Steve, et al,
I just wanted to throw a little hash in the broth. There were probably
many cars with engine compartments big enough to stuff a V-8 into back then
when everything was capacious. I've doubt in the downsized new millennium if
there are any, but I wanted to hear ideas from people who pay more attention
to new stuff than I do.
I'm not against the concept of ideas for a new Tiger from scratch like the
new Mini. However, I found the recent thread about prices and a 'following'
to be very interesting. I think Mike Wood had it closest; you have to have
had a following originally to command one later on. The Tiger had such a
narrow niche. It was too fast and American for the Brit crowd. But it's
feminine styling and showroom stock tepidness made American muscle buffs
uneasy.
So that leaves a similar niche today that probably isn't going to grow
enough to affect prices. Fine with me. But I'm uneasy with the concept of a
'new' Tiger unless we incorporate some of that outsider, underdog heritage.
The one phrase I left out was "Poor Man's Cobra", because I hated it so much
back in college. But that's what I'm thinking of. I envision a $15,000 car
that you could sell to all those kids who hop up rice burners, something that
with a little work (THERE IS NO SUBSTITUTE FOR CUBIC INCHES!!) could go out
hunting $30,000 cars.
When Chrysler gave Carroll a bunch of money and said "Give us a modern
Cobra", he did. A modern 427 Cobra that very few people on this list could
afford. He did not give them a modern AC ACE with a 260 in it. If the Tiger
had survived into the late 60's, some of us wouldn't be worrying about
ackerman angle and would have very expensive cars. We don't and I like my
Tiger. Most high interest cars of the 60's (not exotics) were factory
platforms that the 'car guys' in the company finally got to play with. Start
a separate contest, make a Tiger for the masses!
Chris
|