Hello listers,
Good God, what have I done? A fellow lister that I shared mututal interest
in with a '68 Mk3 restoration project drove out to the Arizona desert with
his trailer and picked up the beast, which he kept the engine from and most
of the other bits and pieces. He offered to sell me the restored chassis,
plus the tub, steel hardtop, doors, rebuilt trans, extra trans, diff, seats,
rails, bonnet, etc. for a price that I just couldn't pass up. My intention
was to transplant the chassis under the delicate body of my lovely Mrs.
Jones.
He even offered to deliver it to me for free.
So now, I'm the proud (?) owner of an IMMACULATE rolling chassis with new
coil springs, rebuilt and painted calipers, steering rack and lots of new
suspension bits. Here's my dilemma.
Upon first glance, the tub appears to be in MUCH nicer overall shape than my
current car. Some LIGHT surface rust here and there, but solid through and
through with a very straight bonnet and only a few very small areas that
would need bodywork. No rust through ANYWHERE, except a hole the size of a
dime in the otherwise perfect looking battery box. It appears that this was
an original Arizona car. In a nutshell, THIS looks like the tub I should be
restoring -- at least -- it would no doubt cost a lot less since there is no
need to replace the floors, rockers, rear wings, bonnet, etc.
So what's the problem, you ask? Mrs. Jones is a RHD, which I not only like
a great deal, but very unique among older Spitfires -- at least here in the
states. No, I don't want to own two Spitfires... The LHD shell I have is
just that. It would need far too many items (including an engine) to make
it complete.
Should I (gasp) SELL my beloved Mrs. Jones to finance the restoration of
this much more solid example of the marque? Should I strip Mrs. Jones and
salvage whatever I can, ending up with a LHD restored Spit and selling off
the RHD shell and whatever I have left? Or should I just keep Mrs. Jones as
is until I can afford the rest of the bodywork I want to do, sell the stuff
I just bought and forget the whole thing? What would YOU do? Man, I hate
this!!! By the way, I now have an old three rail gearbox and bell-housing
(working condition unknown) for sale if anyone wants to make me an offer.
Best wishes,
Jeff in San Diego
'67 RHD Spitfire Mk3 aka "Mrs. Jones"
Jeff's Classic '67 Spitfire Mk3 site & Vintage Spitfire Webring
http://www.ohms.com/spitfire/spitfire.shtml
home of the NEW Totally Triumph Auction
"By Triumph enthusiasts, for Triumph enthusiasts"
http://www.ohms.com/cgi-bin/TRauction.cgi
and... The Triumph Autos/Parts Wanted Listings
http://www.ohms.com/cgi-bin/TRwanted.cgi
...plus a few other surprises!
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