[Tigers] South African Tigers

[Tom Witt]

I was looking up Rambler Americans and stumbled across the fact that some were sold as knock down kits in South Africa by a company controlled by Rootes (Stanley Motors). As the web often goes I stumbled upon other information relating to South African Tigers. One was quite in error stating that only 43 were ever assembled there and that the first SA Tiger was built in 1961 http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C630148.

This next 2012 article spoke of the lack of interest for Tigers in South Africa and how many were going to Australia (in part, link at the bottom). Anyway, for those who have interest... :

“Still, investors need to be careful as particular markets don’t value all scarce cars equally. A perfect example seems to be the Sunbeam Tiger, which doesn’t do all that well in SA despite the fact that only 73 were ever manufactured here. By contrast the Tiger is in huge demand in Australia.

Alf Dragan, a Sunbeam enthusiast from Edenvale, says he tried to sell a Tiger 260 in 1997 for R40 000 but was offered just R20 000 in the local market. He eventually managed to sell it for R45 000 to an Australian buyer who was so keen to get his hands on the vehicle that he paid for all the transport costs in addition to the asking price. Dragan says South African Tiger owners are today exporting their cars to Australia for over R200 000.

“It’s all about nostalgia,” says Dragan, who adds that one of the reasons the Aussies like sourcing their Tigers from SA is that they’ve usually suffered less rust damage over the years than their Australian counterparts from coastal cities like Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Perth.

By contrast, SA tends to have a big appetite for the 1956 Austin Healy 100 Roadster as well as the aforementioned E-type Jaguar.

“Those are the real money spinners over here,” says Dragan.

The biggest risk to prospective investors he says, is picking the wrong car, especially one that needs to be restored.

“Restoring a car today is very expensive,” he says. “If you don’t restore the right car you can come seriously short.””

http://finweek.com/2012/04/13/classic-cars-an-underrated-investment-vehicle/
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