>One of life's lowest experiences is finding oneself without a roadster.
Even
>more dreadful is being without a British Roadster. Just sold my MG TD and
now
>have to get serious about finding a suitable Tiger/Alpine. . Joined TE/AE
>last month. I am without a roadster and already have a question about
>Sunbeams'. Not sure of what I will end up with, but I am used to a wood
>dash. Is it possible to retrofit a Tiger wooden dash to an Alpine ?
Hal, the Alpine actually came with the wood dash also, and it came with one
before the Tiger even existed! This is on the Alpine GT. Don't get this
confused with the later Alpines. It's the same as the one you are looking
for, except it came with a hard top painted the same color as the body, no
convertible top, and nicer interior trimmings, including carpet and wood
dash. Because there was no folding top, there was more room on the rear
shelf/seating area.
That being said, the wood dash from Sunbeam did come with some slightly
different mounting hardware, including some L brackets for the heater
controls.
Now, as to your other issue, of trading a TD for an Alpine and then trying
to make the Alpine back into the TD. Well, if it's a TD you love, why
switch? On the other hand, my Alpine was totalled over a year ago and I
drove a perfect 40,000 original mile TD when trying to decide if I was
going to stick with another Alpine. I won't argue the merits here, but
suffice it to say, I stuck with the Alpine, and am glad you are looking
this way too. I will say though that one of my deciding choices was if I
was in a TD when I was in the accident that totalled my Alpine, I don't
think I would have been so lucky as to walk, and ride again.
Good luck. Drive a for a while too. If it's "British Roadster" you are
after, I'm not sure that will fit the bill. The Alpine has that classic
4-banger roadster feel, but with an edge of smoothness the MGs don't seem
to have (remember, just because the masses buy them, doesn't mean they're
better - it's us elite who know better ;-). Of course my dad who used to
own and race a TD when it was new, has a Tiger now and I don't think he'd
go back to an Alpine for anything.
Jay
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