Hey All,
wanted to share a couple pix of the car that I finished "restoring" in 2005.
The car is a 1965 spitfire that I am running in GP within the New
England Region of SCCA.
I began the project in 1999 and worked on the car "slowly" over the
next several years. In the mean time, I bought a house, got married,
had a child and changed careers a couple times, so as you might
imagine the project took longer to complete than originally planned.
A brief history of the car. From the log books the car was run in
TX back in the 70's by a fella by the name of Ted Melady and he
competed at the runoffs in 75, 76, and I believe 77. Then the car
found its way to FLA and passed hands a few times. Where it had (from
pictures I have) been purchased by one of our own here on the forum.
Some one we all know, Tim Suddard of GRM. I have pix of the car in a
garage covered in "junk" and then on a trailer with Tim and another
fellow posing with the car.
From there I am not exactly sure what happened to the car but it
found its way to CT as a parts car. And another member of this forum
Joe Boruch purchased it for parts when he was running his 1300 spit
here in CT.
The car was a real basket case and probably more than any "sane"
person would want to get involved with. As has been told many times
before, it is cheaper to buy a car than build a car. Well I can
validate that statement!!!! For sure my next project will start with
a complete car.
Now the inspiration for the project started back with Tim Suddard
and GRM. My father had always raced triumphs (TR3 and TR4) but I had
leaned towards a 510 or an open wheeled car. But one month back in
1999, I read an article about a very fast spitfire out of FLA. It was
the GP spit of Kevin Allen, back when it was painted similar to the
old Marlboro McLarens. I still have the article with all of my photos
and clippings I have amassed over the last 5 years. The article was
inspirational and Joe had the car sitting in the yard. ...and the
wheels began to roll (in my head, not so much on the car).
I immediately called a friend of mine who lived in Orlando and was
able to contact Kevin Allen, who I met in June of 2000 at Watkins
Glen.. He gave me all the specs on his car and the process to rebuild
was about to begin.
At some point I will be hosting pix of the build on webshots, but
for now I will attach a couple before and after shots for the FOT
folks to enjoy. The only original pieces left on the car are the tub
and the upper and lower arms in the front. Pretty much everything
else has been modified to match that fast car from FLA, which sadly is
no longer with us, but its parts are with many satisfied spit owners
in the USA including myself.
The car was completed in August of 2005 on the eve of a double
regional at NHIS. and unfortunately an error in setting the .007
float in the distributor cam gear ended my weekend before it
started. I will say this, I was happy to run 15 good laps in practice
door to door with my father (2004-2005 NARRC champ in a 1147 spitfire)
for the first time ever. It will not be the last time we run together
on the track. Hopefully I will be in front most of the time. ;) The
season ended with an engine failure at Lime Rock in October. But
all-in-all the season was a success because the car was
completed. Goals for 2006- take care of the performance issues and
finish some races. 2006 should be a lot of fun......
So many thanks to Tim Suddard, Joe Boruch, my father (endless
thanks), Kevin Allen, Rick Cline, Aaron Johnson, Chris Crisenberry,
Ron Krantz, Mark McAllister and family, Kas Kastner for his insights
through his performance guides, and many other folks.
Jay R. Creel
#44 GP spitfire
New England Region
Plainville, CT
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