2023 Club Calendar Monthly Car Articles

[tractordealer]

Thanks, Dan your components save a ton of work and fit very well. Gina, I am pretty sure I got the soft top cover from Rick at Sunbeam Specialties


Karl

 

[belmateo]

@absunbeam
your turn

 

[absunbeam]

I’ll have to dust off the keyboard and get crackin’

 

[absunbeam]

This maybe a rather long story about what happens when someone passes away without a will and the only next of kin are 2 brothers 1000 miles away. Starts with Dave LeFebre getting a call about anyone interested in some Alpines and parts in Minnesota. Dave in turns calls Tom Jeffers to go and look at the collection since he is the nearest to Prior Lake Mn, so Dave gives Tom the contact info and proceeds to travel to the estate for a look. After that with many pictures and discoveries Tom calls Eric Gibeau about parts and also a Craigslist listing. Eric calls me in Nov and informs me that I need to go to Lake Prior Mn to see whats left. I contact the executor(nephew) of the Estate and setup a visit, he has been traveling between Mn & Tx to figure out whats there he also has to learn what Sunbeams are. My cousin happens to live in Prior Lake so for a riding companion his 87 yr old mother (my aunt) wants to ride along. No problem she is quite the dynamo and good company.
Once we get there the executor had just caught a plane back to Tx so the hired man who was in charge of cleaning out the estate was there as was my cousin. They had just got the 67 SV Alpine back from a shop that was going to get it running, no luck everything is locked up from the wheels to the motor. Also in the mix was a S1 Alpine parts car under the deck and a HiPo 289 complete, many parts in boxes. So after that made a deal over the phone with the executor for all items left which turned out to be a “good deal” until you have to remove it from the estate! Was a cold Nov with snow on the ground which made it somewhat miserable but my cousin was a huge help in getting things loaded and breaking loose wheels. The dirt on the SV was thick from 20+ yrs of barn storage. Inspected the body and found it to be virtually rust free with the original paint and a dented up front valence and many dings. The S1 had lots of usable parts but very rusty. My cousin pulled the S1 to the front of the drive with his wifes Mercedes SUV for picking up in spring. Got the SV loaded (dragged up) and with title on order off we go. As you can tell the dirt stayed pretty much intact on the trip back.
Next day washed the dirt off and found some surface rust to give it that nice patina. Getting it in the garage and on the hoist to see what I was in for. The hardtop on the SV had all the original plexiglass, trim, headliner and some rust holes in the pilar. Surprisingly the plexiglass was clear no fogging! Started to clean out the ravages of its stay in the barn of all the mouse nest and a mummified carcass under the cowel vent (see pic). Right rear wire wheel was stuck on the hub ended up cutting the spokes to finally pry it off. With determining that the motor was frozen and the other parts purchased could build a new one but since I had done that on a previous Alpine I owned decided to go with a TVR 2.8 V6 that I got from George Barton and a kit from Dan R + also a T5. Front end suspension was powder-coated, motor mounts added and Dan’s headers installed.
Now back to the estate for the rest of story, turns out the executor had titles but was missing a Tiger! That turned out to be the ex-wife had determined that since her name was on the title (they divorced in 92) she was entitled to it. It had been given to her nephew in Mo not far from Independence. Judge determined that it had to be turned over to the executor so he called me to see who might want be interested in purchasing it. Mitch Petersen (from lake prior)was looking at my Alpine for his son but passed, met him at the LaCrosse United and he told me his story about it. I asked him if he was interested in the Tiger and said he was so gave him the contact info and he purchased the Tiger before the SUNI in Independence. That has all the original equipment and is rust free also! Mitch had it TAC there many may remember the Black Tiger with white walls. Maybe could work a trade when the Alpine is done???
Sorry for making this a long story, but it’s been an interesting time restoring. Thanks for making it to the June Calendar!
Al

 

[nsbluenose]

