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Re: 30 years with a Tiger

To: "Wedeking, Dave" <davew@fgmail01.merix.com>,
Subject: Re: 30 years with a Tiger
From: "Chris Richards" <richards@northcoast.com>
Date: Mon, 8 Jun 1998 17:21:05 -0400
Great story.....

Kind Regards-Chris in Trinidad

----------
> From: Wedeking, Dave <davew@fgmail01.merix.com>
> To: Tigers <tigers@autox.team.net>
> Subject: 30 years with a Tiger
> Date: Monday, June 08, 1998 7:53 PM
> 
> I sent this before but found autox.team.net had a problem with my return
> address. I hope this is not a duplicate.
> 
> This may be long and boring to many but I needed to write it down.
> 
> June 1965:
>       Summer before my last year of college. I had $500 in pocket to
> buy a car for the 
> next school year and beyond. I found a nice TR3 for sale for the $500. I
> went home and 
> told my parents about the find. They suggested that if they contributed
> some more money 
> that they have some say in the car I buy. So I bought a 1964 Corvair
> instead for $900. So 
> much for my first LBC opportunity.  The next school year I collected all
> the literature I 
> could about various sport cars including the Tiger brochure (black cover
> with Red car). I 
> still have the brochure.
> 
> June 5th, 1968:
>       I returned from Vietnam with $5000 in pocket, no wife, no job,
> no obligations. 
> My parents were living in King City, CA at the time (just south of San
> Jose). I got a copy 
> of the San Jose paper looking for Tiger ads. Found two for sale on used
> car lots. 
> 
> June 8th, 1968:
>       My father, brothers and I went to San Jose to look at the
> Tigers. The first one 
> had been worked over extensively, flares, straight exhaust, a 289 engine
> that was claimed 
> to have spent time in a land speed record attempt car. It ran well,
> sounded great, but had 
> more rattles, clanks and other body noises that made it sound like it
> would not last very 
> long. On to the next car. A 1967 Carnival Red Mk1A (B382002420) with
> only 10,000 
> miles. Factory stock except for the LAT 5 weld on traction bars. Black
> hard top included. 
> I took my father on a test drive around the block, went back and bought
> the car. $3,468 
> including California sales tax and licensing. I ask the sale man why the
> car was on the 
> lot. He said that the user car lot in San Jose (Jack London Imports)
> belonged  to the new 
> car dealer in San Francisco who originally sold the Tiger. The car
> belonged to the new 
> car dealers wife. She apparently did not like the car so the dealer took
> it back and gave 
> her a Ferrari instead.
> 
> Summer 1968:
>       Trip to Oregon, job looking, back to California for my brothers
> wedding, back 
> to Oregon (got a job). 10,000 miles in 10 weeks.
> 
> Winter 1968:
>       A college friend of mine lived in Portland, drove a BRG Mk1. He
> told me the 
> previous summer that if I got a job in Portland he would teach me to
> snow ski. I bought a 
> pair of studded snow tires for the Tiger and the friend and I would take
> turns driving our 
> Tigers up skiing each weekend (about 65 miles to Mt. Hood). One weekend
> we decided 
> we should take the studded tires off the back of one Tiger and put them
> on the front of 
> the other one. We never went skiing again with studded tires only on the
> back. As long as 
> the roads were plowed, the Tiger was a great ski car. The heater even
> worked well 
> enough to keep you warm. The Tiger was never a handling problem as long
> as the driver 
> paid attention and planned ahead. The only damage to the car during the
> 5 years I drove 
> it skiing were rock chips to the paint and glass.
> 
> 1969:
>       I got into sailing. I bought a Sunfish, 13 foot sail boat (same
> length as the 
> Tiger). I made a carrying rack for the Sunfish out of one inch square
> steel tube. It 
> mounted to the Tiger hardtop like a ski rack and mounted to the rear
> bumper. I used this 
> rig for a number of years to carry the Sunfish to local races.
> 
> December 1970:
>       I got married. The Tiger was our honeymoon car (ski trip).
> 
> 1970s:
>       I drove the Tiger daily to work. Much of that time it was 6
> miles and 21 stop 
> lights one-way. Four or five clutch jobs. The stop and go and the 2.88
> gears are hard on 
> the clutch.
> 
> Early 1980s:
>       I had a Thistle sail boat for years. It is 17 foot, boat and
> trailer weight about 750 
> pounds.  I needed a new tow vehicle so I used the Tiger for several
> years to tow the boat 
> to local races. Fortunately I did not have to launch or retrieve the
> boat on the steep ramp.
> 
> 1984:
>       I drove the Tiger as a daily driver for 16 years and 154,000
> miles. It got to the 
> point where it was starting to smoke a little and my two sons could no
> longer fit together 
> in the passenger seat with the one seat belt. (When your wife also
> works, taking and 
> getting kids is shared responsibility.) The Tiger went into the garage
> and I bought a 
> commuter car.
> 
> Summer 1991: 
>       Finally had the time and money to rebuild the Tiger. I spent the
> summer 
> rebuilding the engine, transmission, rear end and all suspension
> components. I got it 
> running in early September and decided that a good break-in run would be
> a trip to 
> Bakersfield, California for my 30th high school reunion. 850 miles the
> first day. I was 
> reminded very quickly that the sitting position in the Tiger was
> different than the other 
> cars I drove. The only problem on the trip down was part of the original
> oil filter system 
> coming loose and losing a couple of quarts of oil before I figured out
> exactly were the 
> leak was. On the trip back I developed a blister on one tire about 50
> miles from home. 
> The tire blew while I was on a back road. I have since learned about the
> failure mode of 
> steel belted radials that set for extended periods of time with out
> moving. The trip was 
> 1850 miles in 4 days.
> 
> 1990s:
>       Each summer I select a project for the Tiger. With two children
> in college I can 
> only afford one project at a time. The dash refinish project is
> documented at the Tiger 
> Web site. Fuel tank strip and refinish and trunk repaint. A set of
> Sunbeam Specialties 
> LAT 70s after my original steel wheels cracked around the mounting
> holes. The Tiger 
> was never autocrossed or driven excessively hard so the wheels lasted a
> long time. This 
> summer was rebuilding door panels.
> 
> Today:
>       I try to drive the Tiger to work every day during the Summer
> (including today), 
> weather permitting (this is Oregon). I take to the Portland All British
> Field Meet each 
> Labor Day. It still has the original paint wearing a little thin in
> places. There is no rust 
> even though it sat outside for 15 years. It is still factory stock, all
> the original stuff is 
> under the hood or in a box if not needed (windshield washer bottle and
> original oil filter 
> plumbing). I use the small half quart spin on oil filters for daily
> driving and put the 
> original back on for shows.
> 
> 
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> ---------------------
> | Dave Wedeking
> |
> | david.wedeking@merix.com    1967 Sunbeam Tiger Mk 1A      |
> | 503-992-4450                                   B382002420
> |
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> ---------------------

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