Spridgeteers,
Just got back from a trip to Le Mans (vacation) and Paris (business).
The race was a walk-over by Audi, with MG and Panoz blowing up yet
again. Morgan (yes, that Morgan) did surprisingly well in GT.
This is a photo of me clapping home the finishers through the
Indianapolis/Arnage complex. Did anyone else make it?
http://userwww.service.emory.edu/~jboatri/sprite/spridgetsatlemans.jpg
There were hundreds of LBCs tooting around the area, of course. Lots
of Big Healeys, Morgans, TVRs, MGBs, TRs, and Spitfires. I even saw a
very pretty French RWA Midget parked in the middle of the village of
Arnage. For the rest of the week, we saw LBCs all over the French
countryside. Very cool.
In Paris, we saw an extraordinary number of Minis, new and old. Most
were in good to very good condition. I saw one late model blue Midget
smoking its way down Rue de Rivoli. Looked like it had been run hard
and hung up wet.
On a darker note, one hour before we were set to catch the plane to
France, my Dad and I were rear-ended in the Sprite by a guy with a
cell phone stuck in his ear (I saw him coming in the mirror a split
second before impact). BOY, I JUST LOVE CELL PHONE DRIVERS. Nobody
was hurt. The guy's insurance company, so far, has been
accommodating. They had a rep at my house as I pulled into the
garage, so we got the ball rolling before leaving for the trip. Since
their computer database doesn't go back before 1982, they are
encouraging me to take the car to a specialist body shop of my choice
to get an estimate. The company is Progressive, and my buddy in the
insurance commissioner's office says that they do a pretty good job
in Georgia with this sort of thing. I'll keep you posted on their
performance.
This car is far from original. In fact, the rear clip has yellow
paint (the car is red everywhere else) hiding all over the place in
nooks and crannies, with lots of bondo, suggesting to me that the
entire rear clip was replace once before. I'm wondering if this might
not be an opportunity for me to create the hybrid car I've always
wanted: a Bug-eye rear with a later front. Can a Bug-eye rear clip be
put on a squarebody? Can it be done with fiberglass panels? According
to Stapleton, these exist, but I've never seem them being sold.
What are the potential pitfalls to the this course of action of
switching out rear clips (metal or 'glass)?
Thanks,
Jeff
--
__________________________________________________
Jeffrey H. Boatright, PhD
Assistant Professor, Emory Eye Center, Atlanta, GA
Senior Editor, Molecular Vision
<http://www.molvis.org/molvis>
<mailto: jboatri@emory.edu>
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