MadaboutKitcars

Fingers crossed Gary will have the Formosa finished by then and as I only live a few miles from Castle Combe I would love to take it to the event

Saw this replica at Prescott last weekend :-)

Loads of room to trailer in and unload - park the tow car behind Quarry if necessary.

I can't see any reason why not. The gate people are all from one of these private armies and are only concerned with taking your money whilst trying to look 'ard.

Regards, Mick

A352 Project For Sale

Not sure where to post this, as I don't think it's worth its own thread, but an [COLOR='BLUE']A352 Project[/COLOR] has appeared on Ebay.

I'd snap it up myself if I didn't have two other projects to complete first.

Regards, Mick

I reckon with that number plate , they will accept Australian dollars for it as well ......

More importantly, what is that lurking by the big packing crate ?

As Dan says in the ad- "a good head start towards building your 1950s sports car."

The nose for WelshKiwi's 275?

No, that's a hard top. One in the photo is a soft top and has distinctive looking rear lights, looks if it might be getting "The Hump".

Ah gotchya, I was looking in the background of photo no 1.

I saw that project when visiting the tribute / old no.7 chaps (and very cool they were too)

The gel coat colour was quite a light purple. Loved it. Too difficult to build with my (lack of) skills so will concentrate on my Kobra special.

Dave

Hello,

First time posting here as I'm think of ordering one of Tribute's D-Type shells.

Mick O'Malley, your D-Type looks amazing, is there a link to a full build thread somewhere?

Awesome. What chassis are you planning to use?

Building My MWS301


Hi MJSS

Welcome to the forum.

I didn't write a dedicated thread regarding my build, mainly because I'm a confirmed Luddite and only had an analogue camera at the time. However I did piggy-back on two of Scotties A352 threads as we were building more or less simultaneously. The threads are here and here. 'My' bits will take some finding but, if you go ahead, I'm sure that you'll find Scottie's comprehensively detailed trials and tribulations most informative!

Regards, Mick

Now that is a good question...

I’m torn between 3 options.

1) go for a Spitfire and buy a standard d-type shell from Tribute

2) completely strip an MX-5 and try to get a D-type shell on there. Chris at Tribute has mentioned this might be possible, but it would require an IVA.

3) Follow the lead of World Class Accident and Work on something new. The A352 front and back grafted to an Mx-5 or Z3. Avoids an IVA, gives me a ‘modern’ car, but will cost more and might not look as good as Mick’s D-Type or the other spitfire based A352s.


Mick, thanks for the info. I’ve looked through those threads but i’ll Pore over them some more.

Any advice from anyone on my three options above would be greatly appreciated.

Donor Options

From a purely selfish perspective, I'd like to see someone have a go at option 3, graft a 352 front and rear onto either a Z3 or MX5. Not sure which one has the best wheelbase and track specs.

The soft top option would be great, and the car could be an every day driver for those who like convertibles. How cool would that be?

Could anyone sketch up what this would look like?

I'm afraid the windscreen would ruin it, it would just look wrong.
Option 1 is my choice

+1

Thanks for the responses.

Barber- I agree with you. It would be interesting to have a ‘Jaguar Style’ roadster in the same vein as an MX250 or Z300s.

JaguarTVR & Oxford. I agree with you too! Option 3 wouldn’t look like a D-Type/XKSS and the rake of the windscreen would be all wrong, but as a new car with a nice nose, rather than a replica, it might work.

I think my heart says Option 1, and head says Option 3.

This is my first rebody of a car. I’ve sanded and filled and replaced wiring before, but the scale of a Spitfire basedbuild seems a lot bigger than a modern car panel swap.

Also, i’ve Never quite been sure why the Spitfire/A352 conversion doesn’t need an IVA? Surely the door mods and windscreen removals constitute a fairly big change to the structure of the car?

Btw, as i’m New here not sure if it’s the done thing to hijack this thread to ask about my potential build. Chose this one as Mick’s car is the dream idea in my head.

MJSS - We tend to talk about the Tribute A352 being a “rebody” that does not require IVA.

But, technically, it is a ‘Radically Altered Vehicle’ that fully complies with the DVLA “8 Point Rule”.

See here:
https://www.gov.uk/vehicle-registration/radically-altered-vehicles

This is because the Spitfire has a separate chassis and the chassis is the key to its DVLA registration identity, not the body shell.

You will notice that the original body shell is not even listed in the list of points that you need to keep.

This is the Spitfire rolling chassis I used for my “rebody” and this claims a full house of 14 DVLA points.



The next key point is that any alternative body shell that you fit must be bolted to the chassis.

So in the case of the Tribute A352, the fibreglass body shell is bonded to the cut down Spitfire tub.

This then forms a “new” body shell that is bolted to the Spitfire chassis.

So the fact you cut the windscreen off the body shell is allowed as you are technically changing the body shell.

I used a Frankenstein mixture of cut down Spitfire and other parts underneath my fibreglass body shell.



Please Note:
The Spitfire chassis VIN number is actually attached to the body shell, so you need to retain this in your A352.

Hope that helps, Paul.

PS
Feel free to start a new thread to cover your build ideas, even if it is still at an early stage.

Naughty but.........
Could you graft a A352 to say the Z3 bodyshell complete with odd looking windscreen and get the V5 changed stating A352.
What is then to stop the next owner chopping off the windscreen and doing a few more mods?
You can get an agreed valuation insurance policy advising of all the mods including windscreen chop with pictures so there would be no comeback from the insurance company in case of an accident.
As I say, naughty but.............

[Party Pooper]

The same 8 point rule that requires you to keep the original, unmodified, monocoque if you want to keep the original Z3 registration without IVA.

[/Party Pooper]

Hi MJSS

The body of a Spitfire is completely separate from the chassis. As Paul says, only the centre tub and half the boot/rear wings area are needed for an A352. The windscreen/doors/bonnet are all bolt on anyway, so even were it of monocoque construction their removal would be within the DVLA rebody rules.

Not just because it's the way I did it, but I would go the Spitfire route simply because it's the least difficult. I was going to say 'easiest' but that's without doubt the wrong adjective..........

Thanks for kind comments!

Regards, Mick

Spitfire Route

This wouldn't be a bad place to start from......

Regards, Mick