Having been kept by the same owner for the past 11 years, this 1965 Sunbeam Tiger has undergone extensive refurbishing and emerged with a TAC Certificate, or Tiger Authentication Committee Certificate. The Sunbeam boasts an original, matching-numbers 260 CI V-8 engine with the original brackets and air cleaner, and the carburetor has recently been rebuilt and new plugs have been installed. That engine is paired with a 4-speed manual transmission, and the brake booster, master brake cylinder, wheel cylinders and master and slave cylinders have all been rebuilt. The body was recently refinished in the correct Code 92 White paint, while new weather stripping and seals were installed, including the firewall grommets, headlight gaskets, turn signal gaskets, light foam seals, door handle gaskets, wiper bezels and a new grommet for the screen washer. The shift boot and trunk Dzus fasteners were updated, and, where applicable, NOS red cloth Furflex woven weather stripping from Australia was used. A new windshield was installed, and new soft top straps and hardware were installed for the black soft top. The sale will also include an unrestored factory black hardtop. The original lights and switches were cleaned and serviced, and the car received new chrome and period-correct Cosmic wheels. The Tiger features a red, upgraded GT interior with a refinished walnut dashboard and wood steering wheel, new sun visors and new dashboard padding, and new seat diaphragms were installed under the original interior seat covering. The tale behind the development of the Sunbeam Tiger is a familiar one in many regards, but it’s most often compared to the story of the Shelby Cobra that Carroll Shelby created out of the AC Ace. The Rootes Group, which owned Sunbeam at the time, approached Shelby with Jack Brabham’s idea of modifying the Sunbeam Alpines with V-8 engines to create the Tiger. Shelby was interested and eager to help, but ultimately Jensen was contracted for the work with Shelby receiving a royalty for each car produced. The first ones became available in 1964 and were known as Mark I and Mark I A, featuring 260 CI Ford V-8 engines, and Mark II, featuring the larger 289 CI Ford V-8 engines. The Mark I A came to be as the Alpine Mark IV evolved into the Mark V, thus incurring various body panel changes. As the Mark I A is basically still a Mark I, it has unique panels seen on the Alpine Mark V and is known by enthusiasts as the Mark I A, even though Rootes and Sunbeam never officially acknowledged a Mark I A, only the Mark I and Mark II.
