[Tigers] Urban legend

[michael king]

Tom,

There were 2 v8 engined fastbacks  they were known as a Sunbeam Allegro.

On Mon., 9 Mar. 2020, 09:28 Tom Witt via Tigers, <tigers at autox.team.net>
wrote:

> I'd be curious to know if the successor Alpine (the Baby Barracuda) had
> any "Tiger-izing" considerations? While not a sports car it would have been
> an interesting concept given that the USA was in the pony car phase at that
> time. The later Alpine likely met regulations for importation at the time
> as a number of them were sold here. Then again I doubt it would have been
> Ford Small block powered. And what would have been the Chrysler 273/318 at
> the time is a rather wide small block engine. Mike Taylor's "The Making OF
> A Sports Car" states that the Humber Super Snipe had?? number of
> prototype's built with the Chrysler V8. Hence my curiosity regarding the
> possibility of a later Alpine with a Chrysler V8.
>
> ?? In a sense we probably need to be grateful that we got three full years
> of Tigers. If I recall correctly the imports were given a 2 year delay in
> meeting standards that I believe were mandated for '65 or '66 for USA cars.
> On 3/8/2020 1:39 PM, Ken via Tigers wrote:
>
> Thank you Buck for settling this matter. Wish that I could spend time
> going through the archives!
>
> Ken Tisdale
> On 3/8/2020 12:30 PM, Buck Trippel via Tigers wrote:
>
> The best and most authoritative answers to the why the Tiger was
> discontinued that I???ve found are in the collection of Papworth papers
> housed in the Culture Coventry Archive at the Herbert Museum in Coventry.
>
> ??
>
> Mr Papworth was a very high level ???planner??? for Rootes. He reported to
> a very select group, comprised mainly of family members who were the heart
> of the Rootes board. After his retirement he donated thousands(?) of pages
> of notes and memos. I???ve spent several days reading them and want to go
> back.
>
> ??
>
> Mr. Papworth lays out a very comprehensive Tiger story. The Tiger
> represented only 2% of Rootes??? sales and was consequentially just a blip
> on management???s attention. Tigers were barely mentioned in board meetings
> as the high production Imps and Hillmans dominated the discussions. The
> Mk1s & 1As sold well. The Mk2 that was built was not the Mk2 that the
> engineers had designed and tested (with upgraded 5-bolt 14??? wheels to fit
> 4-wheel discs, the same 3-puck calipers used on Aston Martins and street
> Cobras) and the resulting lack of initial sales seemed to be the straw that
> broke the camel???s back. But Papworth also outlines other contributing
> issues.
>
> ??
>
> Rootes engineers determined that Chrysler V8s would not fit in a Tiger.
> They explored alternatives including one that would have been built a new
> ???Tiger??? with fiberglass body in the USA. Obviously none of those
> alternatives worked out.
>
> ??
>
> After Lord Rootes passed away his brother, Reggie, assumed control. Reggie
> wanted to replace the Alpine/Tiger with a smaller sportscar that was
> similar to a Spitfire. That car, ???Apex???, had been designed and was very
> close to production when a sub-contractor tripled the initial cost estimate
> for its fiberglass body. That ended Rootes??? attempt at a replacement
> sportscar.
>
> ??
>
> The US government had long imposed standards for the cars it purchased for
> government use ??? the GSA standards. These existing GSA standards were
> eventually adopted for all cars sold in the US. The Alpine/Tiger platform
> would have needed upgrades to comply. Tooling for these would have been
> costly on a per unit basis due to low production volume.
>
> ??
>
> The space used at Pressed Steel to build the Alpines and Tigers was needed
> by another Rootes vehicle which was high production and therefore a higher
> priority. Assuming Rootes would accept the cost of upgrades to comply with
> GSA standards, where could the Alpine/Tiger be built? Rootes looked at
> alternatives including moving the entire Alpine/Tiger production from
> Pressed Steel to Jensen. At one point Rootes even offered to purchase
> Jensen. Jensen refused. The move never happened. Rootes never found an
> alternate contractor to build the cars.
>
> ??
>
> Papworth cites all of these factors in the decision to end Tiger
> production.
>
> ??
>
> Buck Trippel
>
> ??
>
> *From:* Tigers <tigers-bounces at autox.team.net>
> <tigers-bounces at autox.team.net> *On Behalf Of *Ross Hulse via Tigers
> *Sent:* Sunday, March 8, 2020 1:57 AM
> *To:* Curt Bowland <cbowland at msn.com> <cbowland at msn.com>
> *Cc:* tigers <tigers at autox.team.net> <tigers at autox.team.net>
> *Subject:* Re: [Tigers] Urban legend
>
> ??
>
> The demise of the Sunbeam Tiger was that they did not sell very well.??
> The USA import regs for cars would require expensive modifications to the
> car.?? So in February 1967 the decision was made to finish the cars that
> were in the line and send them to Canada.?? Everything about not fitting a
> Chrysler engine is just a??rumor.??
>
> ??
>
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>  --
> Ken Tisdale
> 303-807-5488
>
>
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