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Where were you on November 20, 1959?

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drooartz

drooartz

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I was still 13 years in the making, but according to my just-arrived Heritage Certificate, the Tunebug was being built! The certificate confirms some things I had figured out about the car. Built November 20, 1959, shipped December 9th, 1959 to Philadelphia. Original color is Old English White with black interior, which is what the car is now. Engine in the car is the original block (engine, body, chassis numbers all match the certificate), which I think is extra cool for some strange reason.

In an interesting aside, one of the options was "red and white flashers." There was some discussion about original signal colors over on the SpriteSpot forum site, and I guess this answers the question for me.

Neat that this service is available, and that they can pinpoint this sort of data for a car this old. I must admit that I'm now even happier that the car is "numbers matching" even though that is really an irrelevant fact. The history geek in me just finds it fun to think that all those bits have been together for that long.
 
It's absolutely amazing, Drew! You've a jewel!

...and I was a nine-year-old anticipating a turkey dinner in a few days, FWIW /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
Ah yes. Nov. 20, '59.
It was a stormy day, when I came in from the moor, and found my lady firmly in the clutches of the cad....
Ooops. Wrong timeline.
Actually, I was probably sitting on the dock, waiting for Dad's freighter to come in from its last trip of the Great Lakes shipping season.
It's cool that you can document the originality of the Bugeye.
Jeff
 
9th grade...
 
I was -14, and my parents had yet to be married yet-that would happen the following spring. Very cool info on the origins of your ride, though.
 
in the spirit of this thread, my father was only 4 and my mom was 2, so I wasn't even a molecule yet, but maybe some ol' british car enthusiast died the day I was born and I was reincarnated as that person, so that the tradition could continue
 
Interestingly, my birthday is November 19, so my car is almost exactly 13 years older than I am. My parents were still 3 years from being married, hadn't even met yet. I'll have to have a double celebration this year come November.
 
A grand excuse for a tipple. We'll all join ya! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cheers.gif
 
I was 8 to the day- my birthday is the 20th. I received my Heritage Cert as a Christmas present a couple years ago. Great fun! Yes, the perfect excuse to lift one.
 
Great to have that info on your car, have youi made contact with any of the previous owners? It would be nice to have some photos of the car in its early years!

When I stripped down my Tr4a I found the date "May 1965" written in ballpoint on the inside of a door panel, so I assume the car came down the line not much later. It was sold in Ottawa to a George Jarvis, and I have some notes he made when he refurbished it and rebuilt the engine in the 1970's.
Simon.
 
I'm "dropping" little glyphs and greetings all through this MGB I'm doing. Hope some future owner gets a grin!

I know I would.
 
My dad was 9 years old, and I was -13 too. I like finding neat stuff like that in my cars. In my MGB, There were reciepts from a shop that had installed new tanny mounts, and a clutch about 200 miles before the car started sitting for 6-7 years. In my Alfa, some insurance papers from the lady who owned it before Tony did... She was living in Arizona (that explains the lack of rust, and dryrotted interior, I guess).
 
I was -5. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
"Tee minus 5 and counting..."
 
an aside Drew--how long did it take the certificate to arrive in the mail? I ordered mine a while ago but have yet to see anything /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif

PS> I was -13...
 
[ QUOTE ]
Great to have that info on your car, have youi made contact with any of the previous owners?

[/ QUOTE ]

I haven't, but I've got many of the original registration cards going back to 1969, which was when the car was put in storage. Story is a bit confusing, but I think the owner may have died at that point. His widow kept the car registered every year, but never put the tags on. I've got the original California plates as well. I've probably got enough that I could track down that family if I ever really got motivated.
 
[ QUOTE ]
how long did it take the certificate to arrive in the mail?

[/ QUOTE ]

For this one, and the one I got for my old TR4, it took about a month or so. You'll know its coming when the charge hits your credit card--they seem to charge the card when it ships.
 
Neat!

I was a eight year-old Irish emmigrant, living in Toronto.

I can clearly recall my neighbor's turquiose MGA....that was part of the catalyst for this affliction.

I can't recall any real old papers in my cars, but I do have the original owner's manual for my old TR-3.
And the log books for my airplane go back to 1941...*lots* of pilot names and locations, so they're sort of cool (a buddy of mine has Harrison Ford in his aircraft logs).
 
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