Sad news, I'm afraid (members of the TTN will already know this) - Daffy has
failed her MOT. Terminally. I had got all the mechanical stuff sorted, but
the tester failed her on a lot of different rust areas. After much
soul-searching, I have come to the realistic decision that this body-tub
contains so much rust that it is not practicable to fix it up properly. I
could patch up the immediate failure points and keep going for another year
(as I have been doing since I bought Daffy almost exactly 5 years ago), but
that in itself will be pretty pricey, and the problem will undoubtably be
worse still next year.
So, Daffy is being stuck away in a dry garage, pending possible
resuscitation in a few years when finances allow - or a decision to do
something else. If a rust-free tub should come my way, that would be the
ideal solution (and I am kicking myself black and blue for failing to buy
one I saw for sale a couple of months ago), but it's not something that
appears frequently in Aberdeenshire. If you all (at least those in the UK)
keep your eyes open for a CHEAP rust-free tub, I'd be interested.
Failing that, I am considering a Hurricane - a fibre-glass body that is a
direct replacement for the steel body-tub and bonnet, and you just put all
the same internal bits back in again. A good solution, but it'll cost
#3000, plus painting, which I don't have now and am unlikely to have for a
couple of years at least. Also, if I had #4000 burning a hole in my pocket,
I'd be very tempted to buy a Stag instead...
So, for the immediate future I shall be Spit-less. I'll still subscribe,
and contribute, to the Spitfire List - I've built up too much camaraderie
around here to let that go, even if I never own a running Triumph again!
Richard & Daffy (in indefinite hibernation)
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