely has me excited to meet up with him, after my mom told me about this. He said to come on by and visit some time to see the car again and reminisce on old memories. He also said that a gentleman down the street from him had several Sunbeams as well. At that time my mom didn't know I was in the process of buying my Alpine, which was intended as a surprise, since my mom had only seen one other Tiger since the time she spent with "Bill" and they are her favorite cars. I was blown away to learn that this small little community off the side of the highway I've been down several times is where all these Sunbeams are sitting, and I never would've expected it. While at the store, my mom forgot to get a phone number to call and set up a time to visit, and she's currently trying to get it from the dad's niece who my mom sees at her work from time to time. I can't wait to see the Tiger I've heard so much about, and maybe I'll be able to get the vin for the registration? This car is what got my curiosity of Sunbeams started, and what finally made me absolutely have to have one was when I saw "tgrrr" at a car show in Priest River in 2011. This...
 
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...was the first time I had ever seen a Tiger in person. I took several pictures and called my mom that night to tell her about it. After seeing "tgrrr" (and shortly after, a dark blue metallic one on panasports drove by on the highway) the search was on and I had to have my own.

Though I was only able to find/afford an Alpine, I'm pretty happy with my purchase and can't wait to turn the key for the first time this year and let that fresh aluminum headed 302 swapped into it come to life.

You guys may or may not know it, but when you bring your cars out to shows, or for a cruise, you never know who you might be inspiring to become the next Sunbeam fan.

Thanks for reading!

-Kyle

(I left paragraph spaces out to shorten up how many posts I needed to make)
 
Kyle--what a great story and goes to show what a small world it is. Good luck with your search and make sure to take pics to post on here.
 
Thanks! Small world indeed. And I'll definitely take plenty of pics to share (if he doesn't mind?), and maybe I'll be able to pursued purchasing a project Tiger? :D
 
Thanks! I'll do my best to make it. Won't have the Alpine done in time, but I can bring my Vette.

-Kyle
 
A car matching the description of the white Tiger you mentioned that was wrecked and rebuilt using Alpine parts was on eBay within the last year. IIRC, the location was the Northwest. It was super clean.
 
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Well, chances are it's not a coincidence, and I probably won't see the car I've heard so much about :( He had mentioned to my mom that he was considering selling it. Maybe there will be some spare parts I can buy? Haha.
 
Finally!

Well after almost a year of asking my mom to call Al (her ex-boyfriends dad), she finally called him yesterday and chatted on the phone a bit. Al is just as eager to show me his sons old Tiger as I am to see it. I plan on calling him tomorrow morning to set up a meet time for next weekend. I will try to take pics to post if he lets me. I guess the car has been TAC'd back in the 90's? It'd be under either Bill Shaw, or Al (Alvin) Shaw. I don't know much more at this time, except that his other son was wanting to take the Tiger and start racing it, but Al wants to pull the last motor Bill had built for it, since it's pretty wild I guess and doesn't want his other son to hurt himself with it. Anyways, I'm pretty excited :D

-Kyle
 
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Pics!

Well, here she is. Finally made it out to see TAC #941. After it was hit on the rear (early 90s) the Alpine rear was put on and before Bill could get it from the body shop he was killed. His dad Al brought it home and besides moving up to the neighbors shop and back it's been sitting in storage with its fresh coat of white paint slowly disappearing under a layer of dust. Al plans on getting the motor tamed down and running soon, and I offered my services to help so we'll see if one day I can go for a ride. After a while I had to ask, and the car is not for sale. I would've gladly got myself in trouble at home from purchasing this if I could, lol. My mom said it had a hole in the hood for the motor, but Al said he doesn't recall that, and the louvers were the only thing he's seen.


 
The motor needs a going through. It's untouched from how Bill left it in the 90s. It's kind of cool seeing the old MSD setup, offenhauser intake, and old Shelby valve covers he's had on it since the early 70's. It looks to have had a carb fire at some point when his dad tried getting it running, which I guess he did since he said it was running last year. Al says he's got new carpet and door panels for it when it's ready for them.



 
And the last pics I'll clog up the thread with lol. These are pictures of the pictures from the wreck it was in, in about '74. Note how little the engine changed since the wreck lol. It had different blocks and a few things since though. Bill bought it in about '72. I guess there used to be more cars at his dads house including an MKII I guess made it's way to Seattle? The Alpine was used to fix the rear when it was hit. The guy up the road who I heard had a bunch of Sunbeams I guess only has one very very nice Tiger. So no hoard of parts or ect, but still cool. I'm just glad I finally saw the car that I've heard about for almost 12 years and is what got me interested in Sunbeams in the first place.







 
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