Hi Allen,
Ain't no flames coming from Nebraska!! I've never understood why
some people have to be so down beat about everything. Why can't
people look at the bright side and say HEY, someone is trying to help
keep our cars alive. In the last 6 months I finally pulled my 64
spitfire out of months balls and finished it, finished it only
because I was FINALLY able to get parts that weren't available when I
started the restoration 10 years ago. Without the remanufactured
parts that, yes probably cost more than is comfortable, I wouldn't
have my spitfire on the road yet. I keep forgetting to tell John
MacCartney to pass on to BMIHT my thanks for helping to keep these
cars on the road. Without places like that and people like my friend
who is pushing his company to start remanufacturing these parts we as
owners and drivers of these LBC's will eventually have to park them
for want of spares. Sure it may not happen in the next 10 years or
probably even 20 but there will be a time when it does happen unless
things take place now. I long for the day when I can go in and
purchase ANY part I want for any of the LBC's that I choose to own.
I remember when I had my first 63 spitfire in 1978. I could go to
just about any parts house and get the parts needed to keep it
running. NOT anymore. As it is now, if I don't think about what I
might need ahead of time then its sit and wait for UPS to arrive.
Like I'm currently doing for rear brake cylinder kits. How often do
you have to worry about taking your LBC on a long drive and thinking,
gee if something brakes I'm screwed.
Sorry about the long venting action that just took place. But
reading about Allens plight down under brought flashes of what its
going to be like here in the US sometime down the road.
Signing off now and going into rest mode.
> Start your flame thrower pilot-lights...
>
> Don't take this personally, but I'm frequently appalled by the
> tight-wallet attitudes towards your cars, that some of you Yanks.
> Down Under, we pay 2 to 3 times as much for our Triumphs and parts
> for them. You're living in paradise, and I in envy.
>
> I've heard of swap meets in southern California where you put parts
> on a scale and pay by the pound!
>
> I recently spent all my savings on a 'brand new' Dolomite Sprint
> cylinder head from Rimmer Bros. At $2,000, it's a lot (and my old
> one isn't even finished yet), but they stopped making them in 1976.
> (NB A fairly-recent model, 6-cyl Ford head costs $4,000, down here.)
>
> Read any book on high-performance, and the author will surely
> mention that the more you spend, the more you get. A cross-flow head
> for a Spitfire would be brilliant, and if it cost 1/3 or 1/4 of what
> you paid for the car, that's because you got a great deal (relative
> to what enthusiasts in some other countries have to pay) on the car!
>
> Now, excuse me while I hose myself with CO2 foam ...
>
> Allen Nugent
> Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering
> University of New South Wales
> Sydney 2052 Australia
>
Brad (In Lincoln Nebraska 402-464-1502)
1964 Spitfire4 BFC25720L (In "Teething" Mode right now)
1966 TR4A CT72398L (Slowly gathering the needed parts)
1951 Dodge Truck 82217766 B-3-B-108 (Frame painted, now suspension)
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