DVD3500

Oh I prefer mismatched overalls and shirts, holey caps and mismatch gloves. Keeps people from asking annoying questions... The perfect solution has not presented itself.... some good, some bad.. some in between... Someone made a note with things opening up people will be dropping their "projects" and more stuff may make it to market. Unfortunately many fear people will do that with pets they acquired last year too...

I believe the switch over was just before the 1500 come in which is more confusing as it arrived in the US before in Europe.

Smallish update. Visited another '72 that has been off its chassis since 1982 (!). Body has lots of surface rust but I could not find any holes. Even areas like the captured nuts (is that the right term?) where the seats are bolted down were OK. The problem was the car was a good 1.5 meters in the air on stand and mounted to a donor chassis and the passenger side was up against wall. It is kind of funny because the two cars (mine and this one) were like fraternal twins: Everything that was good on my car is rotten on his. The chassis has almost an inch of rust on it. He didn't name a price but he would prefer to get rid of all of it. And I only want the body.... I crawled into the car to try to see more and scratched my head (being balder than a babby's bum I have no hair to warn me) pretty bad.... There is an abandoned 1500 project about and hour and half from here I will visit on Sunday. He likely wants to get rid of it all too but at least his frame has been sandblasted and rust proofed. I wouldn't mind a 3.63 diff (until I can find a 3.27) and the wider 1500 stance either. He currently want 3500€ for it but we will see... Wish me luck!

Course it did because you arrive at your destination... 😄

The Germans won't let me become German without giving up my US citizenship. As long as my Mom is alive over there I won't because when I need to be get over there it has to be a "now" sort of thing. When my Dad died I was in the US within 12 hours (including flight time). I had 3 colleagues who gave up being American to become German who had at least one parent die and they could not be there because of the pandemic. Besides, the US does not understand why anyone would want to give up US citizenship.. if you do you get the "red folder" at the airport and they detain you anywhere from 15 minutes to 3 hours as you are already a "statistic". Also the IRS (internal revenue service aka tax monster) checks if you declared taxes "properly" for at least 3 years before they let you go. My Mom, who professionally did income tax for farmers, small business and individuals and couples for nearly 40 YEARS cannot confirm I have been doing my taxes right because the law was written in 1865 and never updated. (Yes we are double taxed, I can deduct what I pay in Germany but only to a cap). Did I mention that unless you are registered in state in the US you can't vote for president because there is no electoral college person to "represent" you? Wasn't there some thing about taxation without representation somewhere in the 1770's...? I have been mistaken for a Canadian though...

There was an ad in the local paper "Learn English for Senior Citizens! 50+..." My wife and I started to laugh... then we started to cry....

Thanks guys, I am going to look at a '72 that was dismantled and stored dry in '82 (according to the owner) tomorrow evening (unless I get my first jab and feel all wonky...). I have no clue what he wants for or if it is as clean as he claims... If that doesn't pan out there is a guy just a little farther away selling an abandoned 1500 project that "needs rear fenders/wings" that he has but hasn't put on. The floors look OK on the pictures and I can see an engine (which I don't need). The frame has been blasted, rust-proofed and treated. Which I technically don't need either. I like the idea of the 3.63 diff (even though I really want a 3.27) and the wider rear stance though... he wants almost 3500€ for the lot but it has been up for months so I could talk him down.... Last on the list is also an abandoned project that has already been patched up and painted but the welding looks very rough and he also want 3500€ for just the tub. He is willing to negotiate but I would only see it as a last resort. A few months back a 1500 came up that had been smashed up in the front but the rest was fun... so they do show up from time to time. Making any mods to a car almost always require TÜV (MOT) approval and without some sort of a certificate can be time-consuming and expensive. Fiberglass body panels often aren't allowed, shock absorbers and and stainless steel brake lines need to have certificates. Heck, even using tires that are 10 mm wider than stated in the papers can render your car un-roadworthy. It is grey area if you chop up a car and transpose the VIN and chassis numbers. There is a movement to try to get some more relaxed rules for classic cars but because there is already a classic car law on the books that requires everything to be original it is problem... With things opening up and the weather being nice I having trouble doing anything on the project... my original plan had been the body shop takes the car for 6 weeks and I do other projects that I need the garage for. Then I take it to the paint shop for however long and when it is back and all shiny I start the rebuild. Not knowing how the body situation will pan out has caused me to juggle a multiple of other things (plus trying to get vaccinated..) so it just hasn't been mega high on the list... Part of the prob is, let's say I get a broken car and it has better bits than mine...? I don't want to waste my time... It is a passion project. I have a general idea what I want to achieve and I am in the very fortunate situation of hopefully being able to afford that as I am taking a "good, fast, cheap: Pick two: I'll take good an cheap" so taking my time.... I would like to have it done before my half-century so I have a year or two yet...

There is a guy in eastern Belgium that breaks up Spitfires. If you ever need anything let me know. I can pass on the contacts. I hope to visit him (and Belgium) soon...

Whenever I spill blood on a project I consider it baptized...

