Sunbeam Tiger Ad, 1965

[RockyUSA]

The guy mentioned in this ad (Art Arfons) had a shop in Akron, OH, and was a famous Hot-Rodder.

Would 1965 Sunbeam Tigers have come from West Bromich?

Sunbeam_Tiger_Ad_1965.jpg (79.32 KiB) Viewed 1690 times

[Chris_R]

Jensen did the front end modification to take the V8 engine.

[Martin R]

I had always thought that all Tigers were actually built by Jensen.

[colin7673]

I had always thought that all Tigers were actually built by Jensen.

Yes Indeed one of R.Calvers books has a picture of the production line. not sure which one though

[Chris_R]

No, the car was not built by Jensen. Mike Jones (who came from Rootes) and worked on the Tiger project described it to me as a "cut and shut" job. The bodies were made as Alpine bodies by Pressed Steel and came to Jensen as a completed bodyshell for the modifications for the V8. Jensen did the modifications and fitted all the running gear, dashboard and wiring and then they were trucked off to Rootes for completion.

[Martin R]

No, the car was not built by Jensen. Mike Jones (who came from Rootes) and worked on the Tiger project described it to me as a "cut and shut" job. The bodies were made as Alpine bodies by Pressed Steel and came to Jensen as a completed bodyshell for the modifications for the V8. Jensen did the modifications and fitted all the running gear, dashboard and wiring and then they were trucked off to Rootes for completion.

I think there's a thin line here between being built or not being built by Jensen.
The panels for many cars are not not made in house, so that certainly does not mean it wasn't made by Jensen.
For the engine & gearbox, wiring looms, running gear, all done on the old Jensen Volvo production line (modified & re-jigged of course) at the Jensen factory and to essentially make the cars (because Rootes lacked capacity to make it in their own factory) - even if they were "finished" at the Rootes factory suggests to me, that Jensen basically built the cars.
Jensen were brought in to "productionize" the conversion. They also built the pre-production prototypes and assembled the production cars.
The bodies were not simply cut Alpine bodies - the Pressed Steel Ltd bodies were slightly different.
They were delivered to Jensen painted, trimmed, glazed, badged and partially wired.
If Jensen hadn't then 'built" them, they wouldn't have moved under their own power.