Any Tractor Guys Into Sports Cars Too?

[xtn]

Must be on a motorcycle is all I can say to that.

Nope. Four wheels, mid engine, 1,965 pounds. On a road course, horse power isn't everything.

 

[toppop52]

Nope. Four wheels, mid engine, 1,965 pounds. On a road course, horse power isn't everything.

On a really tight road course, maybe. Mid engine is a definite plus if the suspension, tires, etc... are matched up well. But because your horsepower to weight ratio isn't special so accelerating off the corners is not going to be your long suit, and anything resembling a straightaway is going to make you a sitting duck. The Z06 has 6.3 lbs per H.P., you have about 10.5, it's gonna take a really tight course or a really bad 'Vette driver to stay behind you, because they are not slouches handling, either.

 

[Egon]

Egon, I'd like to respectfully disagree../QUOTE]

And well you should.:thumbsup::thumbsup:

Completely forgot about the Cobra. Age you Know.

 

[RoyJackson]

Egon, I'd like to respectfully disagree../QUOTE]

And well you should.:thumbsup::thumbsup:

Completely forgot about the Cobra. Age you Know.

Me too, actually!
They were really nice sportscars...and since we're bringing up the Cobra, may as well mention the low buck version...Sunbeam Tiger!

 

[toppop52]

I'm helping a friend restore a Tiger now, still has the original 260 Ford in it. Honestly, not a great car, looks and sounds cool, but performance and handling are sub par for the package's potential. Saying that, I still think they're neat cars, but most of them, like other Brit's, succumbed to the rust monster. Parts are not easy to find either, it has the wrong expansion tank and we've been looking for 2 years.

 

[patrick_g]

Me too, actually!
They were really nice sportscars...and since we're bringing up the Cobra, may as well mention the low buck version...Sunbeam Tiger!

Hey, if they were good enough for me and my buddy Maxwell Smart...

I got a new one in '66 in Forrest (British Racing) Green. Came with 2bbl carb, hydraulic lifters, cast iron manifolds in and out. After putting on the requisite 1000 miles on the clock I got the factory authorized/supplied/came in box marked Sunbeam upgrades.

Vic Edelbrock designed aluminum high rise intake manifold that fitted up the Holley competition 4bbl carb (vacuum secondaries), welded equal length tuned headers with dumps, dual point racing distributor, high performance Ford 289 cam and solid lifters and I added in a Judson electronic magneto for HUGE spark. Got top speed of 165MPH.

Wheel hop was an issue... clock spring action on rear wheels and axles under hard acceleration and marginal traction. I literally pulled a shock and its top mount right out of the car. Needed more tabling (layers of steel to blend the force transmission over larger area) and traction masters. I drove it one winter in Minot, North Dakota and actually stayed on the road, no oops.

It was fun in snow/ice covered parking lots of shopping centers (closed at about 6PM in winter.) I credit the practice on ice for greatly improving my high speed skills which previously were not to pressed by previous sports car (1959 MG-A 1500cc with side curtains not rollup windows. I still have friends who say real sports cars had side curtains.

Out of the service and going to school again it became my wife's daily driver. I got a Honda motorcycle and a 1943 military Jeep for my transportation needs. To make El Tigre just a tad more docile I re-installed the stock cam with the hydraulic lifters to make it easier on the wife in heavier traffic/stop and go.

It was a pretty fun car. Didn't handle all that bad for the era. It had nearly perfect 50-50 weight distribution front-rear. Of course they shoved the tranny back between the driver and passenger, moved the spare tire position all the way back toward the back bumper and put the battery in the trunk to in order to get this ideal weight distribution. Gas tanks (2) were in the rear fenders just above the wheel wells. No valve to switch, tanks were interconnected.

The closest thing to a sports car I have now is a Myers Manx stype fiberglass bodied dune/beach buggy based on shortened VW bug and 1600 dual port air cooled engine. Currently on bench to find mystery oil leak.

Note to Tiger resto guys: You want Willys series J positraction rear end components and 4.56 rear end.

Pat

 

[irvingj]

Yes, I remember the Tigers, too. The originals, the Alpines, were OK, but not in the same class (or league) as our Jag. But as I remember, the Tigers, while fast, didn't fare all that well in tight corners and seemed to have dependability problems. (Did Lucas do their electric systems, too??:laughing

patrick_g- your Tiger, however, sounds like it had been modified to the point that it would have been a real contender! Your description of the original's handling seems very accurate, as I recall.

Those were the days.... about the only cars that could really give our 3.5 120 a good run were the early Cobras and the A-H 3000s. However, almost nothing could touch that 120 in a hillclimb, up twisty mountain roads, not even the Vettes of the era.

My Mom had a trophy from one of those hillclimbs (Killington? Agassiz?) that she was quite proud of: she had placed First in Class C, but it stated right on the trophy's plate that she had tied with a Corvette, which had a much larger engine (and had also placed first in its class). Everyone was quite amazed.

That Jag was a great car, as long as you didn't have to stop too quick or have to drive it at night!!:laughing::laughing:

 

[toppop52]

Tigers were cool cars, but fast, even in the day, they weren't. The early 260 cars had a 0-60 of 9.0, the 289 cars was 8.6 0-60 with a top speed of 122 mph as delivered.

 

[patrick_g]

Tigers were cool cars, but fast, even in the day, they weren't. The early 260 cars had a 0-60 of 9.0, the 289 cars was 8.6 0-60 with a top speed of 122 mph as delivered.

Tigers could be ordered with a choice of 5 rearend ratios. The long legged default 2.88:1 moved it on down the road economically but it sure hurt acceleration off the line, as you pointed out without fully understanding why. Properly prepared and running the 4.56 gears with Willys J series limited slip it would turn 108 in 13 flat as J stock class. (Cheater slicks and alternator in place of generator that sometimes disassembled itself at high revs.)

Pat

 

[brin]

The first sports car I had was a 1958 Ford Thunderbird my Dad bought for me in 1962 and then I bought a Datsun - 2 seater convertible..in about 1965..or '66 ..they were new to the US from Japan and looked cool but were junk..would never start in damp or rainy weather.

The next was a 1966 Mustang...brand new...good car. Then I bought a 1956 Porsche 356 as a fixer upper and I will never forget driving it home...I was all over the lane ..steering was off the wall...come to find out ( as Roy has pointed out ) rust had eaten away the underbody and it was shot...not fixable on my budget..so I sold it...

Then in 1976....I bought two Jaguar XKE convertibles , one yellow with a black top and one Brown with a black top...I had a friend who's sister was a secretary for an insurance auction company and I got the inside track on buying these recovered stolen cars the day before the dealer auction...I got a great deal and really loved them...I sold the Brown XKE and kept the yellow on free and clear ...I sold the Brown one for enough to pay for both. The Jag was a great car, the fastest I ever had it up to was on the interstate one early AM around daybreak in Florida of all places...I took it up to just over 140 MPH and backed off real fast...FHP would not have been happy and now that the statute of limitations has run...I can admit it...LOL

Then I had a 1980 Porsche 911 Targa...that was a dream...I figured once that the tires..Pirelleis cost 5 cents a mile...the most I ever got out of a set of tires was 15K miles..and they were expensive...I needed to have valves adjusted two or three times a year and that was not cheap..but I did not care..it was a great car and I sold it after about 5 yrs...

Now I am happy with my Jeep Grand Cherokee and Tractors....to hard to get into those sports cars now at my level of maturity....:laughing: