1966 Sunbeam Tiger serial number B382000764
I bought this car in 1999 from Rick McLeod of Sunbeam Specialties. Rick had acquired the car from an insurance company after it had an engine fire. Rick was able to start the engine after he bought the car, but it sat untouched in his garage until I finally convinced him to sell it to me. The car was really a time machine. It had 76,000 miles and had nearly all the original parts including the Lucas headlights. The pebble interior was in very good shape and the body was nearly perfect except for a slight ding in the left front fender. The fire did not warp any of the sheet metal although it did melt one of the fresh air vents under the dash. Through the years it had one blue repaint over the original white paint. In the past couple of years I have completely restored the Tiger. The Tiger won Best in Show September 2002 at the Taste of Morgan Hill.
After 14 years of ownership I sold this car in September of 2013.
After 14 years of ownership I sold this car in September of 2013.
The first thing I did when I got the car home was to strip all the parts in preparation for a paint job. Todd Baumgartner did the body work and applied the 2000 VW Tornado red paint job ( I couldn't stand to stick with the original white). The interior was done by none other than Martha Wheat/Christensen of Pro Prep interiors and was installed by Paul Reisentz.
The brake lines, clutch line, and many of the fuel lines are stainless steel and are made by Classic Tube. All hydraulic fluids are DOT 5 synthetic. I'm very happy with the results. The rear end is a standard 2.88 Tiger rear end. Didn't touch it other than to clean it up and paint it....and to add a torque arm from Dan Walters (this really changes the way the car launches). The stock Tiger close ratio transmission was modified to a wide ratio by David Kee. The exhaust system starts with Jet Hot coated headers. From there 2" stainless steel takes over and is topped off by a set of low profile (2 1/4 ") Spin Tech mufflers. Take a look at the picture of the mufflers, they're really cool.
The engine is a 5 bolt 289. It was built by Mike Kodenko of Santa Paula. I used the Hillman to haul the engine from San Jose down to Mike in Santa Paula). It has HIPO 289 internals and heads. I run an F4B intake with a Holly carb. The HIPO distributor has been modified with a Pertronix electronic ignition. The starter and alternator were redone by Autolectrics of Campbell. The car originally came with a generator but I upgraded to an alternator to make sure I had enough power for the 16" electric fan in front of the radiator. The oil system has been modified to make sure the 270 horses stay oiled. Radiator was done by Peter Economoff of Peterbuilt Radiators of Santa Barbara. The original wiring harness was reworked and rewrapped by Mr. Reisentz. He also did the strengthening and rebuilding of the front end. All Chrome was done by Faith Bumper Service of Santa Clara. All of the cars fasteners (nuts and bolts) were replated.
Special thanks goes to Paul Reisentz for helping me assemble the car and for fixing my mistakes.
The engine is a 5 bolt 289. It was built by Mike Kodenko of Santa Paula. I used the Hillman to haul the engine from San Jose down to Mike in Santa Paula). It has HIPO 289 internals and heads. I run an F4B intake with a Holly carb. The HIPO distributor has been modified with a Pertronix electronic ignition. The starter and alternator were redone by Autolectrics of Campbell. The car originally came with a generator but I upgraded to an alternator to make sure I had enough power for the 16" electric fan in front of the radiator. The oil system has been modified to make sure the 270 horses stay oiled. Radiator was done by Peter Economoff of Peterbuilt Radiators of Santa Barbara. The original wiring harness was reworked and rewrapped by Mr. Reisentz. He also did the strengthening and rebuilding of the front end. All Chrome was done by Faith Bumper Service of Santa Clara. All of the cars fasteners (nuts and bolts) were replated.
Special thanks goes to Paul Reisentz for helping me assemble the car and for fixing my mistakes.
Spin Tech 2 1/4" mufflers
