1964 SUNBEAM TIGER LE MANS COUPE

CURRENT OWNERS RICHARD AND MICHAEL SQUIRE

Three works Sunbeam Tiger Coupes were built for Le Mans in 1964, and the car registered 7734 KV – now owned by father and son Richard and Michael Squire – was the test mule.

It was the first Tiger built in the UK and, when the factory had finished with it, it was handed it over to Brian Lister to be used as one of the Le Mans cars. It was employed in the Le Mans tests, but by the time of the 1964 race the other two cars were ready and, sadly, proved to be glorious failures (7734 KV was taken to France as a spare).

After Le Mans it was used by Ian Hall, who was a Rootes works manager and co-driver. Hall did some sprints and hillclimbs with it before the car was sold to Alan Eccles.

After passing through a couple of dealers, the Tiger ended up with an owner who used it as a road car in London. It then went to Dick Barker in California in 1973 and he spent 20 years restoring it. Barker took it back to exact factory spec and then sold it to Chris Gruys, another respectful custodian.

The Squires are the first UK owners since 1973, and when it arrived back in the UK it had FIA papers and had already raced a couple of times, including at Goodwood in 2004. After a rework by Richard Walbyoff and his team, it made a racing return at last year’s Donington Historic Festival.

All three team Tigers from 1964 have survived. One of the other cars still races regularly and the third – the Bernard Unett car – is in California.