Thanks Matthew, He was very open. He did say it COULD be done but the question was whether it SHOULD be done. The pictures were taken a few weeks ago and I haven't had time to make new ones (rolling the car in and out is a 2 person job and I am usually alone). Since then the holes in the floor have grown as I stomped around the car. The pillars on the windshield frame can have a screwdriver stuck through every 4-5 inches. Rocking the frame makes the walls in the footwell flex. You can almost pull the outer rocker/sill off with your bare hands. The floor is starting to give way and the captive nuts are gone on the driver's side. Every weld seam has rust in it and is starting to burst. The bodge on the A pillar was the stab in the heart for me. Covering that with fiberglass (the hole is about 1 inch in diameter) is down right dangerous. Since I can't do body work myself (No space, no equipment, no knowledge and likely no talent) my goal was to have the car rebuilt so that it would likely never rust again. While you could grind the rust away , treat it and repaint there is a high chance it would come back again. German MOT (TÜV) does not allow any rust to be visible on the body of the car. Decent panels would cost me several thousand easily and they likely won't fit right so if I can find a decent tub that needs little to no work it is likely an easier/cheaper endeavor . He pretty much only works on older cars. A TR6 was in his shop recently. A doorskin here costs between 600 and 800€. He repaired it for half that so I don't really question expertise or cost of labor. Having said that, I am more than happy to house someone who wants to come over and do all the work for me!

Short version: I have pictures uploaded here: https://slotcarp.wordpress.com/spitfire-stripped/ Password Stripped with capital S (sorry about the linking... I can upload pictures next time...) What you don´t see is the gaping hole in the A post that was covered by fiberglass, the 6 inch/10 cm of rust and holes all around the bottom curtain , rockers, sills, and trunk/boot. When body parts started to flex and when we started scraping the weld seams and discovered that rust had started to actually push the panels apart my body shop acquaintance told me to get a new body.... No amount of work could save this... I have not given up yet. Chassis and hood/bonnet are still good so if I can find a decent body it may actually save me time and money in the end. If someone knows someone in Western Europe let me know. I have a contact in Belgium and have asked in my Spitfire club. Otherwise moral support would help me feel better. 🙂 Cheers... Andy

Allegro? *ducks*

Any idea what the smaller roll is behind the main drum on the typewriters? Some sort of paper to make corrections?

I lived near Lyon and I did see it from time to time...

That's it! I wasn't sure...hence why MG drivers claim we drive tractors...

It was their first show ever ... I find it a bot more realistic than, say Wheel Dealers (WD) because they often get in over their heads. The MGB GT one is a good example. I have not watched all the episodes but so far they really haven't used specialist equipment ... I always got a bit annoyed with WD when they "Yeah all you need to get this seal out is this special tool that only works on this model and this year of car!".... Will from Flipping Bangers has said the Spitfire was his favorite car from series 1.... Personally I like these shows because I can tell the family what I am doing all day when I disappear in the garage for a day at a time... I have also learned a thing or two, like using a nut to keep a thread clean when you shorten a bolt or using two nuts and a bolt to create a make-shift wrench. When WD did a Spitfire Edd used cargo straps to hold the rear wheels up while he took out the diff (that was also one of their first shows).... not that that is the best way to do it but I think it isn't the worst... Here in Germany we have some shows like that but the TÜV (German MOT) is so friggin' strict they primarily repaint or re-trim the cars. Occasionally they can do a mod if the mod is already TÜV approved... If it motivates someone to put a classic back on the road in some form I am all for it...

Last week's Car S.o.S. (I know a lot don#t like the show but I like the human stories...) they restored one of those... There is some connection between Triumph and Ferguson isn't there? In that they shared engines or something?

OH she gets a seat belt... she can jump a good meter in the air from a stand still so I don't want her jumping out of the car. 🙂

No OD. I didn’t want the added complexity. We have the care tweaked to nearly 100 bhp and 110 lb/ft of torque so reckoned getting a 3.27 Diff would be close enough to OD. i plan more on cruising and not accelerating like a rocket…

Hmmm … ok . I don’t have a lever at all… or maybe Mark gave me a used one…. Been a while… i am hoping to get maybe 1 to 1.5 /2 inches cut off … should give more space between the hand brake and the gear lever . i reckon the dog will perch herself on the hand brake cushion/ arm rest and I don’t want her hitting the gear lever with her nose…

It is all 1500 single rail…

Thanks for all the info. While the car is a '72 I had Mark Field build me as robust a 1500 box as he could and send it over just before 31 Dec. In my old '72 you couldn't access the radio in 3rd or 1st gear but that was because the "bend" didn't start until much farther up (again if memory serves..) I had assumed GT6 levers were the same. I can't really tell from the Canley pictures but I guess the GT6i s just shorter with the same bend?

If memory serves the gear lever in 4th gear is very close to the hand brake when it's activated. As we plan on letting the dog go in and out of the car I am thinking of shortening the gear lever by 2-3 inches. A guy is selling a shortened one but he wants 50€ for it and I am not sure why I can't just lop mine off and re-thread it... I don't remember the Spitfire being particularly hard to shift so I am not worried about leverage... Thoughts?

I bought a similar product int he States and it worked fine... I put it on very thinly and let it dry before applying several layers.

I "souped up" my MKIV with a Weber downdraft carb, better cam and exhaust headers ... the clutch was slipping so I replaced that too.... The first time I made a... "spirited" start after that the first gear shredded.... So gearbox out again... I reckon the old clutch was slipping and making up for the weak first gear. When I started my current project I knew I was going to get almost 100 BHP and/or LB/FT of torque so I called Mark Field late of Jigsaw and he sent me a 1500 gearbox that he says should handle it fine as long as I make sure to check the oil and be careful off the line... We shall see... if this one blows I will likely go with an MX5/Miata 5-speed..