From The Classifieds: 1967 Sunbeam Tiger

Successful marriages between American V8s and British sports cars were not uncommon in the 1960s -- and the Rootes Group’s Ford-powered Sunbeam Tiger was a match made in heaven

The AC Cobra was not the only British sports car to benefit from the magic wand of the larger-than-life American performance car icon Carroll Shelby.

Another was the nifty Sunbeam Tiger two-seat sportster that was produced by the Rootes Group in the UK from 1964 to 1967. Nifty, because the car, based on the Sunbeam Alpine, ditched the regular 1.6-litre four-cylinder engine and, with Shelby’s help, replaced it with a 260 cubic inch (4.3-litre) Ford Windsor V8.

With 164bhp (122kW) at its disposal, the Tiger had more than twice the power of the then series IV Sunbeam Alpine’s 80bhp, but although it was a popular choice for track work, racing versions were never as rapid as the punchier Shelby Cobras which, although they started with essentially the same 4.3-litre engine, eventually ended up sporting as much as 7.0 litres of Ford V8. The final Mark II Sunbeam Tigers used Ford’s 289 (4.7-litre) V8 that lifted power to 200bhp.

Maybe something of a surprise is that the Sunbeam Tiger was more commercially successful than the AC Cobra and more than 7000 were built before the car was discontinued as a result of the Rootes Group being taken over by Chrysler in 1967. Apparently no Chrysler V8 (continued use of the Ford engine was not appropriate) could be found to fit the Tiger’s engine bay.

The Sunbeam Alpine was sold in Australia, from 1960 to 1965 as a competitor for the likes of MG and Triumph, but the Tiger wasn’t -- although a few did find their way out here as private imports, often for use on the racetrack.

And the car did have some degree of familiarity among fans of the TV series Get Smart, where it was secret agent Maxwell Smart’s car of choice for two seasons. A Sunbeam Tiger also starred in the 1962 James Bond film Dr No.

With the then US-inspired looks carried over from the Alpine version, and a tonne of grunt from its Ford V8, the Sunbeam Tiger had a lot of appeal in the USA, its prime intended market. This was despite the fact that it was only available with a four-speed manual transmission (the Alpine was available with an auto transmission during its life, alongside a manual gearbox incorporating electric overdrive).

An interesting fact is that Sunbeam Tigers were not actually built at Rootes Group facilities, but by British specialist sports car maker Jensen at its factory in Bromwich.

Today, if you were looking for a Sunbeam Tiger in a condition replicating the cars of the 1960s, there is very little chance you would do better than this dark green example that lives in the Melbourne bayside suburb of Moorabbin as part of a classic car collection.

As indicated by the lofty price of $98,500, the 1967 Mark II Tiger is a fully restored and pristine national concourse winner that features the larger 289 V8 and appears faithful to the original, even down to the steel wheels and optional racing stripes on the lower side body panels.

As you would expect for the money, the car’s owner is offering it with a full roadworthy certificate. Go, Tiger.