Chris,
I have to diassagree with your criteria for the Tiger MkIII contest. Steve has
the contest right... what you've suggested has already been done and is
available in dozens of forms, and the Monster Miata is pretty much the absolute
best you could do in replicating the Alpine-Tiger transformation and character
and low cost. Anything else would be just one of many pocket rockets (ie Neon
SRT, even a Shelby Omni GLH)
, but not a Tiger.
$15k for a modern Tiger is not reasonable and not even in line of the original
cars price position. I'm just barely old enough to recall car prices from the
mid 60's, but the Tiger's "low" $3k prices were on par with or higher than many
full sized family sedans of the day. That puts you somewhere in the mid-high
20s today, if not the 30's.
For $15k you buy a Civic and install a turbocharger and NOS... and yes it is a
very effective replacement for cubic inches. Check out those rice burners ET
slips for evidence.
BTW... I don't believe Carroll Shelby had much if anything to do with the Viper.
With today's crowded roadster market, there may not be room for an
Alpine/Tiger, but that's the idea of Steve's challenge... what would it be if
someone did execute it. I might note that with the cancellation of the Jag
F-Type, Ford Motor Co. has a huge hole in it's sports car lineup, nothing
between the Miata and a Jag XK8, to compete with the Boxster, Z4, S2000,
SLK320, or even a 250Z. These are the cars that would compete with a modern
Tiger on the track today and maybe Ford could launch an Alpine/Tiger to fill
the gap. Mercury could certainly use something like this in their lineup. And
they have Miata components to pull from to keep the cost reasonable.
Stephen Waybright
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