Engine bay component black

Post by **gvickery** » Sun Aug 07, 2011 9:38 am

Tks Mal and Michael for the feedback on the NZ MKI. Mal, does your 'spares' man know anything about why it was badged as an 'Alpine'. Is David Craw in your email 'contacts'?

Be good to get to the bottom of why a new RRO FE 'Alpine 260' popped up in NZ.

Graham

gtsmrt · Post by **gtsmrt** » Sun Aug 07, 2011 10:41 am

Hi Graham,

I have heard stories of servicemen stationed in Europe that bought a Tiger and then decided to take it home with them after completing their service. It may be something similar with the Alpine 260 in NZ.

Regards, Robin.

michael-king · Post by **michael-king** » Sun Aug 07, 2011 11:47 am

Graham,

I can get you Davids contact details of you would like to ocntact him about the cars, or about the details of the Tigers that went to NZ.

It is interesting that it is alpine 260 badged, it was my understanding that was a EU issue only due to rootes not having the copyright of the Tiger name there (france, germany etc.)

I know that the Alpine 260's that are in the states that were returned service cars, that if i understand correctly, were ordered new while they were in EU (often germany) and used there before being shipped back privately. The car in the NZ pics appears to be a new car and at a dealer, so i assume thats not the case with it.

Also you say early MKIA, did the early IA's have the sunbeam lettering on the front? I was under the impression all the IA's had no lettering, i know the early SV Alpines (those that still had the round boot lid) had the SUNBEAM lettering deleted.

michael-king · Post by **michael-king** » Sun Aug 07, 2011 1:06 pm

Tim wrote:My car has it's bottle fitted behind the wooden plate in the passenger footwell, which I always thought was a strange - and inconvenient - place for it.

Tim,

This is what the false floors (toe boards) look like, these are for LHD cars though.

Mal · Post by **Mal** » Tue Aug 09, 2011 7:02 am

Graham, next time I speak to him I will ask if he knows the reason. Perhaps someone at Jensen

thought NZ was somewhere in Europe. David Craw is not on my email list but Michael says, he has it.
Cheers Mal

Tim · Post by **Tim** » Tue Aug 09, 2011 10:57 am

Michael,

Thank you for taking the trouble to post the photos. Yet another thing to add to the shopping list! At least I know what I am looking for now. Like I said before, knowing what is missing is half the battle.

michael-king · Post by **michael-king** » Tue Aug 09, 2011 3:13 pm

Tim,

finding a tiger one might be hard.. you can get an alpine one and trim it to the correct shape, watch out for rust at the bottom.. they tend to get wet and rot.

Post by **gvickery** » Wed Aug 10, 2011 9:13 am

Looking back at the earlier posts about the ALPINE 260. Yes as Mal, Michael and others mention my understanding is that the ALP260 was exclusively a European model. Its own chassis ID suffix being LRO FE (there are around 50 survivors) and several were re-exported to the USA by American military personnel and expats etc. There were also a number of ALP260's exported to Europe with the suffix LRX FE where (it is thought) the order stated - for delivery to Germany and onward shipment to the USA but never left. The 'jury is still out' on that one though.

BUT the NZ machine is the first instance I have heard of an Alpine badged Tiger outside Europe in the production period. All the more puzzling as it survives and can be seen to be B9473719 RRO FE. Another tweak of my anorak tail!!

Graham
STOC Editor