When BF reader Thomas G. sent us a link to a Venezia, we had no idea he was a Tiger hunter! In fact, he has excavated several Sunbeam Tigers around Europe and could very well be a modern day Antoine Raffaëlli. He has been kind enough to email us a few photos and share a few of his adventures with us. This first Tiger was found in a barn near Muenster, Germany. The owner had passed away so his widow sold it to Thomas. It is now awaiting restoration in Wales.
This light green MK1 was found on a farm near Paris, France. The body was rotted and the engine was missing, but Thomas pulled it home to Germany and it is now undergoing a full restoration in South France. It is rough, but we have no doubt they will be able to bring it back from the dead.
Finally, we have this dark green Tiger that was once owned by a 91 year old Dutch man. He had the car since new, but decided to sell it to his neighbor’s son. The son was 59 at the time and had always wanted a Tiger since he was a teenager. The restoration proved to be too much to him though so Tom found a new owner for it in Luxembourg.
Finding one of these V8 powered roadsters would be the highlight of any car guy’s life, but Thomas has had the good fortune to stumble across quite a few already in his lifetime. He seems to have a sixth sense for Sunbeams though. Turns out that there is a another Venezia in that barn in Switzerland. Guess that makes number 28?
~ treasure trove!
Now the challenge is; Which one of these awesome pictures makes the best Barn FInds 2013 Calendar cover? I’m going with photo #1.
All right folks first contest of the day , top picture car to the left of the Tiger looks like a Carmen Ghia?? & the car to the right is??
Ironically people on our facebook page seem more interested in the Karmann Ghia than the Tiger….
Well, it is a convertible…
Oh yes Jesse (Karmann)
Tigers have really gotten hot in the past few years, and the best ones are now selling for ~$70K according to an article in the current issue of Sports Car Market (August, p. 42-43). The days of the under-$10K decent driver are pretty much over, I guess.
As for Thomas G, he seems to have a 6th sense for Sunbeams. Or, maybe he just spends a lot of time & effort finding old cars, some of which turn out to be Sunbeams. I wonder what else he has turned up. I’ll take the dark green one above with the hard top.
That dark green Tiger is a gem in the rough! Very worth restoring!! Wow…
Looks like the real deal… Not a cement warehouse in Portugal!
The ones on the left belonged to Maxwell Smart. He owned a Ghia and a Tiger
great story. i too would go for the LHD dark green one. and it is always about what else is in the the barn or the seller has hidden some where else.