"Americans have always had a love affair with the British sports cars. The
mystique of the two-seater holds our attention like no other...In the 1950s
and '60s, two-seater European sports cars were flooding the markets. They
were economical and sporty, making them a hit with consumers. Even today,
when you see an MGB (in your cases an Alpine or in my an Austin Healey
100-4, 100-6 and the Le Mans of course) driving down the street, heads turn
to take a second look." ...Playing Mantis
These are the cars they produced and yes they did make an error (claimed not
intentional).1964 Jaguar E-Type Convertible, 1961 Austin-Healey Sprite, 1960
MGA Twin Cam, 1970 MGB, 1961 Triumph TR3A, 1963 Sunbeam Alpine Tiger (This
is the one they made the error on.) Originally it was packaged as a 1967
Sunbeam Alpine and they made one batch of them. Someone pointed out to their
attention the error and they re-did the car in a green and renamed it
properly. So there are a few Tigers out there in a powder blue which they
labeled a Series 5. I have all of their cars excpet the error car. At the
time a person who I considered a special friend of mine owns a Series 5 so I
decided to give it to him and get me another later. After I gave it to him
he had one already and of course didn't even thank me, nice eh? He didn't
even catch the mistake himself, kinda funny for someone who claims to know
all about the vehicle. (just kidding;-)... Easy mistake though. (British I
didn't catch it myself either right away till I was with a friend who owns a
Tiger and he had the car on his dashboard (out of the box). I looked closer
at it and cha-ching I see it. Never noticed it the first time b/c of the
subtle difference.
Okay ancient history now to get back on course here. They made three series
of the cars. The original series is where they made the mistake on the
Sunbeam (powder blue car). They have corrected it since then renaming it the
Tiger and changing it's color. So if ya own the powder blue and haven't
removed it from it's box hang on to it (wish I did and think I might have
found a boxed new one) b/c the value of it with that mistake will be twice
the others in years to come.
Series two included: '61 Triumph TR3A, '62 Jaguar E-Type Roadster, '63 MGB
Roadster, '67 Sunbeam Alpine (here is where they atoned for the error and it
is a dark blue now), '60 Austin-Healey Sprite, '61 MGA 1500 Twin Cam.
Series three included: '61 MGA 1500 Twin Cam, '63 MGB Roadster, '61 Triumph
TR3A, '60 Austin-Healey Sprite,'67 Sunbeam Alpine (British Green), Jaguar
E-Type Roadster.
That's the sum of it. Only difference is in the color from series to series
and then the error car.
J. Faldyn
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