| With the help of friends in about 1985, we pieced back together my Sunbeam Tiger, a car that had been damaged more than we knew when we started. I would later rebuild the 260, substituting a 5-bolt 289 block, and with a few performance goodies like Ford Motorsports cam, Rhodes lifters, and Edelbrock F4B intake. The ran and sounded fantastic, and served as my daily ride all through college. | |
| 1. Paul preps the front sheet metal for transplant. The donor Alpine is in the background. 2. Bill prepares the frame horns and inner fenders, so we can weld on the new sheet metal. 3. Loosely fitted, you can see here where we put the seam for the front sheet metal replacement. |  |
| 1. The donor car was about a 1963 Alpine with a GT interior, black with a red interior. By the time I acquired it, it was nothing but a shell missing one door. It would have been a nice car when new!. 2. Here the front sheet metal is fitted to the Tiger. 3. The Tiger with its new front fenders. The original fender lips had been cut off and bondo flares fabricated. |  |
| 1. Here you can see the seams, that is Bill making sure these will stay on the car. 2. . 3. . |  |
| 1. More on the surgery. 2. Seams were brazed and covered with fiberglass reinforced filler. Inner fenders were welded. 3. Back into the daylight with un-butchered fenders. |  |
| 1. These were taken at first light, about 6am, after returning home at about 4am! 2. Profile after fender surgery, she looks so much better. |  |
| 1. Andy strips the left rear fender, there were MANY layers of paint here. 2. The rear had flares made of bondo like the front, but thankfully the rear fender lips still existed underneath all the filler. 3. Stripping paint is a messy job, and not particularly fun. |  |
| 1. Stripping the fender. 2. Here the quarter panel is bare metal. Look close and you can see where a replacement quarter was just installed by cutting away the old one, and pop-riveting the new one over the old. It was not a quality repair, but I was on a minimum-wage budget, and had to live with it. 3. Andy's sign read "Bondo Area - Caution!" (Click picture for a larger view). |  |
| 1. A bare-metal 'restoration' on $3.35 an hour, I had to be crazy. 2. Here the riveted quarter panel can be seen clearly (Click picture for a larger view). 3. Filled and sanded, it actually came out decently. Still, Bill spent a lot of time later, making these look good enough for shiney paint. |  |
| 1. Paul gets a big laugh out of how much bondo was in my car. Who would do this? We knew at age 20 that this was crappy work. 2. Bondo was thick.... 3. ... crazy. |  |
| 1. This gouge through the plastic uncovered an area where someone had cut an L-shaped opening to hammer the sheet metal back in place, then applied about two spots of brass and covered it in bondo. . 2. Multiple layers of paint and bondo, covering multiple areas of damage. The small picture to the right shows where the quarter had been cut open. The car had been hit in the right door... 3. ...and the quarter was creased behind the rear wheel. |  |
| 1. Rear quarters in primer. 2. Thankfully the rear pan and trunk lid hadn't suffered serious damage. They weren't perfect, but far better than the rest of the car. 3. The donor alpine supplied the front portion of the quarter to fix where the original had been cut open.. |  |
| 1. Stripping the right side door. This door had been replaced sometime in the cars past. 2. Another look at the replacement door jamb. 3. Bare door and quarter, I'm working my way around the car. |  |
| 1. Paul strips the paint off of the hood. 2. Cleaning up the residue after paint stripper. You can see my dad's unrestored Tiger in the garage behind. 3. Andy wire brushed the inside until it was perfectly clean. |  |
| 1. Hood bare. 2. Hood in primer. 3. Hood in primer. |  |
| 1. Prepping the trunk lid. It isn't perfect, but it is better than the rest of the car. 2. Bare metal inside and out! 3. Filling some minor damage on the trunk lid. |  |
| 1. Here she is fresh out of Bill's garage with paint. Porsche Guards Red, she looked stunning! 2. Don't ask me what's up with the Norelco badge. 3. Side trim on, and minilite wheels fitted. |  |
| 1. Me in Space Camp uniform, as I prepare to haul the freshly painted Tiger home for reassembly. 2. The car taking shape, she looks so good it is hard to believe what we started with. |  |
| 1. As driven in college. No antique plate, so this was before 1990. Note the quad exhaust tips. They looked cool, but were so heavy they pulled the exhaust hangers off of the bottom of the car.. |  |
| 1. Porsche-style flag mirrors, Cibie driving lights, and a Union Jack plate. Hey, it was the 80s! |  |