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Found another Special Sports

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Basil

Basil

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I was surfing around the other day and came across a posting on Hemmings Motor News web site about a guy in Idaho who has a 51 Special Sport. (Mine is a 50). Since there were only 500 made, and probably less than half that still in existance, naturally I looked him up in the white pages and contacted him.

My wife is from Idaho so we'll probably get to meet him next time we're up there.

He also owns a Conquest roadster (rare) and it turns out he bought the Conquest from the same guy that sold my SS to the guy I bought it from. Small world! The funny thing is, when I bought the SS I got a lot of Conquest parts with it (probably parts he should have gotten).

Basil

That makes about half a dozen people I've been in contact with in North America with Special Sports.
 
This is an aspect of the hobby that I really like. When you have an unusual car like the Daimler finding another owner can be a real event. It's also a great way to find car histories and parts.

Berkeley owners in the US tend to communicate with each other and no one throws anything away. I recently e-mailed a fellow owner asking about sources for a carburator part - a week later the part showed up in the mail. No cost, just an understanding that I'll reciprocate some day. An e-mail asking an individual about some special engine tools led to so-and-so in Chicago who has a spare set, maybe for sale. He did. I made an offer - he said "too high, they cost me $x, I'll let you have them for $x + $10".

You also get guys who become real experts. I had a call from a fellow who has "visited" every BMW 507 ever made that survive - I think it's about 230 cars originally. He was an airline pilot who was single, so he had the means. He asked about a specific car that I might have known about - turns out it was my father's 507 & this guy had stopped to see it & the Old Man back in the late sixties. He also knew what happened to it. He had become friends with the designer, and so on. A total marque geek, I guess.

Re the Daimler Special Sports - do you know how many there are in the US?
 
What a small world indeed when one owns a car such as Daimler. I received a very pleasant letter from the gentleman in Idaho shortly after I joined the DLOC. It must be the same person; how many people in Idaho own two Daimlers? I've appropriated Basil's photo of the SS against a "silk" background and use it as my computer screen wallpaper at work...hope you don't mind! My goal is to sell the MGA resto this summer, finish the A-S Sapphire and sell it and then hopefully find a Special Sports or one of the other Barker bodied DB 18 convertibles. A scouting trip to the UK is in the works for July, part business and part hunting parts at autojumbles. As far as the number of Special Sports in the US, perhaps the DLOC registrar or David Beales would know?
 
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