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Hey - did you know if you click on the title of a thread it will take you to the first unread post since you last visited that thread?
but were afraid to ask: 
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Pretty Please - add it to our Events forum(s) and add to the calendar! >> 
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A line in another thread here got me thinking about this, as I have finally just about completely rid myself of a 1973 Spitfire nicknamed "Christine II" after many, many years. Mind you, this particular car was never devious like its namesake '58 Plymouth; nonetheless it kept coming back to "haunt" us!
A friend and I bought it back in 1983 as part of a package deal that included the ex-SCCA G-Prod Spitfire 4 I still have (used for many years for autocrossing). Christine II was a Mallard early '73 Spitfire 1500 that had been parked in a barn after only five years' use, then mostly forgotten.
It was far too good a deal to pass up, so my friend and I ended up with two toys, the idea being that the '73 would be fixed and sold to finance the resurrection of the Spitfire 4 into a cheap autocross car.
The '73 didn't need too much beyond cleaning and some minor body repair, after which my friend's sister bought it. Sometime after her boyfriend mutilated the gearbox, it came back to us. After another used gearbox was obtained, all was well, and another friend bought it. He enjoyed it for well over a year, during which he managed to experience another gearbox failure. This time, that gearbox got rebuilt, and he continued to enjoy the car...until the day he and a friend were rear-ended by a large Pontiac. (Note: the two occupants were basically uninjured, despite the fact that the impact pushed the right rear corner of the Spitfire almost up to the rear tire. It was actually a severe enough impact to twist the chassis. Amazingly, though, BOTH doors still could be opened and were basically undamaged. And once we bent the fender off the tire as best we could, it was still driveable around the yard until the axle u-joint finally blew out.
Unlike the original Christine, this time the car did not heal itself and set out to seek revenge. But back it came to us -- for a THIRD TIME! Since then, parts of that car have gone on to keep probably five or six different Spitfires in my area running and looking good!
I noted that it's finally pretty much gone....A few weeks ago, an acquaintance invited me over to see his buddy's "new" car: a rusty 1974 Spitfire! It's a pretty good runner, and a pretty straight car, but the sills and floors are beyond hopeless...rather more than they expected. I mentioned that I had this old tub on which the floors and sills might still be sound enough to salvage. Long story short: they came, they saw, they bought. Yes, the same tub from Christine II, a car that last saw the road in summer 1985, a car whose tub has lain upside down on the ground behind my barn since 1988! (Despite having been outside, the floors and sills were still in excellent condition. However, having been upside down ON THE GROUND for 18 years, the "rear tonneau panel" was completely rusted away!)
So pretty much all that remains of Christine II now is bits of chassis (the front section is excellent), a differential and some front suspension...all available if anyone wants to tempt fate, er, keep another Spitfire on the road. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif
A friend and I bought it back in 1983 as part of a package deal that included the ex-SCCA G-Prod Spitfire 4 I still have (used for many years for autocrossing). Christine II was a Mallard early '73 Spitfire 1500 that had been parked in a barn after only five years' use, then mostly forgotten.
It was far too good a deal to pass up, so my friend and I ended up with two toys, the idea being that the '73 would be fixed and sold to finance the resurrection of the Spitfire 4 into a cheap autocross car.
The '73 didn't need too much beyond cleaning and some minor body repair, after which my friend's sister bought it. Sometime after her boyfriend mutilated the gearbox, it came back to us. After another used gearbox was obtained, all was well, and another friend bought it. He enjoyed it for well over a year, during which he managed to experience another gearbox failure. This time, that gearbox got rebuilt, and he continued to enjoy the car...until the day he and a friend were rear-ended by a large Pontiac. (Note: the two occupants were basically uninjured, despite the fact that the impact pushed the right rear corner of the Spitfire almost up to the rear tire. It was actually a severe enough impact to twist the chassis. Amazingly, though, BOTH doors still could be opened and were basically undamaged. And once we bent the fender off the tire as best we could, it was still driveable around the yard until the axle u-joint finally blew out.
Unlike the original Christine, this time the car did not heal itself and set out to seek revenge. But back it came to us -- for a THIRD TIME! Since then, parts of that car have gone on to keep probably five or six different Spitfires in my area running and looking good!
I noted that it's finally pretty much gone....A few weeks ago, an acquaintance invited me over to see his buddy's "new" car: a rusty 1974 Spitfire! It's a pretty good runner, and a pretty straight car, but the sills and floors are beyond hopeless...rather more than they expected. I mentioned that I had this old tub on which the floors and sills might still be sound enough to salvage. Long story short: they came, they saw, they bought. Yes, the same tub from Christine II, a car that last saw the road in summer 1985, a car whose tub has lain upside down on the ground behind my barn since 1988! (Despite having been outside, the floors and sills were still in excellent condition. However, having been upside down ON THE GROUND for 18 years, the "rear tonneau panel" was completely rusted away!)
So pretty much all that remains of Christine II now is bits of chassis (the front section is excellent), a differential and some front suspension...all available if anyone wants to tempt fate, er, keep another Spitfire on the road. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif
