Tony, et al:
I agree with one thing you said, for sure...the public, by and large, is just
not as aware of Sunbeam Tigers as they are of, say, Austin Healey 3000s, MGBs,
TR3s & 4s, etc. In my humble opinion, the Tiger just had less exposure than
it's contemporaries of the period. I'm sure that most of you will agree that
any sports car make will be worth more in the long run if it had a successful
racing career. Sure, the Tiger was successful in racing in the hands of guys
like Don Sesslar, Jim Adams and legendary Tiger builder Doane Spencer. The
unfortunate part (or fortunate part, depending on how you want to look at it)
was that the Tiger was such a low production number automobile compared to
other cars it was competing with that fewer of them found success on the
racetracks of the U.S. than many of their competitors. And, of course, the
way the SCCA treated the Tiger didn't help much, either.
I also believe that another factor that contributes to a low exposure factor
is it's relatively short production life. I've always thought it a bit
strange to see other British sports cars, with production figures well beyond
what the Tiger achieved, go crazy in the value department. It's a bit ironic,
isn't it? One usually associates a high priced, highly sought after car with
low production numbers, right? Obviously not in our case, however. For me,
this tends to validate the argument that I put forth earlier in this post;
that successful racing careers help breed a higher value for the make over
time. There are, of course, other factors to consider as well, and I'm sure
other listers will jump in on this with their two cents worth, too.
Now, having said all this, I'm going to make another observation; only this
time, it'll be from the voice of experience. I have been a Tiger follower
since I bought my very first one in 1979. I came to know about them through
my intense interest in Cobras. After finding out rather quickly that a Cobra
was not in my future, I settled for the next best thing...a Tiger. I've owned
four of them since and loved them all. I did make a foray into Shelby
ownership back in the mid-80's, purchasing a really nice
'65 G.T. 350 from a guy in California. Buying that car did cost me the Tiger
I owned at the time but, after owning the Shelby for almost two years, I was
able to purchase another Tiger to add to the stable. Once again, I was a
Tiger owner.
Then, as the car value boom hit in the late 80's, a funny thing happened. The
value of the Shelby went through the roof...but the Tiger's value just inched
up. Consequently, I found myself driving the Tiger more and more. Looking
back on it, it seems that the Shelby did just what Tony mentioned...it seemed
as though the value doubled overnight. Then, another funny thing began to
happen. Fewer and fewer Shelbys started showing up for the big Shelby events
and local shows. Even I began to find myself picking and choosing when I was
going to get the Shelby out to go for a drive. On two occasions, I even had
people follow me home, just to find out if it was a real Shelby or not. It
was flattering but, at the same time, a little unnerving, too. The bottom
line here is that, as the value and awareness of Shelbys started to rise, my
car began to see less and less street time. And, judging by the turnout at
some Shelby meets that I religiously attended, I wasn't the only one who felt
that way.
The rising value of a collector car is, at best, a double-edged sword. It's
great to see the value rise if you plan on selling the car soon; it's not so
great if you just enjoy getting the car out and driving it just for the fun of
it while keeping somewhat of a low profile.
Before any of you guys flame me out, please understand that I'm definitely not
against Tigers going up in value. All I'm saying here is that, as the values
go up, don't be surprised to see fewer and fewer of them at shows and meets
and race tracks around the country. It's only natural for people to begin to
protect their investment more as the value for that investment rises.
My two cents,
Andy Walker
Edmond, OK
|