Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/08/29/this-1964-sunbeam-tiger-gt-is.html
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I’ve seen a similar car here locally. I concur with your assessment.
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There was also a version with the excellent Ford 289, the same engine that was in the Mustang. This was a fast little car.
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My grandfather was a European trained mechanic who’s shade tree operation was specialized on performance cars and quirky British and French cars. His driveway was perpetually packed with MGs, Triumphs, Sunbeams and old Jaguars.
He still complains about never having owned a Sunbeam.
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I love its shape; it has the understated elegance and lines of an Alfa Romeo Giulietta Spider.
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That’s about three times as much motor as your average British sports car has.
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LOL!
Maybe it has to do with cutesy UK country lane driving versus US monster freeway driving. Or perhaps… driver size?
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I used to ride to work in a Sunbeam. I was 17, working in a carpentery shop the summer after I graduated high school. the owner was 30, my buddy at work, Mick. it wasn’t a Tiger, maybe it was called Alpine? I can’t remember, but it was a convertible in BRG, and it was seriously cool.
being as we were woodworkers, Mick had salvaged a beautiful solid piece of burled wood – not veneer, solid wood – and fit it into the dashboard. Good times.
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I was going to say this. My own Spider (from the 80s) is far less attractive.
I was at an Italian car show in England in the late 90s where many classic Giuliettas were on display. One especially perfect one, property of a museum that was closing, was being sold, at a price not far above by range. It even had the steering wheel on the correct (left) side. I was sorely tempted. Unfortunately, with the extra expense and worry of finding a way to ship it across two oceans without damage I had to give it a pass. One of the great regrets of my life.
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More of a shift in what’s meant by sports car. The classic European sports car was a small, usually open topped and 2 seat car with a small engine. They were still zippy, cause they weighed just about nothing, but the defining thing was more about handling, and styling.
The closest thing still left is probably the Miata, although the Subaru BRZ is in the same vein.
Big engined performance sedans and race cars were different categories of car. And over time they kinda got smooooshed together conceptually particularly with German and Italian performance cars, which moved towards a small and light but crazy fast race car inspired model. And in the US where big ass sedans with big ass engines gave way to muscle and pony cars and a drag racing influence. By the end of the 70’s sports car wasn’t as clean of a concept.
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The second coolest car in student parking when I was at university was a Sunbeam Tiger, BRG, with a rollbar and aftermarket wheels. Only second coolest? There was a guy who had a Ferrari Daytona, with a freakin’ telephone in it! ( this was late 1970s ) I knew the Ferrari guy well enough to get to walk beside him chatting while he idled through the parking lot. To be fair, his passenger seat was usually occupied by his bodyguard 
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I dispute your ranking of cars.
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ya, maybe they were equal…but the Daytona has got to be one of the best street Ferrari’s. A lot of competition where I grew up, though…every day on my way to high-school I would walk by a TVR Griffith with a 289 Ford V-8, and a guy at university had an MG Magnette fro the '30s
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And I almost forgot, this was the car Maxwell Smart drove in the first two seasons of Get Smart
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This is a cool car.
This is a “cool” car.
This is coolest car.
And a Karmman Ghia in season 3 and 4, but only in the credits sadly.
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Along those lines, I thoroughly blunt my own regrets by going through my old Vintage Motorsports; Excellence; and Prancing Horse magazines. The very, very expensive “buyers’ regret” ‘for sale’ notices therein do the trick.
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My uncle had a DS, the later one with swiveling driving lights and gigantic headlight covers. Very memorable experience riding in that car . Used to see a Citroen SM regularly in Vancouver in the 1970s
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Nice catch.
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Awesome. There’s a few running around here but you don’t often see them driven. Its a vintage car heavy spot cause there’s money. But its very much rub it with a diaper territory. My Uncle has a prize winning, numbers matching 60’s Corvette. And I have never even seen it, because he does not trust other people to look upon it without effecting the value.
Its a massive waste.
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The depreciation hits on ultra-luxury cars can be insane. Example: Autotrader - page unavailable
It’s hard to imagine a Bentley going for about the price of an off-lease Civic. Worse, it would be hellishly expensive to actually drive it, particularly when it needed service.
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