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DDolfelin

By DDolfelin,
in Wheeltappers

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alastairq

alastairq

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OK..so the first 'Spitfire [OJO991M] has in fact been converted to GT6 spec....clue first of all is the bonnet bulge?

 

Compare to the bonnet of the  second Spitfire? ...I cheated, and looked it up on the DVLA site..the bulge made me suspicious.

 

The ''MArk 1'' Sprite has me a bit suspicious of it's background too.

 

At a C plate, it is far newer a registration than should be for a Mk1.

So, either it's a bitsa that has not managed to get an proper, age-related plate...or, way back in '63 it was a 'new' registration, possibly brought back into this country..or.....it's a mark 2  Sprite that has received a mk1 bonnet and back end?

 

And yes, I know of a gentleman who built a mk1 using mostly mk2 bits..I 'sold' him a carb linkage that was in keeping with a mk 1........[the huge choke levers]....he never ever paid me for them..and now he's sold up and moved...

 

[Possibly because the mk1 looks cuter, and may have more...erm, of a value?]

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edcayton

edcayton

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OK..so the first 'Spitfire [OJO991M] has in fact been converted to GT6 spec....clue first of all is the bonnet bulge?

 

Compare to the bonnet of the  second Spitfire? ...I cheated, and looked it up on the DVLA site..the bulge made me suspicious.

 

The ''MArk 1'' Sprite has me a bit suspicious of it's background too.

 

At a C plate, it is far newer a registration than should be for a Mk1.

So, either it's a bitsa that has not managed to get an proper, age-related plate...or, way back in '63 it was a 'new' registration, possibly brought back into this country..or.....it's a mark 2  Sprite that has received a mk1 bonnet and back end?

 

And yes, I know of a gentleman who built a mk1 using mostly mk2 bits..I 'sold' him a carb linkage that was in keeping with a mk 1........[the huge choke levers]....he never ever paid me for them..and now he's sold up and moved...

 

[Possibly because the mk1 looks cuter, and may have more...erm, of a value?]

 

You're right, it's not a Mk1. It's got later doors with wind-up windows and handles(!), and the later windscreen so I would suggest the 1965 registration is correct.

 

I think it is probably a Tifosi Rana conversion which uses GRP mouldings for the front (easily done) and rear body sections (much more difficult). I went to have a look at them at their Lincolnshire base recently and was most impressed with the quality.

 

A very pretty and civilised car can be built and it is a good thing to do with the horrid-looking 1500 ("rubber bumper") Midgets which can be bought cheaply. I don't think it would make financial sense on an earlier Spridget, and it is NOT a cure for severe rot because the new panels don't contribute much to the strength and these cars really do rust!

 

That said, there have been other Frog-eye replicas including one on a Mini. Geoffrey Healey had some involvement with one built on the Isle of Wight, I forget the name. It didn't take off, I get the impression it was built by GRP boat-builders when they didn't have much work on.

 

Ed

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Kelly

Kelly

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Possibly not quite so. I used to have a copy of Which? magazine containing one of their extensive tests on a 1600 Firenza (other cars in the group were an Opel Manta, a Hillman Avenger GT and summat else which I can't remember but I don't think was a Ford of any flavour). They found the 1600 Firenza disappointing but noted in their conclusions that it had been replaced with an 1800, so maybe the 1600 production was very short lived.

 

There might have been a very small number released with the 1600cc engine, but majority would have been with 1800/2000/2300cc engines, though I'm by no means any kind of expert on that :)

There was a Viva "E" towards the end; it was based on the Firenza coupe body shell, and built down to a price to the extent that it didn't have a passenger sun visor.

 

Ed

 

Yes, the oil crisis led to a lot of Firenza/Magnum models being unsold, so the bodyshells were rebadged as Viva E and stripped down to the 1256cc engine and even less thrills than the base models. Not many of those are believed to have survived, so they're perhaps one of the rarer models after the HPF and sportshatch (and HA Brabham models).

