The true promise of this design was fulfilled when Rootes approved Carroll Shelby to see if a Ford 260 V8 would fit.

The V8 was only 3.5" longer than the 1.7 liter straight four, while the width required some shoehorning. As finished the prototype weighed only 20% more at 2653lbs. As the 260 ci V8 only weighed in at 400lbs, the weight balance of the chassis, at 51% front 48% back, stayed the same. So the handling was unaffected, except by the substantially greater acceleration out of the corners and on the straights.

The Sunbeam Tiger hit the market at the 1964 New York Show, and was a hit

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If there is something familiar about this design, it is that the Rootes Group designer of this Sunbeam Alpine, Ken Howes, took his inspiration from the '56 - '57 Thunderbird.

Tailored to the Sunbeam mechanicals this was actually the fulfillment of the Thunderbird design as a light and nimble sports car.
Ironically by the time the Sunbeam came to market in 1959 Ford had abandoned any sports car pretensions and moved into the four place coupe market with the Thunderbird.