1964 Sunbeam Tiger - Works Team Car

Lot details
Registration No: ADU312B
Chassis No: B9470012
Mot Expiry: Sept 2003

On offer here today is one of the most desirable and successful of all the postwar British works rally cars, the ex-Peter Harper 1964 Sunbeam Tiger, in which the Rootes factory team driver finished fourth overall and first in class on the very snowy 1965 Monte, was first GT car home on the 1965 Alpine only to be disqualified through a minor technical infringement, but in finishing seventh overall did win the GT category on the Acropolis, which was reckoned to be the roughest car test on the international rally calendar.
The Sunbeam Tiger evolved from the Kenneth Howes styled starter Alpine model which was launched by the Rootes family in 1959. Of unitary construction and employing the Hillman Husky estate floor pan with cross-bracing and 1494cc Rapier engine and transmission, the original Alpine with its US-market rear fins was progressively uprated through five models, culminating in the 1725cc MkV of 1965-68, by when 58,091 had been made.
The underpowered Alpine trailed behind its competitors, however, and Rootes, lacking the resources of their own to develop a more suitable engine of their own, sourced a ready-to-transplant V8 from Detroit and came up with Project Thunderbolt, a Ford '260' powered Alpine with rack and pinion steering (as opposed to worm and peg), which they called Tiger after the celebrated Malcolm Campbell driven 4-litre V12 Sunbeam Tiger of 1925.
Between 1964 and 1967, a total of 6495 of the 4261cc 260 cu in MkI Tigers (0-60 mph 9.5 sec, 118 mph) and, from 1966, 571 of the even faster 4736cc 289 cu in MkII versions (0-60 mph 7.5 sec, 122 mph) were assembled, as all Tigers were apart from the factory Competition cars, at the Jensen factory in West Bromwich. Most Tigers headed Stateside and most survivors are still there.
The Chrysler Corporation, meanwhile, had acquired a large stake in the ailing Rootes Group and marketing a car with an engine supplied by one of their main competitors became a major embarrassment Stateside. As Chrysler did not make an engine of their own compact enough to squeeze into the Tiger engine bay, once paid-for stocks of Ford motors had been exhausted, the Tiger was axed from the catalogue.
The rarest of what has become a fairly rare breed were the very special Tigers which were handbuilt and prepared for racing and rallying by the Coventry-based Rootes Competition Department, ADU 312B being one of the latter works team rally cars. Their spec consisted of steel monocoque but lightweight panels, coil sprung wishbones at the front and leaf sprung beam axle at the back and telescopic dampers all round, rack and pinion steering, wet-sump Ford V8 of 4301cc supplied via a Holley C4AF carb by a 140 litres long-range fuel tank, four-speed Borg Warner T34 gearbox with choice of close ratios, Salisbury Limited Slip diff with 3.77:1 final drive, and Girling 250.2 mm front discs and two-pot calipers/228.6 mm rear drums operated via twin circuits for front and rear with separate servo for each circuit.
Since 1978, ADU 312B has resided in the collection of the late Don Pither, one of the main driving forces behind the creation of the HRCR club which has done so much to popularize historic rallying in this country. Despite regularly exercising the famous car on events such as the Pirelli Marathon and the Coronation Rally, winning Alpine Cups on the former and being the outright winner of the latter, the Gloucestershire motor engineer not only maintained it well, but was careful to preserve its originality.
Within the history file are V5, former MOT Test Certificates (the last to June 2000), FIA Historic Vehicle Identity Papers, RAC Special Stage Log Book and various invoices for parts fitted during Pither's twenty-four year ownership. The engine was extensively rebuilt and dynamometer tested by Competition Engine Services in 1990. The 42,431 miles indicated are believed to be the total covered from new.
Ex-works Tigers do not go under the hammer very often and the provenance included with this car is truly exceptional. Practical to run and likely to be extremely competitive for overall honours on Pre-1967 Historic Special Stage events, ADU 312B would be in its element storming Cols again on some of the long distance Continental epics...this is your chance to be at the wheel.