sunbeamtiger.co.uk

OK this may be risky and may be censored by a regulator. This is for points that would show the difference between a Tiger and a V8 conversion. It is not a thread to discuss whether a reshell is morally wrong. I would only expect contributions that are already in the public domain and here is a starter.

The scuttle to inner wing top hats are wider than an Alpine and gas welded.

There are radiator mounts welded to the front plate.

There is a small hole for battery venting.

Check that the doors, boot and bonnet are correct for their age-either square or rounded.

There is no battery box or evidence that one exhisted.

Exhaust mounts are spot welded into position.

The correct doors/bonnet/boot profiles are a tell tal;e sign if a MKI is rebodied with a later car, or a cross over body car is bodied with an earlier or later car.. or a late cars is rebodied with an early car... but when they did tigers alpines had the same body changes at the same time, so all this would show is a poorly chosen rebody or.. repairs that have been done using parts not correct for the car.

As a side note there are several more tell tales that i'm happy to list.. and others that i wont.. but the obvious ones:

no evidence of the tool mountings on the rear bulhead
tool mounting points on the boot floor
the spare tyre hold down and the type of welding used
leftovers for the parts for the alpine box mount
the fule pump bracket holes
generator releife in the engine bay
the difference on the front sheet metal


also.. just beacuse a car does/doesnt have the above mods/parts.. doesnt make it correct.. it's also how they have been done.

There's load's more that youv'e missed....

Nothing that a good bodyman couldn't copy exactly though

Paul,

As i said.. there are others.. and perhaps you might try and be constructiuve and not railroad the thread...

red race tiger,
most of what michael mentioned can be replicated or removed with the use of a drill,welder and hammer/dolly. as far as the welds, all it takes is to weld over primer and the welds look right. and you're right about a good body man duplicating anything,especially one that knows the cars .my question has always been whether tac inspectors knows the alpine body well enough. i have watched many tigers get tac'ed and i have my own questions on what happens.

I thought the Tiger bits were arc welded?

On my car I think the exhaust bracket for the Alpine side was spot welded and the others were arc welded

Ash,

100% correct there.

Thought so.
So what is gas welded? Looking at mine the engine bay side of the gearbox tunnel MAY have been gas welded but not certain and not sure about the exhaust pass-throughs? If not its arc again!

Sorry to be a thicket what I mean is are there any ereas on a tiger body that are oxy-actylene welded as opposed to arc welded?

Ash,

Ive had four genuine Tiger's through my hands and iv'e studied and pictured them all regarding the "Build Process"

Looking at the tunnel area it would seem that these were cut out with a gas touch as on all four i found evidence of "Slag" still on the bodies, ie no attempt was made at Jenson to grind it back neatly. Same goes for the pass through's and pass under's. I've changed pass unders and they to were cut out with a gas torch.

Other than the one factory Alpine exhaust hanger bracket the other three are stick welded in place.

beam,


"my question has always been whether tac inspectors knows the alpine body well enough. i have watched many tigers get tac'ed and i have my own questions on what happens."


I don't think you have a clue as to what TAC inspectors look for when inspecting a Tiger. My challenge to you beam, since you always say reconsititued Tigers have passed TAC, is to provide proof. Put up or shut up as they say.

dude.
i do know a few things about sunbeams. i do know the differences between a tiger and an alpine. now as far as telling who has a rebody, why should i? as i have clearly said before, whatever an owner does with his car is the owners business. these are chunks of iron that can be built the way the owner wants. i have never understood why it is considered a sin to rebody a tiger with the large number built versus the small number of rootes cars built by another outside vendor. nobody complains when they get rebodied. i have a question for you dude. do you or have you ever owned a sunbeam? nobody seems to know who you are. i've even asked other michigan tiger owners if they know you and always get the same answer. NO!

You're right, it's no one's business but the owner's what he does with his car and as far as reshells go, we all know they are out there and they do no harm...........until they are sold perhaps.

We all know that a reshell is not as valuable as a Jensen bodied car, that's how the marketplace is, but standing by and watching one get sold as a Jensen car and letting someone get shafted for 10 large or more is another thing completely.

If an owner isn't prepared to tell the buyer it's a reshell, don't you think that someone should?

Martin,

This is nothing short of what i proposed all along, ie

(1) With the 100% real Jenson cars known with provenence as such
(2) A Tiger known as being restored
(3) A Tiger known as being Re-Bodied

Still a Tiger nonetheless, just re-bodied. As long as the car is declared as such it should be seen As Such without all the finger pointing.

Just a shame other's couldn't see the same way at this time.

Give it another decade and things will change i feel sure.

I've said from the start that I have no issues at all with reshells.
One of the nicest tigers I have seen is a reshell.
Aslong as people are honest when they sell them, I don't care.

My post was aimed at beam though.

We seem to have wandered of topic.