Update 5/4/20 – This Tiger has been relisted as an auction here on eBay. Let’s just hope the reserve is lower than their previous asking price.
From 4/11/20 – This 1965 Sunbeam Tiger is a genuine Mark 1 car that was found sitting under a tarp for 15 years. Despite this, the car is not a total rust bucket, and the seller provides good detail on where the areas of concern are. Fortunately, they’re all easily repaired. The engine is not original, due to the matching 260 blowing up at some point, and a 302 has been swapped in. Fortunately, that engine is believed to have the original heads and distributor from the factory mill, so there’s a lot going in this Tiger’s favor despite the present condition. Find it here on eBay with a Buy-It-Now of $19,000 and located in Columbus, Ohio.
The seller notes the original colors as being red over black, and you can see the remnants of the factory paint. The original wheels are long gone, replaced with aftermarket pieces that will at least allow the Tiger to roll onto a trailer. The top is clearly in poor condition, but that’s hardly a surprise for a car that’s been stored under a tarp. The brightwork is missing from the right rear quarter panel, as seen here, but the seller notes the rest of the trim is still with the vehicle. I’m sure up close there’s cloudiness in the chrome bits, but at least that’s all restorable and the bumpers look reasonably straight.
The interior is better than expected, with seats that aren’t torn up and a complete dash / gauge cluster. The seller notes the wood trim is present but should be restored, but that’s a minor concern at this point. Door panels look good, too, and the seller notes that the passenger-side floor is in good shape – but curiously, does not specify the health of the driver’s side. Does that mean the floor under the driver’s feet is soft? Hard to tell from this picture. There’s a rust hole noted in the trunk floor, but no other major rust concerns are disclosed in the listing. If this Tiger is from Ohio originally, it’s shocking there’s not more rust to deal with.
The 302 is free and hooked up to the Tiger’s original four-speed manual transmission. The seller has not attempted to start it due to the gas tank needing to be cleaned out. It’s interesting; I’ve now had to have three gas tanks professionally cleaned and re-sealed, and given what a pain it is to drop the tank, ship it out, and then re-install it, I can’t say I’m surprised by the number of cars that are for sale and never started due to the tank being dirty. Regardless, the asking price seems fair for a genuine MK1 Tiger that isn’t rotten, and while the 302 is a bummer, at least some of the numbers-matching components are still with the car.
Pull the fuel line from carb, grab a few feet, hook to carb, and drop in a gas can….
Pulling a tank is usually pretty easy. Lot’s of people aren’t comfortable dealing with the old rotten gasoline. Not sure if $19K is a good price but it’s a good place to start. You could soon be practicing driving like Ken Miles for less than the price of a Cobra.
Tiger has two tanks and a balance system — not quite as easy as other cars.
Man, this would be a blast to drive. 302 4speed, Not a bad combo. Had a co worker back in the day that had one with a 289/4speed. That thing went everywhere but straight. Buy it and have fun.
Unsafe at any speed. Accelerate while changing lanes and watch the ass swing out.
Sorry to say no pics of the underbelly or rust. saw a complete rust bucket at Carlisle fords a few years ago nd they wanted 19 large for that. This one is amazingly complete, but you would need a good inspection to see if its for you. You also need to look at the control arms, as many of them fatigued from the added weight, not sure if anyone has come up with reinforced control arms. Good luck, not sure what a good driveable example is bringing these days, but i’m sure by the time you are done with this one it will be another 30 large, at least.
Good luck and wash your bloomin’ hands
Cheers
GPC
Had one for 30 years, driven, restored, sold well. Tigers have two tanks, one in each rear fender, interconnected by a big hose across the trunk above the bumper-so they’re pretty easy to remove, clean & replace. Other than that, this one will need a lot of work to restore it to even driver condition – but (at least until recently) the market has been well worth it.
Kenn and Richard like the British half of this car.
Didn’t Maxwell Smart drive one of these in the show intro?
No-an Alpine.
John…I’m pretty sure it was a Tiger
John…I’m pretty sure it was a Tiger
From Wikipepia
The 1965 Tiger Mark I gained some exposure on American television as the car of choice for Maxwell Smart in the spoof spy series Get Smart.[79] The Tiger was used for the first two seasons in the opening credits, in which Smart screeched to a halt outside his headquarters, and was used through the remainder of the series in several episodes.[80] Some of the scenes featured unusual modifications such as a retractable James Bond-style machine gun that could not have fitted under the Tiger’s bonnet, so rebadged Alpine models were used instead.
simca 1000 went dwn the staris (while ours went from the garage to school’n back same years: show ’65 -’70, car: ’61 – ’78). I hada crush on Barbara F (13 y/o – 17) the 1st coupla yrs.
8^0
The underside missing photos are so as not to scare people away. Those repairs are time consuming and fairly expensive if done by someone other than yourself. The seats are from a later car, not original to this vintage. Drivers floors are subject to rot from wet carpet caused by wet feet. $19k is a good price for a complete car that’s only missing a 260 and original air cleaner. If I was closer and didn’t already have 2 in the pipe I’d be all over this one.
Watch any old episode of get smart and you will see Don Adams aka Maxwell Smart pull up to headquarters in his red Sunbeam Tiger….Don was also an ex marine!
