Well, this all kind of makes sense to me. Mine is a Belgian car built Oct.
1974. I've been referring to it as a Mk IV 1/2 for a while now. Sorry if
my comments contributed to any additional confusion. Teacher brownie points
to you both. :)
BillG
1FM13696IU
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-spitfires@autox.team.net [mailto:owner-spitfires@autox.team.net]
On Behalf Of Joe Curry
Sent: Friday, September 15, 2000 9:40 AM
To: john@triumphspitfire.com
Cc: spitfires@autox.team.net
Subject: Re: handbrake fixings
John,
That pretty much confirms my observation that the early 1500's assembled in
Belgium for US import were built to the same standards as
the MkIV units being assembled at the time for Europe. It is important to
note that at the time the US was the only place getting the
1500 powered Spits. So apparently those consoles were not installed at the
time of assembly. I don't know if any consoles were ever
installed there on those particular cars, since I have not seen any that
would confirm the fact.
Joe
john@triumphspitfire.com wrote:
>
> Bill, Joe and List,
> The source I have says US cars had the center console. Non-US the center
> console as a special order in the "Luxury Package": stainless steel
> driver's door mirror, inertia-reel seat belts, head rests, map light,
> center arm rest, dipping rear view mirror. After FH 80000 it became
> standard. My info says center console was standard in US from Nov. 74 as
> previously stated.
> Lots of the stuff I have read that recently implyed that US parts often
> found their way on non-US cars especially on later 1500's in attempt to
use
> up extra stock. Exp: extra bonnet brackets were added to US cars to comply
> with US crash regulations in 77 (prevented bonnet from hitting windshield
> in the event of frontal crash) but some UK cars showed up with them. My
> point being that non-US parts probally ended up on US cars also. Maybe
they
> had extra stock of carpets with rubber boot and used them on a car where
it
> wouldn't show (under the counsole). Just a guess.
>
> John Goethert
> Knoxville, Tennessee
> john@triumphspitfire.com
> 76 Spitfire, 71 GT6, 75 Spit parts car, 90 Miata
|