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o/t Powerful cars - TVR

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Bill from Scotland

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The AC Cobra replica I posted about a few days ago seems too badly damaged and too many parts missing for the spare time I can commit meantime so I am going to pass on it. Of course looking at this type of high performance car does get exciting. I have attached a link showing a British car that gives sparkling performance dont know if you guys have them with you or not.Cannot remember seeing any on my visits to the US but you never know. My brother had one a for a few years but had to sell it due to poor health. It was producing around 480 hp and possessed the most brutal acceleration I have ever experienced, quicker than lots of big bikes I have seen. See what you think. Would this be competion for a proper AC Cobra, check it out at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmlv7Zoj_Sk
Bill
 
I used to work with a fellow that had a TVR, back in the 1980s. Don't know what model, but I recall it handled well, and that it didn't really look all that exotic. Only TVR I ever recall seeing, but he drove it to work every day.
 
I worked at gas station next door to an "import car" dealer mid to late 60s. 10 miles from New York City. They sold British/Rootes Sunbeam Tigers and TVRs, both with small-block Ford V8s. Also Triumphs with their own strange V8s, or upgraded 215 c.i. aluminum V8s (once made by Buick). I never could of afford a TVR, but owned (and ruined) many Sunbeam Tigers. Where I lived, it was the Sunbeam Tigers that were known as the "poor mans Cobra."

They came with 260 or 289 Ford V8s, Ford cast-iron four-speed trans, ladder bars in back, and a Jeep posi-rear-axle. They also had terrible steering engineering with an in-correct Ackerman angle when turning left or right.

My newest was a 65, with an upgraded 302 and it was amazing little car. Also had floorboards that got so hot they could almost melt your sneakers.

Around the same time, I got to work on a pair of Daimler fiberglass body sports cars that had tiny little German V8s in them. I was told they were built to scale and half-size copies of Chrysler hemis.
 
I've seen several AC Cobra replicas with 428s sell at auction for $30,000 - $40,000. Not anywhere near what a real Shelby 428 would bring - but still a good sum of money. About 20 times what I've ever spend.
 
Does Dodge sell the Charger over there? The AWD V8 has about 420HP.
It will walk all over anything from the 60's. Except for some limited production "class legal" factory built race cars such as the all aluminum Corette's etc.
 
I also, at the same time, worked with a feller had a Sunbeam Tiger. He was a real tall drink of water, and it was kind of funny to watch him "put on" his Tiger. I wouldn't say it handled well, but if he put his mind to it, it would go thru a set of rear tires quicker than almost anything available at that time...
 
Also at that time, another feller had a Citroen that he had fitted a Maserati drivetrain into. We used to kid him that he had combined the good looks of the Citroen with the reliability of a Maserati. Another guy had a Jag E-type that he called his "poor man's pickup truck", 'cause he had used it to haul a bunch of window casing home from the lumberyard in it, sticking out the passenger side window.
 
My old favorite, the Ford GT40 was a legal production car in the 60s - although I doubt many private citizens ever bought one. It was a Lemans winner 3-4 years in a row in the 60s. Last I heard, it's still the only American car to do that.

Now, would it beat the Charger you mentioned? I suspect not in the 1/4 mile, but probably would in the Lemans endurance race. First GT40 only had a 260 SB Ford V8 - but pretty highly built. It almost made me a Ford fan at the time. I'd still love to have one, but guess it's never going to happen.

By the way -since I assume you like Buicks. Remeber the British sports-cars with the Buick 215 aluminum V8s?
 
Before my time.
The old Grand National took me 296,000 miles on the original bottom end.
Heads were ported, cam,updated exhaust headers, over size down pipe, 007 injectors, high pressure/high volume fuel pump, Impala SS mass airflow sensor, over sized turbo.Detroit locker diff.
Took it out of the barn last summer for a rip and roar before putting her away again. Neighbors complained about all the donuts tore on the local intersections.
 
There's a video somewhere, maybe youtube of Bill Cosby telling Jay Leno about when Bill was given a Cobra back in the late sixties. It is FUNNY, well worth hunting it down and watching.
 
You hit the nail on the head. They handled terrible. On my 65 Tiger with the 302, I could almost burn rubber forever. In 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, and more calm in 4th. If you wanted to street-race somebody, you had to take off slowly. Once up to round 20 MPH, and you stomped on it - it would fly. I had mine up to 130 MPH (at a track) when I started to lose all steering-feel and had to back down.

The lack of proper Ackerman-angle was a big flaw. Ackerman-Angle is supposed to be designed into all cars so the front wheels do not stay parallel to each other when turning. Make a left turn - and the left wheel is on a smaller turning circle then the right - so they have to toe-out when it's done right. Carol Shelby cut corners and did a lousy job on the steering.

