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Re: [Spridgets] Spitfire in 73

To: Frank Clarici <spritenut@comcast.net>
Subject: Re: [Spridgets] Spitfire in 73
From: Linda Grunthaner <grunthaner@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 8 Jan 2011 14:43:38 -0500
When I sold my 68 Spitfire (my first restoration project in 77) after 30
years of ownership I cried all night. I should have been crying about the 3
differentials I had to put in it. in the back yard. I knew I wanted another
LBC and started researching other models.  Then I meet Frank I liked what he
said about the Spridget's reliability and compared it to his experience with
Spitfires. Then I found Pinky in Los Angele's on eBay. I have to say I love
the Italian body design of the Spitfire but I hated the differential
trouble.
Lin

On Fri, Jan 7, 2011 at 11:10 PM, Frank Clarici <spritenut@comcast.net>wrote:

> David is correct. My second engine was from a 69 Spit, it was a 1296 as the
> 73 was the first year with the 1500.
> The 1296 was decent.
> They also cheapened up the transverse leaf spring in 73 which led to
> excessive wear on the U joints because the rear wheels tended to stick out
> like a hula skirt.
> And I was 18 years old and not exactly a user friendly driver.
> BUT my first car was a 67 Sprite, yeah I beat the crap out of it and it
> stood up to it. The Spit would blow a diff if you let up on the gas going
> down hill and stepped back on the gas to go up a hill. I live in Jersey, we
> have sand dunes, not big hills.
> I have replaced U joints on the side of the road at night.
> I finally put the whole ass end set up from an early Spit into the 73 just
> to make it semi trouble free as the majority of my problems were diff and
> axle U joints.
> When I sold it, I bought another Sprite and never looked back.
> Remember this was a new car, I sold it with 36000 miles on it.
>
>
>
> --
> Frank Clarici
> Toms River, NJ
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