This maybe a rather long story about what happens when someone passes away without a will and the only next of kin are 2 brothers 1000 miles away. Starts with Dave LeFebre getting a call about anyone interested in some Alpines and parts in Minnesota. Dave in turns calls Tom Jeffers to go and look at the collection since he is the nearest to Prior Lake Mn, so Dave gives Tom the contact info and proceeds to travel to the estate for a look. After that with many pictures and discoveries Tom calls Eric Gibeau about parts and also a Craigslist listing. Eric calls me in Nov and informs me that I need to go to Lake Prior Mn to see whats left. I contact the executor(nephew) of the Estate and setup a visit, he has been traveling between Mn & Tx to figure out whats there he also has to learn what Sunbeams are. My cousin happens to live in Prior Lake so for a riding companion his 87 yr old mother (my aunt) wants to ride along. No problem she is quite the dynamo and good company.
Once we get there the executor had just caught a plane back to Tx so the hired man who was in charge of cleaning out the estate was there as was my cousin. They had just got the 67 SV Alpine back from a shop that was going to get it running, no luck everything is locked up from the wheels to the motor. Also in the mix was a S1 Alpine parts car under the deck and a HiPo 289 complete, many parts in boxes. So after that made a deal over the phone with the executor for all items left which turned out to be a “good deal” until you have to remove it from the estate! Was a cold Nov with snow on the ground which made it somewhat miserable but my cousin was a huge help in getting things loaded and breaking loose wheels. The dirt on the SV was thick from 20+ yrs of barn storage. Inspected the body and found it to be virtually rust free with the original paint and a dented up front valence and many dings. The S1 had lots of usable parts but very rusty. My cousin pulled the S1 to the front of the drive with his wifes Mercedes SUV for picking up in spring. Got the SV loaded (dragged up) and with title on order off we go. As you can tell the dirt stayed pretty much intact on the trip back.
Next day washed the dirt off and found some surface rust to give it that nice patina. Getting it in the garage and on the hoist to see what I was in for. The hardtop on the SV had all the original plexiglass, trim, headliner and some rust holes in the pilar. Surprisingly the plexiglass was clear no fogging! Started to clean out the ravages of its stay in the barn of all the mouse nest and a mummified carcass under the cowel vent (see pic). Right rear wire wheel was stuck on the hub ended up cutting the spokes to finally pry it off. With determining that the motor was frozen and the other parts purchased could build a new one but since I had done that on a previous Alpine I owned decided to go with a TVR 2.8 V6 that I got from George Barton and a kit from Dan R + also a T5. Front end suspension was powder-coated, motor mounts added and Dan’s headers installed.
Now back to the estate for the rest of story, turns out the executor had titles but was missing a Tiger! That turned out to be the ex-wife had determined that since her name was on the title (they divorced in 92) she was entitled to it. It had been given to her nephew in Mo not far from Independence. Judge determined that it had to be turned over to the executor so he called me to see who might want be interested in purchasing it. Mitch Petersen (from lake prior)was looking at my Alpine for his son but passed, met him at the LaCrosse United and he told me his story about it. I asked him if he was interested in the Tiger and said he was so gave him the contact info and he purchased the Tiger before the SUNI in Independence. That has all the original equipment and is rust free also! Mitch had it TAC there many may remember the Black Tiger with white walls. Maybe could work a trade when the Alpine is done???
Sorry for making this a long story, but it’s been an interesting time restoring. Thanks for making it to the June Calendar!
Al

I really like the red over white colour combo.

 

[belmateo]

Nice story, in the first picture are some exhaust I had never seen. Is that what original tigers came with?

 

[absunbeam]

Those were the LAT header option, only that side was found with the exhaust pipe. Made a good wall hanging by the Rootes sign!

 

[absunbeam]

Current wall hanging, always wonder what happened to the other side. Think it might have made it to the scrap pile.

 

[ernestovumbles]

I flipped over this month's calendar and found my car as the July feature..
I've owned this 1963 Series 3 GT for about 3 years now and had been storing it for the prior owner in my garage with driving privileges for a couple years before that.

The first and second year I had a bit of sorting out of the ignition and cooling systems, and have had to fix and adjust a few things on the way, but I have been able to tackle everything that has gone wrong myself so far with lots of help from this forum.

I drive the car weekly as long as there isnt snow or salt on the ground, and have been enjoying the heck out of it.

Fun fact.. this car was built about 2 week after I was born.

 

[belmateo]

K.I.S.S
Keep It Short and Sweet!

 

[tigereater]

Beautiful car. I would love to see some interior shots.
BTW (Reminds me I need to flip my calendar to July.)

 

[ernestovumbles]

Beautiful car. I would love to see some interior shots.

As some may have noticed.. I like taking pictures of this car ;-)

I believe the prior owner upgraded the steering wheel.. not sure if he also did the dash/seats or if that was done earlier.

I have upgraded to a wood shift knob (thru a member on this forum) and added a blanking cover for the overdrive stalk since this picture was taken.

 

[junkman]

Sorry for the late post. This fairly early S3 GT in color #62 has been restored to mostly factory original, with a couple improvements. #B9202310GTLRX apparently had a full restoration started in 1988. I acquired this car in October 2021 from a fellow member here who bought the car to get a hardtop for 1 of his 2 Tigers. I had a decent hardtop lying around looking for a home, so I bought it thinking "quick flip". The car was in 1990s yellow primer with no interior and as we discovered, who ever did the bodywork was not that fussy. In order to get it ready for paint my body man put in approximately 500hrs. Along with the car came some paperwork from a machine shop for disassembly of a seized 1592. Parts included 4 sleeves, 4 pistons, cam bearings and freeze plugs. I'm sure there were quite a few more parts involved as the bill came out to around $700 in 1988 money. The original front end ( early type) had been rebuilt as were the brakes by a previous owner. The tranny had been cleaned up and painted black and gold, turned out it was not useable as it kicked out of 3rd and sounded like a cement mixer. I installed a good used S5 full synchro box. The dash had been also swapped out for a vinyl and I couldn't source a decent walnut veneer replacement, so I left it, as everything worked and it wasn't too ugly. It came with a set of early S3 seats which have the split type bottoms and backs which along with being a pain to rebuild they're not that comfortable. A nice set of S5 seats were restored and installed. The 1592 had been fitted with twin Zeniths, which leaked and ran like crap so I fitted a Webber 32/36 from Sunbeam Specialties. Huge improvement!! The exhaust was held together with a couple aluminum soda cans and rusty old clamps that we replaced with aluminized 1 3/4 pipe. The trunk interior and gas tanks had been finished nicely in gold body paint and black gloss tanks that looked real nice but were full of rust to the point it stopped up the fuel line on one of my test drives. I have been quite busy lately and just received the POR 15 kit to coat the tanks the other day. After I finish sealing the tanks this lovely calendar girl will be for sale. So save your pennies boys and girls for a chance to own a nicely restored #62 Bronze S3 GT.

 

[tigereater]

Beautiful car