Still have fond memories and wish I still had one of the ones I crashed and ruined.

A pure stock 1964 Tiger had a 260 V8 with a two-barrel carb and four speed trans. Tiger II had a 289. Real fun to drive, would cruise easily at 100 MPH, and at slower speeds get 24 MPG. Pretty impressive for the time. And gas was 25-32 cents a gallon. Chrysler Corp ruined the car. They bought Rootes Group and refused to use Ford engines. They tried to shoe-horn a Mopar 273 into it, but soon gave up on that boat-anchor.
 
Nicest Buick I ever drove was my boss's 65 GranSport. 401 V8 and four on the floor as I recall. Really well built car. Very quiet and smooth when compared to GTOs and Chevelles of the time.
 
I just got thinking about the old TV show "Get Smart." The star of the show pulled up in a Sunbeam Tiger at the beginning of every show.

And around the same time, another show called "Honey West" had a blonde chic driving a small-block AC Cobra. I was drooling over that car ( and maybe a little over her). Anne Francis - she's an old lady now.
 
Bill Cosby actually released an album about this many years ago. If my memory hasn't failed, the album is called "200 MPH" and it has been re-released recently.
It's been many years since I heard it, but it is very funny.
 
During the summer of 1968 I dated a pretty fast girl for awhile that had a pretty fast Sunbeam that she let me drive pretty fast around the back roads.
 
also , remember when carol shelby first built the ac cobra, the car used, was the lowly british ace, a little "chick car" with a very small 4 cyl engine, is there any of those around? also when looking there are aluminum bodied cobra replicas out there, all real cobras serial numbers are on the passenger side frame and start with the letters "CSX"
 
Same sort of thing with the Sunbeam Tiger. Shelby got it with a 1725 cc. four-cylinder engine and transplanted the Ford V8 into it. It was originally the Sumbeam Alpine.
 
Or you could just opt up to the new Bugatti Veyron, 1100 hp at about 2 million dollars. 1/4 mile in 9.5 secs.

Gordo
 
Had a buddy years ago with an OLDs 442 convertable that turned better 1/4 mile time than that. After the first run they banned him from the track until he put in a full roll cage. The nicest thing about the car was that it cost alot less than 2 million to build and I have to say as nice as the Bugatti is I liked the styling on the OLDs better too....
 
It's in the begining of every show with Ralph Smart driving it and parking it. The new movie remake also has the Sumbeam Tiger I. I suspect many who watched it did not notice what it was. Tiger looks exactly the same as the Alpine it was made from except for the dual exhaust, and "Tiger" and "V8" on the front fenders.

With Honey West - her small-block AC Cobra was often in the show with her cruising around -not just in the standard opening of the show. She was a hot blonde private detective, but now in real life - is an old lady.
 
I spent a lot of money on a beautiful brunett good wine and a fast corvett and several big trucks.I guess the rest I just wasted.
 
jdemaris,

My BIL has a couple of those Sunbeam Tigers. I think that that the 1966 one came with a 289 Ford engine but it had the Chrysler tag on the front fender so they must have used a few Ford engines at first.
 
A late 66 or end-run 67 would be a Tiger II - one of the last versions made. 289 with a two-barrel carb. Also was available with a "LAT" package. LAT was the high-peformance options - kind of like SS for Chevy. Special Jeep posi-rear, aluminum wheels, hood scoop, ladder-traction bars, and probably more I've forgotten about. Might of been a hot-cam and four-barrel setup available.

Chrysler ruined all the Rootes/Sunbeam/Simca and Hillman lineup in the USA. They did make a new "Avenger Tiger" and "Sunbeam TI" years later with a four-cylinder engine and it was a flop, I guess.

They sold a few cars with the British four-cylinder engines, but kind of forget what they were called. Plymouth Cricket in 71 maybe, or the Dodge Colt? I know I robbed an engine out of one and stuck it in my 67 Alpine. Same 1725 cc engine but had a single Americanized carb instead of dual British carbs. Soon after, Mopar started using Jap engines in things like the "Silent Shaft Arrow" and the British stuff was all dropped. I lost track at that point.

Sunbeams - Rapiers, Alpines and Tigers were really nice cars. Unlike many Triumphs, Austin Healys, and MGs, they had luxuries e.g. roll-up windows, heaters that worked, windscreen washers (worked by a foot pump) and dimmers on the dash-lighs with fold-down, non-electronic shades.
 
Second on the Olds 442. Least the one that I worked on. Said nobody else would touch dual points. So fast it was scary. Dave
 
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