UEP281S - Red Spitfire 1500

[yorkshire_spam]

A bit of a re-post from my blog, re-edited into a single post....

In the documentation I got with the car is the original Passport to Service showing that the car was sold to a Mr. S. Ford in Swansea on 24/5/1978. This tallies up nicely with the date of first registration on the V5 - 23/5/1978.
To my surprise the Heritage Certificate shows that the car was actually build on 1/11/1977 and left the factory on 9/12/77
Another nice surprise was to find that the current engine matches the factory number.
And the final surprise, the factory colour. I'd always assumed either Pimento (72) or Vermillion (CAD) based on what I see when I lift the carpets. Nope. Flamenco. Which I think was only available in '77.

I've been through all the history I have for the Spitfire recording the mileage against the date. I have no information for 1982, 1991, 1994 and a gap between 2004 and 2011 (accounting for 5,000 miles or thereabouts)
The fairly steady rise in miles over the years does however suggest that the 78K currently on the car is actually genuine though.
The history also shows that the car was sold new in Swansea (1978) and stayed in Wales until 2002 when it was exported to the Isle of Man. Some time between 2004 and 2007 the car returned to the mainland, but was re-registered with its original registration number.