Story of my Tigers

[cobrakidz]

I read this section a lot but have never added my tale to it. As a kid in the 70's I had a paper route, and on it there were 2 houses with cool cars--1 a 260 Cobra and the other a Tiger. Since Cobras were worth about $10k, I knew it was way out of my reach, so I focused on the Tiger.
I became good friends (still to this day) with the Tiger owner, and one day I found an Alpinre and bought it. While the Alpine was a fun car, it was not a Tiger, so the search continued.
In the early 80's I found a Tiger for sale in the bay area, so we went to look at it, rented a trailer and brought it home--a whopping $900 including the hardtop. I tinkered with the car for several years, but never actually driving it. It had the firewall cut out for webers, flared fenders, fat slot mags--it was awesome. I eventualy sold it when I found a "better" Tiger, bought it and started the mods. I ended up painting it Porsche Raspberry which ruffled a few feathers when I showed up at Tiger events. I had this car for about 15 years. In the meantime I bought my wife her own Tiger which she had a blast in.
In the early 2000's I got the bug again and purchased a beautiful restored Tiger out of Colorado, enjoyed the car for about 2 years but soon found out a wife and 2 kids don't fit well in it, so again I sold another Tiger, this time to Carroll Shelby for his wife Cleo--so I knew it was going to a good home.
So now this brings me to my current Tiger--I found this car in the North Lake Tahoe area last year. Mechanically it is great, but the body needed some attention. It currently resides at my buddies paint shop, and I am desperately trying to decide on a color--probably the hardest part of a restoration for me.
This is my tale of 5 Tigers, I have had a blast with them and hopefully this is the last one I will buy.

 

[cobrakidz]

Got the Tiger back from it's 7 month body shop prison term, spent the day re-assembling it. So far so good, but boy am I sore, must be getting old.....

 

[65beam]

tiger

you forgot the bumpers and wipers!

 

[cobrakidz]

That and more on tomorrows list....

 

[michael-king]

It's looking good.. step by step.. take your time and be patient.. dont scratch the new paint!

 

[cobrakidz]

Thanks. I have been going to the shop lately and slowly putting items on, spend close to 30 hours there starting with jacking it up and detailing the undercarrage. A lot of time was spent looking for misc screws and nuts/bolts. I separated all the hardware that I took off, the items they took off they just threw all in one pile, ugh.....

 

[AshUK]

Love the Cobra scoop. Did you rivet it on or is it bonded?

 

[Warren]

Bright Side

They could have crammed the bolts in where ever they felt like they fit or used close metric ones like they did on my car. There is a nice nut and bolt list on Tigers utd. site I think. It is kind of amazing how they decided to use 1/4 26 and 1/4 28 in the same car as well as the other oddball fastener here and there. It can be really frustrating stay cool there in central Cali. and get er done.

 

[cobrakidz]

Thanks Warren, I gave up today after it got to be in the mid 90's, whew. The Cobra scoop is rivoted on, thought about using screws but I wanted the lowest attachment piece I could get. Got the brake lights working, not sure how but I went through all the wires and pulled the bulbs, next thing I knew they were working, yaaaa.

 

[cobrakidz]

I finally got ALL the exterior lights and signals working, boy does that feel good. I was going to take it out this weekend but they are predicting 105F saturday, I'll pass on the convertible.

 

[steven]

I finally got ALL the exterior lights and signals working, boy does that feel good. I was going to take it out this weekend but they are predicting 105F saturday, I'll pass on the convertible.

Part of owning a convertable, braving the heat & the cold to enjoy the run. After saying that, I have fitted our hardtop (its winter here) so the lady will come on outings. It (the hardtop) has been sitting in the top of the shed for at least 3 years.

 

[cobrakidz]

When I was younger I LOVED the top down driving experience, as I have gotten older (and wiser) I choose my outings carefully..
Last summer we drove with the hardtop on, I think it was hotter than if it were off.

 

[0neoffive]

Brisk is heavenly

Being a Nor'east breed, very late autumn with the top down and a selection of clothing options in the boot is heartwarming. A bit of flannel on the arms & shoulders while we scatter the fallen leaves in the corners. There is a small time-frame window between the Fall tourists and the ski bums when the roads are still salt free and there's space to change a few gears with a firm hand and let the Tiger be a Tiger. Life can be good . . . . . .

 

[cobrakidz]

I bet the drive in the fall is beautiful up your way. I like Feb/March and then Oct/Nov around here, or summer evenings. The day is just too hot and sunny, it will cook what little gray matter I have left.

 

[65Tiger]

Those temps you were reporting sound like home. You must be close.

 

[cobrakidz]

I am in the Sacramento area, this central valley heat is awful at times.

 

[steven]

Well down under it gets down to 7C at night and a balmy 22C during the day. However because it has never snowed in this part of the world, 7C brings on the jumpers. We are going to a Jumpers & Jazz weekend in a couple of weeks Lovley.

 

[cobrakidz]

Worked on the car for another 8 hours today, I am pooped. Tomorrow night is the cars debut, there is a pre-concours show that I am going to, I'll post a few pics afterwards.

 

[michael-king]

Well down under it gets down to 7C at night and a balmy 22C during the day. However because it has never snowed in this part of the world, 7C brings on the jumpers. We are going to a Jumpers & Jazz weekend in a couple of weeks Lovley.

It was funny watching the northerners at the national.. the -1c on the last night gave them a nice send off...

 

[cobrakidz]

It has been a mad thrash the last week but I think I have it almost all together, here it was tonight.