Both the AC Cobra and the Sunbeam Tiger were styled by British companies, built on British chassis designs and are powered by Ford V8 engines. And they both had the involvement of Carroll Shelby.
Shelby created the Cobra and he and Ken Miles helped Sunbeam create the first two prototypes of the Tiger.
The Sunbeam Tiger is a Ford powered variation of the Sunbeam Alpine roadster. Once Shelby and Miles helped prove the Tiger concept Rootes (the owner of Sunbeam) contracted Jensen in England for development and manufacturing of the Tiger.
The Mark 1 Tigers used the 260 cid Ford and the Mark 2 used the 289 cid Ford engine. There were a total of 7,085 Tigers made from 1964 to 1967 when Chrysler bought Rootes and ended production of the Tiger because it used a Ford engine and Chrysler did not have an engine that would fit in the Sunbeam.
There were 75 Cobra 260s made between 1962 and 1963, 580 Cobra 289 models made between 1963 and 1965 and 343 Cobra 427 versions produced between 1965 and 1967. No one knows how many thousands of replicas have been made because the Cobra is the most copied car in history.
I can see three big differences between the Tiger and the Cobra:
1) The Cobra is drop dead gorgeous and the Tiger is cute.
2) The Cobra has a fantastic race history.
3) There were many more Tigers made than Cobras, not counting the uncountable Cobra replicas.
The result is that there is about a ten to one valuation difference between a Cobra and a Tiger and that is the biggest difference of all.
Click on the images for a larger view.
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