Ken & list,
Great story about your Spitfire Jones. Mine is similar, but different (maybe we
went to different schools together?) ;-)
My best friend in high school came from a pretty well-to-do family. He also
happened to have leukemia. His folks bought him a beautiful, red Spitfire,
circa 1965, I'd guess. He and I had a few pretty good times in that car, but
his health was deteriorating at that time, too. He died on my 17th birthday in
1968.
Fast forward to 1972. My wife and I (yes, I got married pretty young - I was 20
and she turned 19 the day before the wedding - we celebrated our 26th year of
wedded bliss in August, and I'm not kidding about the wedded bliss part) bought
our first Spitfire, a red 1971. We owned two more Spitfires and a TR7 before
family-dom set in seven years later and we had to go to a Mazda 626.
Fast forward again to 1995. After watching the ads for years ("just to keep
track of the prices, dear"), I spotted a '79 Spitfire advertised at the local
CADILLAC dealership, of all places. I went to look at it, and that was it.
Within a week, it was in our garage. I won't tell you what I paid for it, but
it had 26,350 certified miles on it, a hardtop, overdrive, and was darned close
to perfect in my eyes. I've put money into it, for sure - a softtop and frame,
tonneau cover, hardtop and softtop boots, an alternator, a battery, a couple of
tune-ups, etc. - but darned if I don't get that same feeling of satisfaction
every time I see it in the garage that I got the first night I brought it home!
Happy New Year, Spitfire Listers!
Ken Tharp
79 Spitfire 1500
West Des Moines, IA
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