Sunbeam Tiger Shelby Prototype
This is the Shelby Prototype Sunbeam Tiger. Originally constructed in the Shelby American shop on Princeton Drive in Venice, it is THE model example from which 7,000 Sunbeam Tigers followed. This is George Boskoff and I crossing the finish line at Laguna Seca.
I purchased the Prototype in an eBay auction in 2006. I was sitting in the lobby of a hotel in West Yellowstone when I put in my bid. To my surprise I was the auction winner. The picture below is how I found the car on August 22, 2006 on the docks in a warehouse in Alameda. You'll find many photos of the car from the past to the present.
More shots from the warehouse. It was packed with cars from the auctions and car shows in Monterey.
It was a few days before I could pick it up although I was able to go up and see the car and take these pictures.
On August 8th, 2006 I was able to pick the car up and load it on the trailer for the trip home.
Here's my buddy Paul Reisentz looking the car over. At this point he still thinks it's just an Alpine. He called Norm Miller to check on the VIN to see what it was. Norm informed him it was the Prototype Tiger. That's a Cal Custom V8 air cleaner.
Before we look at the present we'll travel back to the past with some old photos
In this photo sits Miss California. Notice the center console and speedometer correction decal on the dash. You can also just barely see the headrest on the passenger seat. The Ken Miles Prototype sits in the background
Here's Tony Curtis getting ready to take the car for a spin. Notice the wire wheels. The 260 badges and three red stripes are visible on the top boot cover. Photo courtesy of Norm Miller.
The car was painted in the 90's but they left the three stripes and Moonstone paint untouched on the boot cover. I believe that the stripes may have extended on the trunk in its early life.
These photos were from when William Carroll owned the car. That's Bill reaching for the trunk at Tigers United 4 in Medford, Oregon. Bill wrote the book Tiger An Exceptional Motor Car. He was kind enough to include a few copies when I purchased the car. Special thanks to Jim Leach for sending me the photos. The red wheels are thought to be a dress-up to get the car ready for an auction. They have since been returned to white.
Time to take some inventory of the car after getting it off the trailer in Rick McLeod's back yard.
Maybe this wasn't the best place to park.
Rick has some plans for it already.
This can't be good.
Luckily I caught him before he did too much damage.
Norm Miller having a little fun with photoshop recreating Lord Rootes first drive in the Prototype
I was glad to see Bill saved many of the parts that were taken off the car and replaced while he owned the car
The cars first outing under my ownership. This is just a couple weeks after taking possession and it already has new shoes and went back to white wheels
These are the same seats that Lord Rootes sat in during his test drive
This is similar to what the engine would have looked like during its creation at Shelby American. It maintains its Harrison overflow tank, Cal Custom air cleaner, and Lucas generator with tach drive on the back
This was from Tigers United in Reno in 2012
Here's George Boskoff posing in front of his creation at Tigers United in Big Bear 2013
John Morton and George Boskoff after their run on the autocross course
Terry Taylor and George Boskoff going out for a cruise
George Boskoff, Natalie and Nolan posing with the Prototype
If you're going to break down who better than to walk up than George Boskoff? When we initially drove by we couldn't pull over in time. The next turn around was about 7 miles away and in that time I joked that it was George's fault that this guy was broken down. If he hadn't built the prototype the guy wouldn't be on the side of the road. George then insisted that we go back so we did.
George Boskoff leading the pack at Laguna Seca
The Prototype was originally constructed with a 260 cubic inch motor. As George Boskoff recounts he was sitting on the stairs in the Shelby workshop and Caroll Shelby came out of the office and informed George that he wanted him to put one of those cobra motors in the little white Alpine. George wasn't thrilled but he agreed to accept the challenge.
Some components of the conversion would have been pulled straight off the Cobra assembly line including the motor, generator, and Harrison overflow tank. These are the same pieces you'd see on the early Cobras.
Rumor had it that Ian Garrad wanted a little more power so when the car returned from England it headed back to Shelby American for a High Performance 289 transplant.
Rumor had it that Ian Garrad wanted a little more power so when the car returned from England it headed back to Shelby American for a High Performance 289 transplant.
Early 260 motors had 6" spacing on the motor mount holes while the later 260s and 289's had 7" spacing.. They didn't bother to change the motor mounts but instead just added tabs to extend the mount spacing to 7"
When Caroll Shelby died these documents were unearthed and add credibility to the Prototype going back to Shelby American for a High Performance 289 transplant. Rootes experts have claimed there would have been no other Tiger that would have been available for this motor to go in to.
Work order 13062 dated May 31st, 1964 to "Install 289" Engine in Sunbeam (Rootes Group) for the sum of $246.13. This shouldn't have been invoiced as the engine purchase order dated April 16th, 1964 for the amount of $463.45
stated: NOTE: 260 cu. in. to be traded in, in lieu of labor to remove and replace.
stated: NOTE: 260 cu. in. to be traded in, in lieu of labor to remove and replace.
The smoking gun?
At the 2015 Shelby employees reunion I met Jere Kirkpatrick who described in detail how he put a High Performance 289 in the Shelby Prototype. Jere was a Shelby American employee from 1963-1968 and worked in the production shop building street Cobras.
He told me that his boss Leonard Parsons had instructed him to put a High Performance 289 in the car that Boskoff had built. At the time he didn't know the car was onsite at the reunion so I took him over and showed him the car. He had earlier described how he had to bash the firewall in order to get the carburetor to fit. When I opened the hood he pointed to the small dent in the firewall by the carburetor and proclaimed it was his handy work.
It's funny because George has heard the stories about the Tiger firewalls and sledge hammers and wants nothing to do with them. George is a perfectionist and that's not the way he fabricates. Before I took the car to Laguna Seca George implored that I fix the dent by the carburetor because he didn't want anyone thinking that was his work.
At the 2015 Shelby employees reunion I met Jere Kirkpatrick who described in detail how he put a High Performance 289 in the Shelby Prototype. Jere was a Shelby American employee from 1963-1968 and worked in the production shop building street Cobras.
He told me that his boss Leonard Parsons had instructed him to put a High Performance 289 in the car that Boskoff had built. At the time he didn't know the car was onsite at the reunion so I took him over and showed him the car. He had earlier described how he had to bash the firewall in order to get the carburetor to fit. When I opened the hood he pointed to the small dent in the firewall by the carburetor and proclaimed it was his handy work.
It's funny because George has heard the stories about the Tiger firewalls and sledge hammers and wants nothing to do with them. George is a perfectionist and that's not the way he fabricates. Before I took the car to Laguna Seca George implored that I fix the dent by the carburetor because he didn't want anyone thinking that was his work.
George Boskoff and Jere Kirkpatrick discussing the Prototype Tiger
