Going to the Sun Shakedown

Sep 14, 2010 update to the Sunbeam Tiger project car

We finished the Tiger just as the Reliable Transport truck arrived to take the car to Bozeman Montana for the Going To The Sun Rally. While we had no problem trusting the car to a reputable transport company, we were still plagued by pre-event worries: Would the car be right? Would it run at high altitude? Would it survive the week?

Although we had a minor misstart upon arriving in Montana—a distributor gear pin sheared for some strange reason—the car ran pretty much flawlessly on the wide-open roads of the great Northwest. The Tiger could run with any car there, and some beautiful Ferraris, Porsches and Shelbys were present.

The Tiger kept us comfortable, handled very well, and had plenty of motor for the high-speed runs. Our choice of a 3.07:1 final drive seemed perfect and we are very, very pleased with this final shakedown of the project.

We can now finish this project series with confidence knowing that the car is sorted, reliable and perhaps the best car we have ever driven. And to answer the question for the umpteenth time, no, we have no plans of selling this car—ever!

Comments

Sep 24, 2010 11:10 a.m.
GilBates:
I am glad that I have found this site as I am an original owner of a 1965 Sunbeam Tiger that is Wedgewood Blue, color is rare for the USA. It has been fully restored and was completed in 1998, no modifications from stock, only the engine was balanced during the rebuild. When I took it to a Tigers East/Alpine meet in Maryland, the Tiger people in the know, couldn't believe that paint code #53 was correct since they had never seen one this color. They checked their book and confirmed that it is correct. I found it also interesting that in your article 'Bluegrass 1000' that you were on a track with a Ford GT, yellow with black stripe. I also have a 2006 Ford GT, Mark 4 Red without the top stripes. I will post pictures after I learn how. Nice articles! Gil Bates
Nov 4, 2010 7:01 p.m.
Tim Suddard:
Thanks, glad you like what we are doing.
Nov 7, 2010 12:08 a.m.
palmjeld:
Great articles on the Tiger! Thanks! I just got my 1966 MK1A back on the road after more than 20 years in storage with several different owners. It had not been driven since 1987. I bought it as a rolling chassis with many boxes of parts. I recently completed a 600 plus mile shake down cruise to Minneapolis and back. The car ran great and garnered a lot of smiles and attention from other drivers. I'll post some photos soon. From sunny South Dakota, Paul A
Apr 30, 2011 1:07 a.m.
hallpearl:
what a very lovely ride for my wife!<a href=”http://www.racepages.com/”>..</a>
Apr 30, 2011 1:07 a.m.
hallpearl:
<a href=http://www.racepages.com/>..</a>
Apr 30, 2011 1:08 a.m.
hallpearl:
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Apr 30, 2011 1:08 a.m.
hallpearl:
<a href=”http://www.autopartswarehouse.com”>_</a>
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We can now finish this project series with confidence knowing that the car is sorted, reliable and perhaps the best car we have ever driven.