[Tigers] Tigers - short shift lever

[snakebit289]

The shift(no pun intended) to a longer shift lever occurred  around Mk 1
#2300, according to Norm's book. Until that time, both the early T10
installations and the initial top loader installations used different numbered
but similarly short levers. Looking in the parts catalogue from June 1968, the
short lever part number supercedes to the longer part number, with no VIN
break.

In the November 1964 Road&Track magazine initial road test of the
Sunbeam Tiger (fitted with a short shift lever), the writers warned that
"some
drivers might prefer to add an inch or two extension on this handle...as the
knob is slightly lower that the top of the central map box and reaching over
it without dragging the wrist takes a bit of practice...".

Another reason for
moving to a longer lever in production is that the shifter hole on the tunnel,
as we all know, is offset to the left side, and drivers of the then-upcoming
RHD models would have a longer reach from their driver seat, and it made sense
to use the longer lever for all production.


This said, I noticed a couple of
later Tigers at the 2012 Reno United had switched to shorter levers, and was
told this was a new fad amongst a handful of owners. Another reason for opting
for the shorter lever, and this is strictly my guess, is that owners like the
neat, short lever look of the Shelby Cobra Mk II, and want to duplicate that
look on their Tigers.

Rande Bellman