Tiger had its teeth pulled prematurely

It is said that Jack Brabham suggested inserting a Ford V8 into the four-cylinder Sunbeam Alpine sports car.

The idea came to him after weekend of racing at Riverside Raceway, California, from October 13-14, 1962. 

Along with other well-known drivers, Brabham had competed in a variety of events, one of which was a three-hour endurance for sports cars.

His car was a Sunbeam Alpine, one of four fielded by the Rootes works team.

The other three were driven by Ken Miles, Bruce McLaren and Jim Titus.

The Alpines, which had been developed with the US market in mind and released in 1959, were up against the new 1963 Chevrolet Stingray and the debut of Carroll Shelby’s Ford V8 Cobra.

Miles was the best finisher of the Rootes team with 6th place.

Brabham’s car overheated after throwing a fan belt.

McLaren’s Alpine broke a fuel pump.

Titus was listed as DNF.

So, not a great result for Team Rootes.

For trivia buffs, Doug Hooper in a new Corvette was the winner.

 

No doubt Brabham and everyone else, was impressed by the potential of the Cobra.

And while it did not finish, having broken a right rear axle, its speed and handing were impressive.

There much conjecture about who Brabham spoke to that day, and later, but there is no doubt his opinions carried significance back at Rootes HQ in the UK.

That’s because Brabham was an ambassador for Sunbeam, fronting some of its advertising, and earning cash flow by up grading the performance of Sunbeam Alpines and Rapiers (with Rootes approval), at his workshop in Surrey, UK.

Quite quickly two Alpines were fitted with a Ford 260 cubic inch/4.2-litre V8. 

One car was converted at Carrol Shelby’s workshop at Marina Del Ray, Los Angeles.

It had a manual gearbox.

Ken Miles did the second car, attaching the V8 to an automatic transmission.

One or both (it depends on which source you read) were sent to the UK for testing.

The results so impressed Rootes chairman, Billy Rootes, that he personally visited Henry Ford II to negotiate a deal to buy Ford engines for an expected 3000 per year production run.

The car debuted at the New York Motor Show in March, 1964.

Because Rootes in the UK did not have the manufacturing capacity to build the Tiger, the construction contract was handed to Jenson Motors.

The Tiger did the zero to 60 mph sprint in 7.8 seconds.

Top speed was 120 mph.

Around 6550 were sold between 1964 and 1966. 

An upgrade was announced for 1967, with the 289 cubic inch/4.6-litre engine.

A few less than 600 were sold before Chrysler took over Rootes in June, 1967 and forbid the use of Ford engines.

No Chrysler V8 would fit without significant re-engineering, so the Tiger was terminated.

Meanwhile, the four-cylinder Alpine had achieved sales of over 70,000.

In a short-sighted move, Chrysler sent the Alpine into retirement in 1968. 

The Tiger is always seen a cheaper version of the Shelby Cobra.

Good ones sell for upwards of US $170,000.

A Tiger was the car driven in the Get Smart TV series by the main character, Maxwell Smart.

Actually, for most onscreen appearances, an Alpine with Tiger badges was used.

David Burrell is the editor of retroautos

 

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