[Tigers] thunderbird not sunbeam?

[Steve Laifman]

Good Question, Theo.

It is interesting to recall some history.  In the early days of the 
T-Bird, and the Corvette, none were really "sports cars".  Ford insisted 
it was a "personal car" with bench seats, and Chevy had their mighty 
small block 6 and 2 spd auto in it.  Hardly competitive.

Some 50 years later, the Corvette has really competitive models, and my 
50th anniversary T-Bird is built upon the Jaguar V-8 engine and chassis 
(although Ford never seems to mention it).

Now consider the Alpine S series,  It emulated, some 9 years later, the 
body design of the T-Bird.  In 1964-5 the Tiger was created, with a Ford 
engine, as well as strongly T-Bird lines.  More competitive than any 
Thunderbird, but a clear homage in body style.

The "mixed signals" coming from the T not S pics, including the racy 
aluminum hood and the old #74 Alpine championed by Don Sessler:

http://www.conceptcarz.com/vehicle/chassisNum.aspx?carID=12466&iDNumID=3638

is a homage to what!

Certainly Shelby gets his flag flown, without any connection to the 
T-Bird whatsoever. Knowing his history, it is doubtful he ever owned one.

Sure took up a lot of the list bandwidth, but it was fun.

___
Steve Laifman
Editor - TigersUnited.com
<http://www.TigersUnited.com>



THEO SMIT wrote:
> Would it eat Alpines _and_ Tigers?
>
> ;)
>
> Theo