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1966 Sunbeam Tiger Mk 1A

A V-8 powered British sports car designed by Carroll Shelby. "Cousin" to the famous original Shelby Cobra. I bought this car from an ad in the Toronto Star for $6000. I was totally oblivious to how badly rusted it was. Drove it for a year or so before the floors fell out of it. Completed my first ground-up restoration on a totally rotted out tub by swapping over the Tiger parts onto a Southern California donor car. Sheet metal work was done by fabricator Harry Woodford, who claimed he had worked on the Jensen assembly line originally (Jensen did the conversion of the 4 cylinder Alpine body for Sunbeam - the Alpine body being originally made for them by Pressed Steel Fisher). He made some upgrades on the underside that should have been done originally. Warren (Doctor) McComb did some of his best work ever on the paint job. I sold it at auction after the restoration was done, because I realized it would never be that good again. And, I couldn't take the other Tiger owners and their attitudes. Get over it guys, all Tigers started out life as Alpines. 

Carson helps wash the Tiger, circa 1983. He would later imitate daddy working and take a hammer to it. Note incorrectly placed badge by previous owner.  Pre-restoration. 

First post restoration outing  Kim and Bruce on parade lap at Shannonville vintage event circa 1988-89. 

Enjoying having being voted 3rd in peoples popular choice award.  Nice shorts there, big fella.

Parked side by side with Greg's TR8. I'm thinking Greg took the pic.

Little known fact: My Tiger actually "starred" in a video for a Molson Canadian commercial. It was a fun day, I was paid $250, and got a peak into the goings on of a real movie set, filmed in downtown Toronto. Too bad Molson never ran the campaign....​watch close - the Tiger only appears for about 5 seconds starting around the 12 second mark.

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