Sunbeam Tiger: Like a bargain Shelby Cobra?

https://www.youtube.com/embed/SehCRErlHdg

What happens when a famous Texan mates a Ford V8 with a British roadster chassis? That’s right, the Sunbeam Tiger.

Here are 5 reasons why you should buy a Sunbeam Tiger–all in less than 5 minutes.

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We have a fairly large bunch of Tigers where I live and not a single one of them still has the original engine in it - everyone stocks in a later V8 with more power.

The weak point is brakes.  For street, not a huge problem on the street unless you like driving down mountains, but for the track, the job of trying to fit large enough calipers and discs into 13" wheel and/or trying to cool what was in there to start with defeated the factory and the best solution seems to be fitting larger diameter wheels and a new brake set up.

It seems odd that the early post war cars came with huge wheels (MGTC = 19", then a whole generation of sports cars with 15") and then they suddenly switched to dinky wheels for style. Example - TR6 = 15"  TR7 = 13".  When they started building the TR8s and racing them, they would cook a set of pads per race ad calipers lasted maybe twice that long.  They ended up using ventilated drilled discs and alloy bodied four (or even 6) piston calipers in order to get decent braking.

Then we hit this century and they started growing again - my Solstice and BMW have 18" and the next gen cars use mostly 19" - all this when increased wheel diameter also increases unsprung weight (rubber weighs less than metal) and is  detrimental to handling.  The happy medium might be 15-16" but no one seems to be shooting for the best size, they are going for the size that most impresses potential buyers.

Nice cars. But for the $$$, and if daily driving were part of the equation, I would find an MGB GT V8 or a TR7 V8. 

Pete

Having restored a genuine Cobra and worked on a Tiger.

It's comparing apples to oranges. 

They're both fine, sporty cars but they're completely different other than the fact that they're English cars with American Ford engines.

In reply to NOHOME :

After buying a decent driver-quality TR8, those are absolutely underrated cars.  And production was less than half the total number of Tigers built, so even more rare. 

In reply to Ian F (Forum Supporter) :

All these years later, I'm still surprised that TR8 prices are what they are.

Brings back memories...this is at SAAC-5 in Dearborn.  Heavily modded 65 Tiger that my wife daily drove and I autocrossed.  I paid $2k for it back in the day.

Tigers have always been one of those cars priced out of reach for me. It may as well be a genuine Cobra for what they bring.

In reply to NOHOME :

The other alternative along a similar vein is the Chevy Monza.  It's basically a V8  Vega with a tarted up body but the same 13 inch wheels and brakes that fade.   The original optional V8 was the 262 the smallest V8 Chevy ever made. But the 350 slides right in. The body is light and still stiff. The suspension works surprisingly well. Yes,  you can fit  bigger spindles  with vented brakes  15" inch rims and 20 aspect tires.    
      With aluminum heads, intake, and the short Corvette aluminum water pump. There  can be some serious power and a nicely balanced.  

In reply to frenchyd :

Friend had a Monza and other than GMs predilection for not factoring human body shape into the passenger cabin design, it was a neat little car.

Any reason you would not just go straight to the LS engine if doing a swap?

The problem with that comparison is that, while the Monza is probably technical the better car, and I have no doubt easier to live with on a daily basis , one of the cars mentioned is a very pretty convertible with an interesting history and the other is a Chevy Monza.  From one of the darkest era's of GM N. America (this dark period would last decades, of course).

IIRC the Monza was the one that had no access to one of the rear spark plugs unless you unbolted a motor mount nd raised the engine.  

In reply to NOHOME :

Gee I felt like it was design for me.   I'd cruise from San Diego to Balsam lake Wisconsin and back again.  
    I had both a Vega GT and a Monza V8  loved them both  

  I also own a series  1 Sunbeam   I was going to put a 289 in it  but joined the Navy instead.   Jim got it and the Ford never happened either.  He had it in and out several times but never finished it.  

frenchyd said:

In reply to NOHOME :

The other alternative along a similar vein is the Chevy Monza.  It's basically a V8  Vega with a tarted up body but the same 13 inch wheels and brakes that fade.   The original optional V8 was the 262 the smallest V8 Chevy ever made. But the 350 slides right in. The body is light and still stiff. The suspension works surprisingly well. Yes,  you can fit  bigger spindles  with vented brakes  15" inch rims and 20 aspect tires.    
      With aluminum heads, intake, and the short Corvette aluminum water pump. There  can be some serious power and a nicely balanced.  

They only made the 262 for maybe a year or 2. Then they 305 came in which is obviously a better motor. If u find a stock v8 monza it will most likely be the 305.

one thing that won't fit in a tiger is a small block Chrysler as when Chrysler bought rootes group they couldn't get their small v8 to fit in it hence the end of tiger production.

In reply to MotorsportsGordon :

The 262 /305/350  are all the same engine   Pick whatever you want. Heck you want you can go to 400 and that will go out to 430.  As far as Chrysler and the  Sunbeam tiger?  The car had limits and wasn't go to go further than it did.   

  It was a good car, kinda a muscle bound sports car that was OK  as long as it wasn't really pushed hard.   Shelby  simply had a better chassis to work with with the AC. 
 The Sunbeam was never going to be better. 

      

The V6, manual transmission version of the Monza was plenty quick in it's day. One of my school pals bought a Monza Spyder brand new.