Birth of a Tiger Project Mar 13, 2004
While on a recent business trip up to Speed Channel in Charlotte, North Carolina, we found a 1965 Tiger in a barn with a straight, rust-free body and a blown motor.
It was last driven in 1974 and has 41,000 miles on it. It also came with an early Alpine parts car and a 289 engine (not installed). We signed a bill of sale and left a deposit, assuming the guy doesn’t flake (which is unlikely), we are pleased to announce that a Tiger project car is imminent.
Here are some pictures of the car before we purchased it.
Work Begins on Our Tiger Oct 20, 2005
Work has begun in earnest on our Tiger. Normally we like to try and drive a project car before commencing restoration. As purchased, our early (#746) Tiger was whole except the engine had been removed. We easily found an original engine for the princely sum of $400. While we could have easily installed the engine and tried out the Tiger, we decided against this move. The reason, is that the Tiger had had a shunt at the left front corner and we didn't want to drive the car until it was fixed properly.
So, after thoroughly photographing the car, disassembly has commenced. There is a right way and a wrong way to disassemble a car. The right way is to turn up the XM radio, kick back and relax and slowly work from top down, studying, photographing, taking notes and bagging and tagging everything.
Our initial impressions: first the last guy that worked on this thing was a butcher. The car had a rather unsympathetic refurbishment in the early seventies (the last time the car was touched). Fastener choices included metric bolts, carriage bolts, wing nuts and what ever else was lying around. Fortunately, because the car has been off the road and stored inside since 1975, the mileage is low (41,000) and the chrome is all pretty much perfect. The rubber seals are absolutely shot though, and will need to be replaced.
Stripping the Tiger Nov 23, 2005
Our Tiger is mostly disassembled. We left it as a roller, as it is much easier to move around as we work on other projects like our Group 44 Triumph GT6 and our nearly finished 1963 Ford Ranchero shop truck.
We have good news to report! The car came apart with relative ease and we found no rust (except the little bit we originally saw in the quarter panels). Most of the chrome is in good shape, as this car has only 41,000 miles and has been stored inside for a long time. The rubber was horrible though. Interesting how the British seemed to be better at chroming than they were at building rubber parts.
Our fears turned to joy when we pulled up the original carpeting and found beautiful painted floors with only a touch of surface rust.
Our next step is to strip the Tiger to bare metal and fix the aforementioned shunt to the left front. We are debating whether we will dip, media blast or just sand down the body.
Catch a Tiger by its Tail Dec 29, 2005
We’ve stripped our Sunbeam Tiger down to it’s bare unibody shell. It was then mounted to a rotisserie that will allow us to restore the undercarriage without trouble. It’s much easier to clean a car, fix damage and repaint the underside when it’s mounted on a rotisserie. Our first step is to degrease the gook and grime off the chassis.
Tiger Restoration: Full Speed Ahead Jan 3, 2006
Our Tiger project is now blasting (a bit of a pun intended) along at full speed. Over the Christmas holidays the front and rear suspension along with the last few bits were removed and with the use of our Rotary lift, the whole body was hoisted up so that it could be attached to a rotisserie we borrowed from a coworker.
What a great tool. This sure made sanding, blasting and inspecting much easier than crawling around underneath the car. We looked into chemical stripping, but didn't like the price, the fear that paint wouldn't adhere properly and most importantly the six month wait time we were quoted. With the help of Casey, a local body work student off for the holidays and looking for some extra Christmas jingle, we got the whole Tiger sanded and stripped down. Outer panels were sanded with 40 to 80 grit dry paper. Tough crevices were sand blasted with a spot sand blaster. You need to be real careful on flat external panels, as sand blasting can quickly ruin your classic. We then primed the entire car with PPG DP40 primer which fights off rust.
Speaking of rust, we were pleased, or perhaps even ecstatic, to find virtually no rust anywhere on our Tiger. Between the rust free body and the escalating Tiger prices, the $8000 we paid for the car two years ago seemed like a lot of money, now seems like the deal of the decade.
Look for articles to start shortly on this car.
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