s99sdp Posted November 28, 2018 Report Share Posted November 28, 2018 Hello, I just thought I'd drop a line to say hello as I've just joined. At various points I'm hoping I can turn to some of you or advice on my Spitfire refurb. I'm a heavy duty pen pusher and in no way mechanical, hopefully this site is busier that the CT site that seems to be dying since they changed it. SP Before and after! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NonMember Posted November 28, 2018 Report Share Posted November 28, 2018 Welcome to the dark other side! That's a lovely colour for a Mk3. I assume the first photo is actually the newer one? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
s99sdp Posted November 28, 2018 Author Report Share Posted November 28, 2018 11 minutes ago, NonMember said: Welcome to the dark other side! That's a lovely colour for a Mk3. I assume the first photo is actually the newer one? Hi Rob, I'd like to say that I prefer the distressed look but you're 100% correct. Schoolboy error on my part not concentrating which order I uploaded the photo's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Qu1ckn1ck Posted November 28, 2018 Report Share Posted November 28, 2018 Hi and welcome SP - the respray looks great ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppyman Posted November 28, 2018 Report Share Posted November 28, 2018 Hi and welcome SP, i think you are like me? Another refugee from CT...... Very friendly forum this. That looks a great transformation, well done for all the hard work Tony. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NonMember Posted November 28, 2018 Report Share Posted November 28, 2018 Saying "I prefer the distressed look" would be a good excuse for my Vitesse but not when parked next to the Spitfire and GT6. Are you doing much mechanically or is it just the bodywork that's needing a refurb? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
s99sdp Posted November 28, 2018 Author Report Share Posted November 28, 2018 Thanks for the welcome everyone. Yes Poppyman, I've come over from CT but I may keep an eye over there as they've been helpful. This car is an early 50th present from my father, he wanted to help me get it done while he was still capable of helping on it. The idea originally was to drive this one, and to others that are in the family down to Gibraltar but if I'm honest I don't think that will happen now. Basically my contribution to the project has been scouring the online auction sites, scrap yards and barns for cheap parts. I had a guy in Devon sell me a replacement steel bonnet for £100.00, a set of 5 wheel and hubcaps for another £100.00 and varying boxes of items like dash switches, dials etc for £20 each box. Plus he sold be a windscreen surround for £20 and there wasn't a spec of rust on it so it was worth the trip just to collect this alone We have had to replace the inner and outer sills, the inner/outer rear wings, as well as the full rear wings, and the rear valance. The car runs really really well, it's only done about 31k from new but its had many many owners and I'm guessing it was just left to decay at one point then passed from owner to owner as it was troublesome We've done some minor mechanical work mainly to test it but my 72 year old father is a dab hand at these engines. As soon as I get it back this weekend i'll take it out for a run if its not raining. It hasn't been a complete rebuild as there's no way I can afford that, lets just say its been a sympathetic refurb. I've learnt a lot from this and I'm sure there will be plenty of cuts, shocks and grazed knuckles before I'm happy with it. I'll post a link from my flickr account later s I'd hate to get told off for posting 25,000 pics on here in my first few days 😀 SP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnD Posted November 28, 2018 Report Share Posted November 28, 2018 SP, Welcome! A family drive to Gibraltar?! You can't wave that at us and not tell more! Rogerguzzi told us earlier this year about his saga driving down to, up and down the Pyranees - if you haven't read that, it's here: https://forum.tssc.org.uk/topic/3612-spainpyreneesclasic-le-mans-trip/?tab=comments#comment-37976 And the pilgrimage to Classic Le Mans has been a feature here too. Not another until 2020, plenty of time to get yours fettled. CT is the daddy when it comes to long-distance endurance events, I hope it continues, but Sidewayzers get a about a bit too, so good company! John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
s99sdp Posted November 28, 2018 Author Report Share Posted November 28, 2018 Hi JohnD, Gibraltar..... I have a house on the south coast of Spain but we've been holidaying down there since 1986 so I came up with the dumb ass idea of driving down to the house. My father refurbed a White Mk3 Spitfire for my brothers 50th birthday a few years ago, this blue one was a donor car for that project that was too mechanically sound to strip. My Dad then decided to refurb the blue one for my future 50th. I bought a red mk3 for £1,100 as a donor car for the blue project (are you keeping up???) but again, when we got that back we found the bodywork was perfect (amazingly) and after a couple of hours my dad got the engine running and that sounds the best of all three of them. So we have 3 Mk3's, red, white and blue in colour. Personally I'd have preferred a TR7 convertible (don't shoot me, I had one when I was younger) but I've fell in love with my Mk3 now and I'm quite happy. I'd dearly love to try the trip to Gibraltar but its a huge thing to take on and I'm not sure if I need the stress as I'm not mechanically minded at all. I'll take a read of the Pyranees link although I'm quite confident it will make me realise I'm doing the right thing not planning a trip to a pointy bit of rock at the southern most tip of europe. Hopefully this link will show you some of the build pics to date... https://www.flickr.com/gp/143574234@N04/5q9847 SP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gully Posted November 28, 2018 Report Share Posted November 28, 2018 Welcome aboard! That's some transformation - well done - and a great blue. Looking forward to more photos! Gully Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NonMember Posted November 29, 2018 Report Share Posted November 29, 2018 13 hours ago, s99sdp said: So we have 3 Mk3's, red, white and blue in colour. Very appropriate for British cars. My Triumph fleet is red, white and green, which suits the Italian stylist. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dougbgt6 Posted November 29, 2018 Report Share Posted November 29, 2018 Welcome S99! My Triumph is yellow, the most predominantly yellow flag is...………..Columbian. Probably best not to pursue that. Doug Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
s99sdp Posted November 29, 2018 Author Report Share Posted November 29, 2018 Thanks guys, This forum seems extremely busy. I need to find time to post some stuff SP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Lewis Posted November 29, 2018 Report Share Posted November 29, 2018 its as busy as you make it, we're all here to help .......and !!! watch out for thread drift Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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