Sunbeam Tiger Mk II

Sunbeam Tiger Mk II

The Sunbeam Tiger Mk II, produced only in 1967, represents the rarest and most developed version of one of the 1960s' most exciting Anglo-American sports car hybrids. Born from the same 'stuff a big American V8 into a small British sports car' philosophy that created the AC Cobra, the Tiger was the brainchild of the Rootes Group's American competition manager Ian Garrad, who commissioned Carroll Shelby to develop a V8-powered version of the Sunbeam Alpine.

The Tiger concept was elegantly simple. The Sunbeam Alpine was an attractive, well-mannered sports car that suffered from one significant weakness: its four-cylinder engine was simply too small to compete with the increasingly powerful American sports cars of the early 1960s. The solution was to replace the Alpine's 1.6-litre four with Ford's compact 260 cubic inch (4.3-litre) V8, later upgraded to the 289 (4.7-litre) in the Mk IA. For the Mk II, the 289 was retained but with a revised intake manifold and detail improvements that maintained the engine's 200 bhp output while improving driveability.

The Mk II was visually distinguished from the earlier Tiger by several features. New aluminium-centre rostyle wheels replaced the original wire wheels as standard, a chrome strip ran along the bodyside, and the egg-crate grille insert was replaced with a horizontal-bar design. The Mk II also received an alternator in place of the earlier dynamo, and various detail improvements to the cooling system and exhaust.

The driving experience was pure muscle car in a sports car wrapper. The 289 V8 delivered its 200 bhp and 280 lb-ft of torque through a Ford T-10 Toploader four-speed manual gearbox and a Salisbury rear axle. Performance was strong: 0-60 mph in approximately 8.6 seconds and a top speed of around 121 mph. The engine's enormous torque reserve meant the Tiger could be driven lazily in top gear or wound up for more spirited motoring — either approach was accompanied by a wonderful V8 rumble from the exhaust.

However, the Tiger was not without its compromises. Shoehorning a V8 into the Alpine's engine bay was a tight fit, making routine maintenance challenging. The rack-and-pinion steering, which had to be modified to clear the exhaust headers, could transmit unwanted feedback. The brakes — front discs and rear drums — were adequate but not generous for a car of this weight and performance. And the live rear axle, while robust, could become lively on bumpy surfaces.

The Mk II's production was tragically brief. Chrysler's acquisition of the Rootes Group in 1967 made the Ford-engined Tiger politically untenable — Chrysler was hardly going to continue producing a car powered by its arch-rival's engine. Plans to install a Chrysler V8 proved impractical due to the engine bay's tight dimensions, and the Tiger programme was terminated after just 633 Mk II units had been built.

This tiny production number makes the Mk II Tiger one of the rarest and most collectible British sports cars of the 1960s. While the earlier Mk I and Mk IA models were produced in greater numbers (approximately 6,495 combined), the Mk II's scarcity, its status as the final development of the concept, and the cachet of its Shelby/Rootes heritage have made it highly sought after by collectors.

Today, the Sunbeam Tiger occupies a fascinating niche in the classic car world. It shares its DNA with the far more famous AC Cobra — both were Carroll Shelby's concepts, both married Ford V8 power with British chassis engineering — yet the Tiger is more accessible, more practical, and in many ways more usable as a road car. The Mk II, with its extreme rarity and fully developed specification, represents the pinnacle of the breed.