Ian Garrad was the United States West Coast sales manager for Rootes Group, parent company of Sunbeam.
Ten years later, he became the manager of the west coast sales unit for the Rootes Group, in Los Angeles.
The best of the two prototypes were shipped back to England with the goal of persuading management to enter production; a new car with the Tiger name consisting of the diminutive Alpine body with a large Ford V8 engine.
The model was short lived due to labor problems in England, such that Chrysler was brought in as a minority partner in 1965.
Chrysler showed no interest in producing a sports car using a competitor's engine, nor the man that bought it to market.