There's your answer - the 'recreation' costs five grand, the other £435,000 is the bribe for the IVA examiner.
...and the parts keep on a comin'
This is a period speaker grille from ebay for £12.49 -
...which will be mounted below the dash on a sort of upholstered central console to form part of the transmission tunnel.
It will have the appearance of a speaker for the wireless, but will actually be there to disguise the outlets for the air conditioning. Simple.
I'll
try, Paul. What I could do I suppose is leave a tyre valve cap off until your car is on the road, that way I won't have 'finished' my next project before you finish yours.
Anyone know if it's legal to drive around with only three valve caps for years and years?
Picked my ebay tyres up from the seller the other day. I'm not going to bore anyone with pictures of tyres, I'm sure you all already know what fecking tyres look like. The seller was a very friendly car enthusiast with a passion for classic racing and a choice of Aston Martin and Lotus road and track cars in his garages. But the ad said that they came off an e-type, and indeed they did.
This one to be precise -
And you could eat your dinner off this -
Lovely.
Spent my lunch hour at a classic car meet in Shouldham today. It's going to be a regular meet on the first Sunday of each month and it's centred around The King's Arms, which is a community owned and run Pub. It's going to be one of my regular haunts and well worth a visit if you're anywhere near Norfolk -
We did try, but we couldn't
quite get my Spyder into the boot of that Chevy...
Yep, and although it looks black it's actually a very dark, Jaguar green. My car runs a 2 litre six (with methanol injection) and feels bloody quick. Phil's car has a much more powerful modified 2.5 six and has been clocked on the track at over 130mph. Scary.
Still collecting parts, these Alfa 156 handles came from the same scrappy, sorry, vehicle parts recycling centre, that I got the Rover seats from -
Bargain at £35 for the full set including a key.
They really look the part, very retro with a lovely, quality feel to them. My intention is to use the Alfa ignition barrel so the same key opens the door and operates the ignition.
I really can't wait to get started on this project properly.
What a coincidence. Never been a big fan of American cars, but in the 50's they definitely produced some awesome machines. That '55 Chevy sure is one great looking Classic.
Anyone see the Channel 4 infotainment show about supercar dealers last night?
One thing that struck me was how not one customer for the £1m+ classic supercars showed the slightest interest in them as cars, it was all about their investment potential.
One night-club owner splashed out £6.5m on a handful of the greatest classic cars on the planet (including £1m for a
replica Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa) and signed the deal with a look of tiresome weariness on his orange, botoxed face.
What a sad, joyless world the super rich must inhabit.
Ditto. I've had many a cheerless scowl from Jag/Aston/AMG drivers when I'm out and about in my Spyder with a silly grin on my face.
Life's for enjoying, not just acquiring capital assets.
Anyone else notice that the pale blue Dino 246 bought by the Cheshire based supercar dealer (who once paid £1m more than a car was worth, btw) had 'Ferrari' and Cavallino Rampante stuck all over it?
Dino models never had those when they left the factory, they were just branded as 'Dino'. I'm beginning to wonder if the dealer's gauche, blingy Rolex was actually a $10 knock-off...
14" Nardi wheel now acquired -
Still missing a suitable donor though.
Yep, probably should be a 17" for maximum authenticity. One of the things I noticed when I test drove a Z3 though was how little space BMW allowed to fit unnecessary fripperies in the cockpit, like legs.
As Hurnleft points out above, you've actually got to be able to get into the thing to be able to drive it. Plus I like a 14" wheel, it's the Goldilocks size for me - not too big, not too small, but just right.
Nice wheel, looks to be the same as I fitted to my Spyder -
I'm afraid the Rover 45 seats will be too wide at 55cm, just under 22 inches across the base (including the adjusters).
Here's a little diagram I, erm, got a four year old to draw showing the dimensions -
Good luck finding something suitable.
I've been out and measured again, the runners are 20" total width and they exactly match the width of the seat base.
The adjuster housing protrudes 1" further outboard while the seat belt anchor is actually inset so it doesn't add any extra width.
I guess you could remove the adjuster housing and adjusters and weld/bolt the mechanism into a fixed position, but you'd still have a 20" wide seat.
The Rover 75 seats that were fitted in one of the Nubodi Kobras had been swapped passenger side with driver's side to 'buy' an extra inch, but it would depend on the exact shape of your car's interior whether that would help.
Have you considered Land Rover centre seats? Very cheap and versatile I'm led to believe.
Hi RRB, thanks for thinking of me, I'm afraid my SWB project is on hold for now as my finances didn't come together as I'd hoped.
To cut a long story short I had expected to take early retirement at the beginning of May, which would include a substantial lump sum in addition to another monthly pension payment to add to the one I already get from my military service
, but that didn't happen due to endless red tape.
I might be able to retire later this year or early 2016, and I have a definite option to take the money and run in January 2017 (although I could stay on until January 2022), but I need the lump sum to fund the SWB as I don't want to sell my Spyder.
Until then I'm afraid I've just got to sit on my hands.
Oh, and it's not me who's trying to resurrect the Sammio brand, I'm just a satisfied customer.
Unfortunately as both wifey and I are public sector workers our finances were hit quite badly by the coalition austerity measures. So badly in fact that we're thinking of burning the Greek flag.
Mind you, if you do look at what's happening in Greece at the moment, that's what would have happened here if not for the cutbacks we already suffered. Tighten your government spending belt or your country goes to rat shit when the money and time run out. Should be a no-brainer really.
Hi RRB, no more bits bought just yet I'm afraid. Project is on hold for financial reasons - my expected early retirement didn't happen so I've now got to wait until January 2017 before I can get properly started. Still, that's only fifteen months away now.
I did suggest to my wife that I might sell my Spyder to fund the SWB, but to my complete surprise she's forbidden me from selling the Sammio.
It'll also be interesting to see where Tribute take the body styles by then - I love the SWB coupe shape, but I'm also sorely tempted by the convertible, especially if the back end could get the finned look that they've already added to Joe's alternative MX250 hard-top.
So it's just a question of me sitting on my hands until 2017.
op2:
Could be, I still haven't decided whether it'll be a coupe or convertible. Either way it will get built. One day...
While looking for a cheap tow car on ebay I came across this Rover 75 diesel going for less than three hundred quid -
I have a feeling there's just some broken glass and a parking space there now though...
What on Earth possesses people to put such a picture on their ebay listing? It doesn't exactly inspire trust in the seller.
