The Restoration of PRRROWL
TIGER # B382000221
An Article by John Crawley
March, 2001
Page 31
YOUR TIGER IS NOW RESTORED
You have finished your car, given it a test drive around the block a few times and all seems perfect. The big car show of the year is on and you are entered in the debuting restoration class. You are 25 miles from home and just about to pull off the freeway and . . . it dies . . . no electrical power.
You have the car towed home and after a week of working you find that the ground strap had paint under it and ground was not made. You have fixed the problem, the next club event is on and you are going to it. After five years of hearing about your car the Club is going to see your work. You back out of the driveway onto the street and . . . it dies . . . the brand new throttle cable is broken.
You have a new throttle cable installed and even though you missed the last meeting several of your friends from the Club have come over to view your "New" car. You have test driven the car ten times around the block and all is well. You back the car out of the driveway, get two blocks from home and . . . it dies . . . no spark. Your friends all help to push the TIGER home and then leave with a bit of smirk on their faces. You discover that the brand new Razzoo coil that you bought for three times the price of a standard coil has carped out. Oh well, not to be discouraged you fix it and decide to take your wife for a run on this hot summer night. You get 15 miles from home and . . . it cooks . . . 250 Deg. F.
You get home at 2:00 A.M. after it has cooled off. The next weekend the Auto-Trade-It magazine contains an ad:
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FOR SALE
1965 TIGER JUST RESTORED
$25,000 invested Best offer accepted
Phone: 355-5555
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This is not fiction — this is not a nightmare — this is true — true, that is, for many that restore cars. Most people have a tolerance level of about three breakdowns and then they loose confidence in the vehicle. BE MENTALLY PREPARED to have a shake down YEAR. I know one chap who has only professional work done to the highest of standards and he says it takes several years to work out the bugs. If your car has had a total restoration you have to remember that every system has been disturbed. The old rusty screw that you have taken out and replaced into a newly painted panel may have been a perfect ground and the new one may not be. Or the new replacement part may not have been manufactured to the same tolerances as the original. How often have you had work done by a good shop only to have the same or a related problem crop up soon afterward? Now multiply this by the number of systems in your car. This is the number of bugs you can expect to fix in the first year of driving your restoration.
My advice is simple: Have patience and drive your car a lot. If you give up on driving it the bugs will get worse, not better. Also fix and maintain your car. Remember your restored car is FUN to fix and it will get better. It is new and easy to work on. There is no grease and gunge to clean up. But you must fix each little bug as they come up. Do not let them pile up. After you have survived this trial you will find that your enjoyment of the car will be even greater for your having survived the "de-bugging time."
Dee and I have travel more than 10,000 miles in 221 since we restored it. During the first month however, all of the things at the beginning of this article happened to me. And that was not the end of it. The wipers are still not to my satisfaction. I have done shocks several times trying to get them right. I want to go back to the front suspension and do the MG/Sprit modification. These things are not aggravations though, they are part of the TIGER mystique that makes them so fun to own and restore. TIGER owners the world over pour continual development into their machines. Following this development, deciding what you want to do with YOUR TIGER, and then doing the change to your car is a challenge that seems to never end. Some members of the TIGER community have been involved in these processes since they bought their cars new from the show room. Others of us discovered this magically intriguing machine late on but are no less enthusiastic for the marque. I have been involved with cars all my life and I have never found any other marque that can continually spark my interest and loyalty. I still thrill to a crisp shift at the top end of the R.P.M. scale, tingle to the staccato exhaust note on a still fall day and have an on-going love affair with the SUNBEAM TIGER. For an ending to adventure of writing this article I give you the following:
The evening's twilight sees a clear blue sky. The Rocky Mountain peaks cast their shadows across the plush green valley as the wildlife settle down for a peacefully evening. A mountain goat steps carefully along a narrow ledge high above the valley floor, a herd of elk graze quietly in an open meadow and an eagle sits on a branch scanning the grass far below for a scurrying morsel.
It starts off quietly like a distant rumble, a few elk lift their heads and look around. as the rumble grows. The eagle searches the horizon for a source. All goes quiet for a moment. Around the edge of a mountain comes 289 cubic inches of earth shaking thunder. The mountain goat searches for solid footing: the whole herd of elk bolt for cover and the eagle takes to the safety of the sky. As this strange beast from a foreign land passes the ground shakes and every living thing is aware of its presence. It passes through the valley and the wild things know that the lion may be king of the jungle but the TIGER rules the mountains and all the roads there in. After it has passed by everything returns to normal as quiet and darkness fall across the land.
Now, if this imagery does bring a smile to your lips, and put a song in your heart, and maybe a tear in your eye, you are missing all the good things that owning a Vintage Classic can bring. Go buy the Air Conditioned Miata with the auto transmission and sell the TIGER to someone who can love her for what she was, what she is. and what she can be. It's not as grand as marrying the girl you want to spend your life with, and it will not make up for it, but it will add yet another blessing to count along with a soul mate.
Bless you all,
Jc
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