Aiming for a larger share of the very lucrative market, Sunbeam launched the 'Tiger' sports car at the 1964 New York Motor Show. Effectively a V8-engined version of the existing 'Alpine', it was developed by Carroll Shelby and Ken Miles just like the somewhat similar Cobra had been a few years earlier. As part of the marketing strategy an ambitious competition program was also started with the aim of fielding two cars in that year's 24 Hours of Le Mans. Hired to turn the Tiger into a racing car was Brian Lister, who was best known for the Jaguar and Chevrolet powered sports racers of the late 1950s. The result of his labour was the Tiger Lister Le Mans Coupe, which featured a Ron Wisdom designed fixed-head body. The prototype was ready in time for the Le Mans trials and come race day, Sunbeam could field two 'production' cars. Unfortunately the lack of development resulted in two early mechanical failures. Strong sales figures of the road-going Tiger brought a premature end to the costly program and the cars were not raced again. Amazingly all three do still exist today and this year we were treated to two examples (the prototype and one of the Le Mans cars) being driven in anger. These very rare and probably the most sought after of all Tigers can be seen in great detail in our 18-shot gallery.
This week, Mercedes-Benz released the first glimpses and technical details of the next generation SL due to be revealed in full next month. Sporting an aluminium chassis, the 'R231' is fully justified to wear the 'Sport Leicht (Light)' name. Thanks to the lighter chassis, a full 140 kg has been shaved off the weight compared to the current model. Another novelty is the 'Magic Vision Control' system that makes spraying the windscreen with wiper fluid an altogether more pleasurable and safer experience. For now all we have are shots of camouflaged test mules and of the aluminium chassis but as soon as more pictures and details are available we will expand the article.

Enjoy the links:

2012 Mercedes-Benz SL - Images, Specifications and Information

1964 Sunbeam Tiger Lister Le Mans Coupe - Images, Specifications and Information