260’s and early 289 engines had only 5 bolts connecting the bellhousing to the block, You can get 302 cubes if you put a 302 crank into an early 289 block and still retain the original parts. To use a later engine you would have a problem utilizing the original clutch slave cylinder on the 6 bolt engine. Why would somebody put the original heads on to a 302? Maybe that raises the compression ratio.
I find it surprising to see a generator with a 302 motor. No wonder the car won’t run. I believe the timeframe for the introduction of the Ford 302 was 1968-69, long after factory generators went away like doe-doe birds. So was one retrofitted from the old 260 motor? Wonder if this 302 with generator ever ran reliably?
1967 you could get 302 or 289 260 heads for compression NOT!, you have to have an bell housing to make everything work 5 bolt original 6 bolt 289/302
1967 you could get both half way though the year
The CAR came with a generator…and yes it ran…
’64 last ford generater, ’68 1st yr 289 became a 302, so yeah 5 yrs is ‘long after’.
I drove one daily for a year. Without Posi-traction, it was Rubber Smoke City. Nose heavy, it was dangerous to drive fast. The close ratio trans was awful: 60 in 1st, 80 in 2nd 110 in 3rd and another gear to go, but by then, you were Out Of Control. The seats were hard and hurt yer butt. Next to my 356, this thing was torture. Then there are ugly rear fins.
In the late ’60’s, I owned a stock 260 Tiger, except for KONIs set on full soft. Virtually everything you said is 180 degrees wrong. They are not “front-heavy” (I see you have a gutless rear-engined 356). The car didn’t care about imperfect transmission ratios because it had the torque to pull at any RPM/gear or speed. It was definitely rock-solid at it’s highest speeds. I drove many middle-of-the-night return home trips from band gigs in lower Alabama & Mississippi at 120 and more. The car just settled in and rumbled on, rock solid. Cockpit heat would fry you on hot days and floorboards would fill with rain, but it was dead reliable. I miss it far more than the built Pantera I had for 24 yrs. PS: I have a built 4 carb. Corvair that will waste any stock late ’60’s Porsche. Straight line AND curves.
😃I HAVE A 👍 73 VW WNDO VAN WIT
A WARMED OVER 140 hp VAIR, CLOSE RATIO 1st 2nd & SHORT GEARS IN 3rd & 4th. CLOCKED BY HP AT OVER 100mph
I WAS STILL IN 3rd AT THE VERY END OFF IT THOUGH, THAT WAS 35yrs AGO. I HAD REBUILT THE ENGINE & IRS THE ENGINE COST ME ($800) 36yrs AGO
100,000 MI LATER ENGINE IS OUT 4 A COMPLETE OH, BUT JUST 2 GET THE HEAD’S DN THEY WANT $2,000, NEW GUIDES,SEATS, ANYBODY HAVE A SET THAT R GOOD ?😎
You are the Man , obviously. Thanks for letting us know. Rex Rice was right on.
In the show “Get Smart” the car was actually an Alpine that was made to look like a Tiger. They changed the badging, etc.
Not true. Only the machine gun car was an Alpine as they needed the room under the hood for the guns and the 4 cylinder engine provided that needed space for those retractable guns. Max’s Tiger was one of the first 50 or so built, you can tell this by its black dash. Also the first car used in that show (just for the pilot) was a Ferrari.
397 black dash tigers were built.
Cheese wiz David, where do you get these details?
Don also drove an Opel GT, I think a Fiat 124, and a Karmann Ghia.
This particular Tiger looks like there might be a lot of rust lurking underneath. Caveat emptor!
According Wikipedia, no Fiat 124, but a ’68 Ford Shelby Mustang was used in one episode. A yellow Citroen 2CV was in season 4, and the pilot episode used a Ferrari 250 GT.
Don actually had a Tiger that he bought from the studio, keeping and using it until he died and his son now has the car.
Yes. He started with a VW Karmann Ghi a then went to the Tiger.
That sold fast…..
They have it listed on their website for $16,000.
@Little_Cars
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what does a generator have to do with how a car runs ?????????
Fitting a generator on an engine that ran with an alternator was my point. Anytime I see something out of place in the engine bay and a owner stating the car “never ran right” or “hasn’t been run in years” or maybe “we haven’t tried to turn it over” I begin to wonder if a modification was done that finally put the car down until someone wiser comes along to sort it out. My 1965 MG (a positive-ground generator car) was modified with a later motor (a 1275 emissions motor which would have had an alternator in a negative-ground Midget). The seller I bought it from said it never ran right after that and I had to wonder if during the transplant anybody did their homework, or did they just give up? The car never ran after the new motor was installed and the car sat idle for 27 years.
Wow- a Sunbeam Tiger V8. That’s the only kind there ever was…
The original auction had pics of underside. That was most likely the reason it did not sell. Looked very bad to me.
o0OP, as I read on I see “124”. May B it wuz not the simca? We hada 124 in the garage during the show’s run as well. May B that wuz it? The simca is a french I-talian anyway (rip off). It wuz cool cuz – rear: gas tank, drive wheels, motor…
8^0
Simca 1000? I had one of those about 5 yrs. after selling my Tiger in ’69. Beige, perfect cond. and super seats – as most French cars. It only needed about 25 more HP to get to “adequate” power. Wish I had it and the Renault R-10 back. Great little cars.