Sunbeam Tiger

The Shelby Cobra was not the only British sports car to benefit from Ford V8 power. The Sunbeam Tiger boasted genuine Carroll Shelby involvement in its development and could rightfully be considered a sort of junior Cobra.

Sunbeam was the sportiest brand among several English marques controlled by Britain's Rootes Group. The name carried serious motorsport heritage, with history in Grand Prix racing, Indianapolis, and sporting road cars stretching back decades before the Rootes takeover in 1935. By the 1950s, the name appeared on the Sunbeam Alpine, a trustworthy if somewhat tame four-cylinder roadster.

Seeking more power for the Alpine platform, Rootes contracted with Carroll Shelby to develop a prototype fitted with a Ford small-block V8. Dubbed the Tiger after Sunbeam's famous 1928 land-speed-record car, the result debuted at the 1964 New York Auto Show and soon went into production in England.

Visually similar to the contemporary Alpine, the Tiger shared the Cobra's 260-cubic-inch Ford V8, though in milder tune. Its 164 horsepower was still more than double what the Alpine produced, and the Tiger's 9.5-second 0 to 60 mph time was nearly twice as quick as the four-cylinder car. The live rear axle and four-speed gearbox came from Ford, while the chassis was the Alpine's platform modified by Shelby with stiffer suspension and rack-and-pinion steering. Brakes remained front discs with rear drums. Handling, roadholding, and ride comfort all earned high marks from contemporary testers, though the skinny tires and torquey V8 could produce axle hop and poor traction on hard launches. Griffin Thermal Products builds exact-fit aluminum radiators for Sunbeam Tigers, delivering the cooling performance these Anglo-American sports cars deserve.