OK, so there really is only one question, what is the best way to
tow a spitfire? I'm looking at the two rear wheels up in a dolly (the
cheap option), all four wheels up on a trailer (expensive, but seems the
safest) or sticking her fully into a 15' truck (technically illegal and
I'd have to improvise some ramps). Any bits of advice?
For background, she runs great, except for needing some minor carb
work to help starting and lower gas consumption (quit snickering -- I'm
sure it's just a minor adjustment somewheres!). The towing is due to the
need to move significant quanties of stuff, including a couch, 900 miles.
I just got married on Dec. 19th, and am moving myself and my wife down to
Berkeley, CA (she's a professional student down there and I'm just
attracted to warmer weather for my Spit). As a somewhat humorous
sidenote, my wife looked over my credit card statement and asked what all
the charges to Victoria Brit, TRF and Moss were for. I told her they were
gifts for the other woman. She knew exactly what I meant, and repeated
her charming statement that she won't drive more than 100 miles in that
car until I get AAA...
Little side note: Spitfires do not do terribly well on sheet ice.
I didn't get into any trouble, but we did end up (after some fun sliding
about) parking my spit and spending a few hours waiting for a chained bus
on the way to the honeymoon. Anyone else in the Seattle area foolish
enough to be wandering about on that night (the 19th) with their Spitfire?
Anyhow, I'm rambling, so I'll just end with a perhaps useful
suggestion about how to remove pitch without hurting the paint. Maybe
it's obvious, but it took me a while to figure out that boiling water and
elbow grease does the job without visions of rubbing holes in the paint
with turpentine (I actually did put holes in the paint of my old car, a
Tempo, using Turps).
Any suggestions appreciated,
John Weale
1980 "British Racing Orange" Spitfire
---======================== John Weale(jweale@u.washington.edu) ========---
The world does revolve around engineers... they pick the coordinate system.
|