[luke-44]

The actual "father" of the Tiger was a Mr. Ian Garrad - the Rootes West coast manager at the time, not Carroll Shelby.

A little known fact is Garrard actually contracted with Ken Miles (not Shelby) to do the first prototype from an Alpine. A crude quick swap was done by Miles in his own shop (while Miles was working for Shelby), but the Miles prototype needed changes that were obvious, but were not possible with the first prototype budget. With the motor far too far forward, it's handling was probably best described as dangerous...

It did prove the concept, however, and Shelby was then hired by Gerrad to do a more engineered swap - the motor was moved back, the firewall was changed, steering rack swapped out, etc. This is the car that was sent to the UK, and further refinements were made by Rootes before production began. This was pretty much Shelby's involvement in the Tiger

There were approx 7000 Tigers made in total - quite a limited run in automotive terms, but obviously significantly more than a Cobra. There were actually 3 series - the Mk1, 1A, and Mk II. The Mk II is considered the most desireable as it had the 289 instead of the Mk 1/IA's more anemic 164 HP 260. As well, there were only 571 Mk II's made, before the Chrysler Corp took over Rootes, and it had to retire the marque. I personally prefer the lines and look of the 1/1A, though.

Yes, Chrysler dealers did sell Ford replacement engine parts for the Tiger, and no, there was never a Tiger made with a Chrysler engine, although they did make a few prototype sketches, which in my opinion probably ended becoming something more resembling the original Plymouth Barracuda.

Tigers today probably represent a great value - the "poor mans Cobra" so to speak. A perfect or near perfect one can probably be had for mid '$30's.

There are a lot of junk Tigers out there, and more than a few "fakes" - a serial number badge of a Tiger from a wrecking yard and a clean Alpine shell can make a close clone - not that there is anything wrong with an Alpine with a V8 transfusion - just don't represent it as an original Tiger.

I would be very wary about the one on ebay earlier in this thread - it is essentially a unibody and the rust showing on the eBay car is much deeper than first appears. The roll bars and other stuff seriously detract from it as well.

my 2 or 3 cents worth....Regards, luke-44