John Baker wrote:
I just acquired a Spitfire MKII
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Congrats on the acquisition, and welcome to the LBC owners society.
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the title says it is a 1966, the owner saidthat it was a 1965. The comm
number is FC61896A. Here are my questions:
1. Is it a 66 or a 65
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John - the comm. number build date and registration date occasionally do
not match as some of these LBCs often sat on a dealer's lot for a few
months before being sold and registered. I have the same problem with my
Mk I Spitfire - FC41955 was a 1964 model, but it was not registered until
1965. Tried to convince the DMV to fix it, but civil servants didn't want
to do the extra paperwork (sigh).
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2. The body and Engine are in bad shape (Hey its at least 31 years old) is
it rare enough to spend the time to restore it or part it, most of the
parts are there (and MANY extras) as far as I can tell (the car is in
boxes) and the frame looks like new.
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This is really a "personal choice" question (sorry - I don't like to punt
but it's the truth). Early Spits are not particularly "rare" in the sense
that a Zagato bodied Alfa Junior Zagato might be. I mean, Triumph made
several tens of thousands of them. OTOH, the numbers of runners in decent
shape are diminishing every year so you certainly aren't likely to see one
pass you on the way to work every day. Do you like it and want to keep it?
Then go ahead and "restore" it. I would like to add that you should not
expect to get out of it what you put into it. I and a few others on this
list (Ralph Jannelli, Joe Curry and Barry Schwartz come to mind off the top
of my head) have all spent fairly sizeable sums of money (well, sizeable in
relation to the acquisition costs of these cars) restoring our early Spits
to excellent condition. We love our cars, but my impression is that all of
us share one common trait - we knew in advance that we would end up
spending more on the car than it would fetch at a sale, made our peace with
it, and then went ahead and restored it anyways.
It sounds like you found a marginal candidate for a restoration. Bodywork
is probably the most expensive part of a restoration. The engine is no big
deal. Hell, I have two spare 1147cc motors in my side yard right now -
wanna buy one cheap? Perhaps you should consider a a "return her to
running state" restoration, and damn the ugly looks.
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3. How many of the parts will fit on a 1978 Spit which I also own.
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Most of the front suspension, but that's about it. Front and rear brakes
should swap out okay. Body and trim is all different (not sure about the
doors though). I don't think you want the non-swing spring rear end on
your later car. The early Spits have a three rail tranny, different input
shaft, etc. so the tranny's useless to you. Hmmm, anyone else know what
else might swap over to the later car?
P.S. - if you have a Mk II tubular exhaust header, working fuel pump and
the early Delco distributor - keep them, they are difficult to find and
have some value to others. Also, the bumpers are expensive to replace -
especially the front bumper.
Hope this helps.
Ross D. Vincenti
Asst. General Counsel/Asst. Sec'ty.
Transamerica Home Loan - Legal Dept.
Los Angeles, CA 90015
(213) 742-4756 phone
(213) 741-7231 or 741-6945 fax
ross.vincenti@transamerica.com
64 Spitfire 4
64 Porsche 356C Coupe
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