1967 Sunbeam Tiger MK II

You are looking at a very rare 1967 Sunbeam Tiger MK II.

Specifications: 289 cu. in. Ford V-8 engine, 200 bhp at 4,400 rpm, four-speed manual transmission, independent front suspension with wishbones and coil springs, live rear axle with semi-elliptic leaf springs and Panhard rod, and front disc/rear drum hydraulic brakes; wheelbase: 86″. Two top car with rare original stereo and speakers.

Conceived by Ian Garrad, the U.S. West Coast manager for Britain’s Rootes Motors, Inc., the Sunbeam Tiger grabbed a share of the growing market for American V-8 powered sports cars during the 1960s. Dropping a powerful American V-8 engine into a small European sports car was no small task, but as Sidney Allard and Carroll Shelby had already proven, the concept was viable and represented the quickest path to race-winning performance.

Rightly, Garrad believed that Rootes’ Sunbeam Alpine roadster was a strong candidate for conversion to V-8 power as a sales booster. The Alpine was certainly attractive and had already won the Index of Thermal Efficiency at Le Mans in 1961 and achieved success in American SCCA competition. Once Garrad obtained approval from Lord Rootes’ son Brian, a Ford 260-powered prototype was built by engineer/racer Ken Miles, who soon after joined Shelby American. Shelby also built a V-8 Alpine conversion, with the car tested by Garrad and then shipped to England for evaluation in the summer of 1963. Company management, including Lord Rootes, enthusiastically approved the project, code-named ‘Thunderbolt’ and selected Jensen to build it in West Bromwich.

First available in 1964 for sale in the United States, the new car was appropriately named ‘Tiger’ in honor of Rootes’ own 1925/26 V-12 Land Speed Record car and made available the next year for the home market in right-hand drive form. A strong performer, the Tiger nearly won the SCCA B/Production National Championship in 1966, and it was a fierce drag racer, taking the 1965 AHRA National Championship in its class. Only some 7,000 Tigers were built through 1968 along two distinct series, the Mk I with an estimated 6,500 (Mk I and Mk IA) produced, and the updated, 289-powered Mk II numbering an estimated 500 or so aimed primarily at the U.S. market. Only Chrysler’s 1967 takeover of Rootes brought the eventual end to this potent and effective Ford-powered sports car.

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