Work Begins on Our Tiger 1965 Sunbeam 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.
«
»
View all updates
Main 1965 Sunbeam Tiger page
No one has posted any comments yet. Perhaps you'd like to be the first?
You'll need to log in or register to comment.
