Lister’s Tiger – 1964 Lister Tiger

The Sunbeam Tiger is a car well-known to enthusiasts. European cars with powerful American V8s are intriguing. Most of the time these Euro-American hybrids came with high-end, sexy bodies to house their muscular engines, such as the Facel Vega, Iso Rivolta and Griffo, and of course the Shelby Cobra. The Sunbeam Tiger had the muscle of an American V8, but the pedestrian styling of a well-known inexpensive 4-cylinder British car. Although attractive, the Sunbeam Alpine Series 1 (introduced in 1959) was only slightly different in appearance from the Tiger (the Alpine Series IV by 1964). The Rootes Group that manufactured the Sunbeam wanted to promote the new Tiger by putting the car on the world racing stage, and in 1964 there was no larger stage than the 24 Hours of Le Mans. A racecar based on the new Tiger would have to be designed, built and tested in just a few months. What could go wrong with that plan?

Sunbeam Alpines had enjoyed some racing successes, but with the V8 Tiger, the Rootes Group was entering uncharted territory with a large displacement, prototype class car. Brian Lister, the builder of many successful Jaguar racecars, among others, was chosen to build a prototype test mule, plus two more cars to be used as works cars for the race. Being in the prototype class, Lister wanted to build a lightweight custom racecar chassis with a somewhat stock-in-appearance body, a proven formula Lister had done for other manufactures many times. Rootes said no to a custom chassis, directing Lister instead to build the car with the Alpine’s monocoque, which had a short wheelbase derived from the Hillman Husky—not exactly the preferred DNA of a racecar. Rootes wanted the car to be more like the stock Tiger for marketing and publicity purposes. This decision, for better or worse, would shape the course of the design and, ultimately, the performance characteristics of the car.