page_title: Sunbeam Tiger
section_title: In popular media
hierarchical_section_title: Sunbeam Tiger / In popular media
caption_attribution_description: W.P.C. Restorers Club 10,000 Lakes Region Car Show June 12, 2011 Wagner's Drive in
context_page_description: The Sunbeam Tiger is a high-performance V8 version of the British Rootes Group's Sunbeam Alpine roadster, designed in part by American car designer and racing driver Carroll Shelby and produced from 1964 until 1967. Shelby had carried out a similar V8 conversion on the AC Cobra, and hoped to be offered the contract to produce the Tiger at his facility in the United States. Rootes decided instead to contract the assembly work to Jensen at West Bromwich in England, and pay Shelby a royalty on every car produced.
  Two major versions of the Tiger were built: the Mark I was fitted with the 260 cu in Ford V8; the Mark II, of which only 633 were built in the final year of Tiger production, was fitted with the larger displacement Ford 289 cu in engine. Two prototype and extensively modified versions of the Mark I competed in the 1964 24 Hours of Le Mans, but neither completed the race. Rootes also entered the Tiger in European rallies with some success, and for two years it was the American Hot Rod Association's national record holder over a quarter-mile drag strip.
context_section_description: The 1965 Tiger Mark I gained some exposure on American television as the car of choice for Maxwell Smart in the spoof spy series Get Smart. The Tiger was used for the first two seasons in the opening credits, in which Smart screeched to a halt outside his headquarters, and was used through the remainder of the series in several episodes. Some of the scenes featured unusual modifications such as a retractable James Bond-style machine gun that could not have fitted under the Tiger's bonnet, so rebadged Alpine models were used instead.
  Don Adams, who played the protagonist Maxwell Smart, gained possession of the Tiger after the series ended and later gave it to his daughters; it is reportedly on display at the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles. During its early years Rootes advertised the car extensively in Playboy magazine and lent a pink Tiger with matching interior to 1965 Playmate of the Year Jo Collins for a year.
  A Tiger Mark 1 is driven by one of the lead characters in the 1965 film Bunny Lake Is Missing.  The V8 engine note is unfamiliar in an English setting but emphasises that the driver is American. 
  The Tiger also featured in the 2008 film adaptation of the Get Smart TV series. A replica Tiger had to be constructed using a stock Sunbeam Alpine and re-created Tiger badging as no available Tiger could be found in Canada, where the film was produced. The production team recorded the sound of an authentic Tiger owned by a collector in Los Angeles and edited it into the film.
caption: Rear view of a 1966 Sunbeam Tiger showing the twin exhausts
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