This is a 1967 Sunbeam Tiger. This is a rare beast. 1 of around 500 Mark 2’s ever made. This has the 289 motor instead of the 260 that the earlier cars had. The owner brought his baby to us to get rid of the rust and do a top notch paint job. As usual, there were some changes and challenges along the way. The biggest is discovering that the car had been wrecked down the passenger side. If you look at the pictures, you will notice the picture of the passenger side door with stripes in it. That is stripes of bondo we were removing to see how far forward the damage went. The bondo was about 1″ thick in some places. We also found rust in the floor which the owner believed to be in fantastic shape. While apart, we will also be sorting some electrical issues and replacing the dash and interior.
Update 1/12/2020
The Tiger has been coated and sanded more times that we care to count. The body has been skin coated and everything is sanded smooth. Then a few layers of paint have been applied and color sanded in between, followed by clear, sand, and buff. At this point the panels… (doors, trunk, hood, and top) are finished and the body will be getting color this week. We are also planning on having the car done in time for the Concourse De Elegance this summer.
Update 7/22/2020
As with everything this year, things out of our control have changed drastically. The show was canceled. We were forced to take some time off. We are getting back on the project. We got the chrome back from the platers. The paint is almost done, we are awaiting the completion of the installation of our new paint booth for the final clear coat. In the mean time we are working on some heat shields and sound deadening. Once the booth is in, we do the final clear and just assemble.
The car is almost done at this point. We have the Concourse show it has been invited to in less than a week. Obviously the owner has decided to stray far from the original plan of just fixing a little rust and painting it. Some out of necessity, some out of choice. As usual, there was more rust than he realized which required more work. His original plan was to do just the body work now and do the other work in stages in the future. He decided to do most of the work now in one big project. The interior is all redone, all of the chrome, badges, convertible tops, mirrors, lights, and everything on the outside and inside of the car have been replaced, replated, or cleaned and rebuilt. We’re honored to represent this car this year at the Cincinnati Concourse d’elegance.
