Interview: Kathy (Tifft) Cooper
Daughter of Edward Tifft (Team 2)
I do remember the building of the Dolphin (the family’s name for the LeMans Coupe). I was constantly chased out of the garage and also had to wash the work clothes with all the horrible plaster and fiberglass in them! Yuck! I also remember “Tempest” being the original name of the “Dolphin”. Dad had very unusual printing and I can still see the word printed on the plans. We thought it was a very cool name. As I recall, someone (was it Dodge?) came out with a car by that name and he had to change it.
I also remember there was a man who came and wanted to buy the car for a good price to use in a movie. Dad was all for it until the fellow told him it would be used in a crash scene. No way was he going to see his baby demolished!
My memory goes a little fuzzy here, because I thought he built two cars and I don’t know if this applies to the Dolphin (editor note: the two cars Kathy referenced were actually hand-built Meteor sports cars that Edward Tifft built), but the deal he finally made included two Jaguars or similar, a sports car and a sedan? in trade, probably with added cash. The bigger car was sold on quickly and the other stayed around for awhile. Not sure if this was the one I used to ride in the footwell and poke my head up at stoplights – great fun. I might have some photos and will look around and get back to you, Geoff. Perhaps the photos will clarify things for me.
The cars were built when we lived in Gardena, California and the pictures of the cars being built are from our house on Harvard.
Personal Communication to Author: June 13, 2022