[Tigers] Urban legend

[Jay Laifman]

Wow.  Thanks Buck.  I've never heard of the Apex (at least that I can
remember).  Just did a search and came up with these great pictures and
info.  Love the hardtop!

http://tardis.dl.ac.uk/Mercia/killeen_book/node13.html


On Sun, Mar 8, 2020 at 11:30 AM Buck Trippel via Tigers <
tigers at autox.team.net> 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.
>
>
> _______________________________________________
>
> tigers at autox.team.net
>
> Donate: http://www.team.net/donate.html
> Archive: http://www.team.net/pipermail/tigers
> http://autox.team.net/archive
>
> Unsubscribe:
> http://autox.team.net/mailman/options/tigers/jay.laifman@gmail.com
>
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://autox.team.net/pipermail/tigers/attachments/20200308/bd13d6f0/attachment-0001.htm>