March 2001
"What to write about this month?" I asked myself as I do each month. The requirement to put out a new, fresh and hopefully interesting column every month for the past 26 months does tax one's creativity! The winter months are the slower times for the Club and it gives me less ammo to work with. So, I thought I would recount how I got into Tigers. See if it sounds familiar.I purchased my first Tiger in 1982. I was looking for an everyday driver that was fast, had a manual trans, was reasonably priced and reasonable to maintain…..and a little unique. I considered a Corvette (too common), a Jaguar XKE (too unreliable and too expensive to maintain), a Ferrari (just too expensive all around), a Lamborghini (ditto the Ferrari), the usual British sports cars (not fast enough) and on and on. I had a friend in college that had a Tiger and I always liked it. It was good looking in a timeless way, never seeming to look dated. It was definitely fast and had an American drive train…a big plus! So I started looking for a Tiger. I found three candidates. One was a right-hand drive model with 20% of the sheet metal rusted away. Dropped that one. One was an all-original solid car that the owner was asking $4500 for. I made him a number of offers up to $4400 and he said "No" to all. Out of principal, I walked away from that one. The final one was early in the stages of being restored but had been sitting for a few years in that stage. It was a newly painted shell with a rebuilt 289 in it.
Everything else was untouched and in boxes. None of the suspension was re-done yet. We cut a deal for $2500 and I towed it home, having to stop along the way to see what the smoke was that was coming off of the rear wheel (brake shoes adjusted too tight).
It had been sitting so long that the engine no longer ran so that was the first project. I was a fairly experienced home mechanic but knew nothing of Tigers. Imagine my surprise when I was rebuilding the brake booster to learn that it had a huge spring in it under lots of compression. Can you say, "Almost decapitated?" I spent every weekday evening and 10 hours a day on weekends for six months getting it all sorted out and put back together. Not finished, mind you, just mostly put back together.
During all this, I learned that it really would not make a practical daily driver. I was in Florida and it was too hot without air conditioning. It leaked like a sieve and it rained every day in the summer. So my original plan never came to be but I did end up with a neat car. I joined TE/AE in 1983 and have enjoyed my association with Sunbeams and Sunbeamers immensely ever since. I sold that car in 1993 to a gent from the UK who shipped it back to its "homeland". Fond memories.
Hey, a new event is in the planning for Sept 14-16, 2001! It is a Virginia Regional Event being billed as "Return to Your Rootes in Luray Virginia." There will be a concours on the lawn of Luray Caverns including a tour of the Caverns and of the Transportation Museum. Sunday morning will be a tour of White Post Restorations along with a bunch of Hot Rodders. Mark your calendars!
This month's update on the 347-stroker motor and 5-speed project is that there is, once again, no progress. As I mentioned last month, I have a new BMW K1200RS sport/touring motorcycle to add to my Harley Sportster 1200. A buddy and I are touring from Boston to Key West in May. That trip has all my attention.
The ice is off of the roads here and the TE/AE Sunbeam events are just around the corner. See you there!
Jim Morrison