Well !
This is a story that's been going around for some time
Tigers sold on the European continent were badged "Alpine 260" or "Alpine 289"
Some people say that's it was because "Mershershmitt" had the copyright to the
word "Tiger"
Piffle!
Very few "tigers" were sold to the then West German market
And the supposed copyright of a German manufacturer wouldn't have held much
fear For the then Rootes Group
The reason that the cars were badged Alpine
Was simply that the Rootes company thought that this would be a better selling
feature for the car
The name "Alpine " was linked with the toughest European rally
And the original "alpine" under the guise of Stirling Moss had proved that the
products of the Coventry based company were to be relied on! ------Moss was
one of only two drivers in the history of the "Alpine Rally" to win a gold cup
In his sunbeam Talbot alpine
{awesome that our own Jane wignall repeated the feat some 3 years ago in her
sunbeam tiger}
so what's a gold cup ? well it's 3 consecutive wins in the same gruelling
endurance event
anyway I digress ---------- if you look at "Taylor's" book (page138) you will
see a picture of Andrew Cowans tiger , the car is parked at a gas station in
preparation for the "Monte Carlo" Rally 1966 ...........
look at the fender and you will clearly see the badge "Alpine"
again on page 139!
my own car ---- the sister car to "Cowans" is the newly rebodied "AHP294B"
-----that is a 64 registration with a late 65 body
i.e. square doors, bonnet etc----- it is also badged "Alpine 260"
this indicates that "European" Tigers were sold as "Alpines"
as both these cars were taken fully finished from the production line at
Jensen
from my archive material it is plain to see that the tiger was always going to
be called the "Alpine260/289" 0n the European continent.
(some avid readers will now recognise the futility of suggesting that those
who reside in the UK have ever deemed themselves "European)
if some of you are now starting to recognise the "skulduggery" employed by the
factory competition dept then I would suggest you look at page 142 of Taylor's
book
well its another 64 registered factory tiger _______ ADU 311B taking part in
the Acropolis Rally (mid1966!)
this time its badged tiger and its round cornered door and bonnet--
fine --- but I have the colour pictures of this event and its blue with a
black top ?????
the point is that the original car was red and white top!!!!!!
Ok so you can get different colour hardtops but you can't convince me that the
competition dept got bored one day and decided to change the colour of the car
?
Anyway the car exists to this day and I have seen it ----- there are no
indications that the colour has been changed nor the fenders (which originally
had large cut-outs)
So all these mysteries continue and you'll just have to read about them in
the "Book" due out Spring next year !
In the meantime I'm starting a new club called the "alpine260" register------
no converted Tigers to Alpines will be allowed
"Cats" all for now!
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-tigers@autox.team.net On Behalf Of Anita Barrett
Sent: 29 October 1997 01:44
To: tigers@autox.team.net
Subject: Alpine or Tiger II?
Tiger Folks,
All this Alger talk reminded me of 1970. It happened that my
67 Tiger II burned out the resistor that was part of the alternator
circuit. I had no Idea what ohms it was susposed to be and no parts
were available from Chrysler as they were already trying to kill the
@#$! Ford powered Sunbeam after they bought Sunbeam. It happened that
I saw a White Sunbeam with three stripes down the side.
It was in the same parking lot where I was working.
It said "Alpine" but no where did it say "Tiger". It did have two
tail pipes and the rounded headlight rims of a Tiger II. By leaving
a note on the windshield I was able to get in contact with the owner
who turned out to be a nice lady. I explained that I needed to measure
the resistor on her car and she agreeded. It turned out that she
had a 1967 Tiger II , except there was nowhere to be found the word
"Tiger". I asked her about this and she said she had bought it new
in France and in France they did not allow the "Tiger" script.
She had just returned from France with the "Alpine/Tiger?"
The resistor was 15 ohms which I replaced with a non-automotive
power resistor that is still good 27 years later.
Tiger IIs have the Chrysler Penta-Star mounted in a certain location.
I don't remember if the White "Alpine/Tiger/" had the Penta-Star.
Has any one else ran across a "Tiger" originally sold in France?
Or some other place besides USA and England?
Jim Barrett Tiger II 351C and others
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