It Takes a Tiger “To Catch a Thief”

—Matt Stone

Employing celebs to pitch cars is nothing new. But you’d have to wonder how much Rootes Motors had to pay the timelessly dashing Cary Grant to pose with this Sunbeam Tiger. Yes, it may look just like an Alpine, Sunbeam’s tidy, four-cylinder-powered sports car that competed with the MGB and Triumph TR4. But with a 260 g (later 289) cu-in. Ford Vf 8 underhood, MGs and £ Triumphs had best not s mess with it. Hold on: 5 Ford V-8 in an English roadster? Sort of sounds like a Cobra, right? That was no coincidence either. For it was Carroll Shelby with whom Rootes consulted when the notion of a V-8-powered Alpine first arose. 01’ Shel, and Shelby team driver Ken Miles, helped ’em shoehorn the engine in; Lord Rootes himself…

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MotorTrend (Digital) - 1 Issue, August 2001

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