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Kelly

Kelly

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£3,750! Dads 72 one was only £1,000 new. Shame he abandoned it on the drive for several years, and it went for scrap!

http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C662200#

 

Traders are always asking top dollar as the saying goes, but they really have shot up in value, with how few good clean ones there are left now due to the rust eating most away.

 

The joke was that some of the Victors left the factory already with value added rust included as at the time they both didn't treat the steel for rust prevention and left the body panels outside until needed.

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brianthesnail96

brianthesnail96

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We were following a Spitfire for part of the Cornish leg of the Round Britain last year. Got to a clear bit of road and it disappeared, the 1850 Dolomite is no slouch but we couldn't get close. Turned out it had the 2.5 from a TR6 or big saloon in, when we eventually caught up at the next control. Flying machine! Fun as a "Gitfire" sounds, I've always liked the look of the Vitesse- and the 6- pot soundtrack.

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PhilJ W

PhilJ W

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With under 22,000 miles on the clock, that car has hardly gone anywhere in over 40 years.

 

What I can't quite get over is that tiny engine in that massive engine bay.

 

 

Imported Escorts! Are they as good as they look?

http://mscimporters.co.uk/

 

And Escorts built to order

http://www.montescort.com/page6.htm

 

I must stop Googling!

Escorts were the favourite cars for car rental companies in Malta in the 70's and there's still hundreds left. The climate is suitable (no rust!) and they are to British specification and now Malta is a member of the EU there are no barriers to import.

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BG John

BG John

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Escorts were the favourite cars for car rental companies in Malta in the 70's and there's still hundreds left. The climate is suitable (no rust!) and they are to British specification and now Malta is a member of the EU there are no barriers to import.

But did rental companies use Sport or RS versions? I wouldn't want a boring one!

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PhilJ W

PhilJ W

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But did rental companies use Sport or RS versions? I wouldn't want a boring one!

They certainly had top of the line luxury models/1600 engine models. There certainly seems to be a lot more Sport and RS models around today than when they were new. The problem with imports is that a lot of the history and sometimes all of the history of a vehicle can be missing, I can't help thinking that many of the top line versions of cars such as these started out as bog standard basic models.

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keefr2

keefr2

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They certainly had top of the line luxury models/1600 engine models. There certainly seems to be a lot more Sport and RS models around today than when they were new. The problem with imports is that a lot of the history and sometimes all of the history of a vehicle can be missing, I can't help thinking that many of the top line versions of cars such as these started out as bog standard basic models.

Nothing new in that tbh. Of the dozen or so Mk 1 & 2's I had,only 3 or 4 were 'genuine' Mex' s or RS' s, all the others being built to spec. Take a cheap basic car, add an RS type 49 shell strengthening kit (for a mk.1) with new steel front wings (weekends welding) drop in a 1760 crossflow or tuned Pinto, 6 dial dash and some Mex or RS decals, and you've got a Boreham 'Scort! It was much cheaper to build a rally car using one of these as a base!

 

Keith

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PhilJ W

PhilJ W

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Not any more, they have all gone for a new generation of not so dodgy ones. Shame says I!

www.visitmalta.com/en/public-transport

Only the companies that run them are a bit dodgy now. When I first visited Malta back in the 70's I was staying at Paradise Bay, not far from the ferry terminal to Gozo. My mate and myself one day took the bus into Valletta, on the way back we caught the bus outside the gates and as it negotiated the roundabout I noted that it took a complete turn of the steering wheel before the front wheels followed suit. On the way back the bus went through Melliah, where the road descends at 1 in 4 with two very sharp hairpin bends. At the top of the hill the driver put the bus into neutral and coasted down the hill!  :O What made it more disconcerting was that the windows were plain glass, not safety glass. However we made it to the bottom in one piece and after that we hired a car, a Mk. I Escort as it turned out (and even that had a set of 'Kojak' tyres.)

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Horsetan

Horsetan

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....Don't know if the Merc qualifies....

 

Probably a bit new. 1st-generation SLK, though. Its underpinnings were also used in the Chrysler Crossfire, I think, during the Daimler-Chrysler era (which was marked by a definite downturn in build quality, as owners of any W210 E-class will know to their cost!)

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