If Memoirs of a Tiger Hunter wasn’t enough for you, here is a 1965 Sunbeam Tiger that you can make your own. This is the real deal, but a previous owner thought it needed a refreshing so they took it apart and never got it back together because of health problems. The current owner hasn’t been able to finish the job either so now it is up to you. They claim it should be an easy job, but we have our doubts. Find it here on eBay in Reading, Pennsylvania with a starting bid of $12,500. Thanks goes to Jim S. for the submission.
I guess it depends on your definition of “Easy.”
It’s hard to tell what went on with this car. I have a hard time believing the 2-owner backstory because the car is in such tough condition, but that doesn’t matter because you are buying only what you see. What I see is a big, difficult jigsaw puzzle that might or might not be complete, but has some rust for sure. One of the most difficult and frustrating thing a car guy can do is take on a jigsaw puzzle project like this when they don’t know the car intimately, so they must spend lots of time and effort trying to figure out how to put it back together correctly.
It’s fair enough if someone took it apart and then could not finish the job, but a big red flag is the state of the tags—two partly damaged and another one damaged and detached from the car. There are a lot of Algers out there, so a buyer will want to be certain that this is actually a Tiger chassis and not an Alpine that’s been converted, since the value is far less if it’s Alpine and not real Tiger.
If I were in the market, I would pass on this and save a bit longer so I could buy the best genuine intact Tiger driver I could afford.
Crack pot price for this car. Even fully restored not worth more then asking price. Like Dolphin I find it hard to believe this car is only two owner with all the rust. The extra electrical parts tell a story as well as extra steering wheels. The floor pans are rusted as well as the inside rockers. Having owned and restored three MG Midgets, this body and rust look just like them.
~ stalled projects are the worst or the best kind of ‘roll-the-dice’. CYA, i say.
@ Dolphin +1. everything is relative. cash-on-hand, mechanical ability, familiarity with the cars. as someone recently said on a companion thread, ‘It’s probably useful to keep in mind that there’s a big difference between a cheap project car and a cheap project.’ (Ed.L)
. never budget more than you can afford to lose. always buy the best you can afford, ~sc
Did Mr. Sunbeam die or why are we having all these Tiger fire sales ?
I would be interested to hear the story from owner #1, how many colors can you count on the unibody? No pics of the frame or under side. Be afraid,be very afraid. also color code 53 is wedgewood blue, I don’t see any sign of that anywhere, I think I’m all set with this one.
Some may not be aware, but, the Alpine body is chock full of compound curves and is welded to the X frame. These are very sturdy cars. Now comes the not so fun part, taking body sections off and replacing them correctly. Here in the states there a couple of great parts suppliers and for a real treat, there is a fellow in San Diego that well may have the largest supply of Alpine stuff in the U.S, “Smittys”. I prefer an Alpine with the four and an overdrive…….a dandy little car
As for this car……….walk away unless you know your stuff.
~ boy howdy! amen.
This car brings up the need to be able to tell a real Tiger from an Alger made from an Alpine. As nice as Alpines are as affordable sportscars, there’s a big difference between the values Alpines and Tigers.
I mentioned the recent SCM article on Tigers the other day. The article (“Checking a Tiger’s Stripes”) talks about the Tiger Authentication Committee, which is part of the Sunbeam Tiger Owners Association. The guys on the Committee are very dedicated and can be indispensible for verifying a real Tiger. They will even issue a CoA and record the car’s VIN in their records, so selling the car on when the time comes is easy. The article is well worth a look if you are in the market for a real Tiger: SCM, August, pages 42-43.
Looks like it ran 5 days (of a 7day listing maybe, 7/11 to 7/16), no bids @ $12,500 minimum bid.
“This listing was ended by the seller because the item is no longer available.”
Who knows what really happened on this thing……
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