[Tigers] Urban legend

[Ken]

Thank you Buck for settling this matter. Wish that I could spend time 
going through the archives!

Ken Tisdale

On 3/8/2020 12:30 PM, Buck Trippel via Tigers wrote:
>
> The best and most authoritative answers to the why the Tiger was 
> discontinued that I’ve found are in the collection of Papworth papers 
> housed in the Culture Coventry Archive at the Herbert Museum in Coventry.
>
> Mr Papworth was a very high level “planner” for Rootes. He reported to 
> a very select group, comprised mainly of family members who were the 
> heart of the Rootes board. After his retirement he donated 
> thousands(?) of pages of notes and memos. I’ve spent several days 
> reading them and want to go back.
>
> Mr. Papworth lays out a very comprehensive Tiger story. The Tiger 
> represented only 2% of Rootes’ sales and was consequentially just a 
> blip on management’s attention. Tigers were barely mentioned in board 
> meetings as the high production Imps and Hillmans dominated the 
> discussions. The Mk1s & 1As sold well. The Mk2 that was built was not 
> the Mk2 that the engineers had designed and tested (with upgraded 
> 5-bolt 14” wheels to fit 4-wheel discs, the same 3-puck calipers used 
> on Aston Martins and street Cobras) and the resulting lack of initial 
> sales seemed to be the straw that broke the camel’s back. But Papworth 
> also outlines other contributing issues.
>
> Rootes engineers determined that Chrysler V8s would not fit in a 
> Tiger. They explored alternatives including one that would have been 
> built a new “Tiger” with fiberglass body in the USA. Obviously none of 
> those alternatives worked out.
>
> After Lord Rootes passed away his brother, Reggie, assumed control. 
> Reggie wanted to replace the Alpine/Tiger with a smaller sportscar 
> that was similar to a Spitfire. That car, “Apex”, had been designed 
> and was very close to production when a sub-contractor tripled the 
> initial cost estimate for its fiberglass body. That ended Rootes’ 
> attempt at a replacement sportscar.
>
> The US government had long imposed standards for the cars it purchased 
> for government use – the GSA standards. These existing GSA standards 
> were eventually adopted for all cars sold in the US. The Alpine/Tiger 
> platform would have needed upgrades to comply. Tooling for these would 
> have been costly on a per unit basis due to low production volume.
>
> The space used at Pressed Steel to build the Alpines and Tigers was 
> needed by another Rootes vehicle which was high production and 
> therefore a higher priority. Assuming Rootes would accept the cost of 
> upgrades to comply with GSA standards, where could the Alpine/Tiger be 
> built? Rootes looked at alternatives including moving the entire 
> Alpine/Tiger production from Pressed Steel to Jensen. At one point 
> Rootes even offered to purchase Jensen. Jensen refused. The move never 
> happened. Rootes never found an alternate contractor to build the cars.
>
> Papworth cites all of these factors in the decision to end Tiger 
> production.
>
> Buck Trippel
>
> *From:* Tigers <tigers-bounces at autox.team.net> *On Behalf Of *Ross 
> Hulse via Tigers
> *Sent:* Sunday, March 8, 2020 1:57 AM
> *To:* Curt Bowland <cbowland at msn.com>
> *Cc:* tigers <tigers at autox.team.net>
> *Subject:* Re: [Tigers] Urban legend
>
> The demise of the Sunbeam Tiger was that they did not sell very well.  
> The USA import regs for cars would require expensive modifications to 
> the car.  So in February 1967 the decision was made to finish the cars 
> that were in the line and send them to Canada.  Everything about not 
> fitting a Chrysler engine is just a rumor.
>
>
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-- 
Ken Tisdale
303-807-5488

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