spitfires
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Re: Model years

To: Andrew Holmes <holmes_law@hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: Model years
From: Andrew Mace <amace@unix2.nysed.gov>
Date: Mon, 20 Dec 1999 14:03:41 -0500 (EST)
On Mon, 20 Dec 1999, Andrew Holmes wrote:

> Why is it that virtually every spitfire website or publication, or even 
> folks generally knowledgable (ie: half the british parts folks I've dealt 
> with) always tell me that I am wrong about my car?

Ignore them; they are but fools. :-)

> I have a 1967 Mk II.  Everbody tries to tell me that I must be mistaken, and 
> that by 1967, only mk III cars were made.  But I have a 1967, VIN 67FC81359L 
> (I have since added overdrive - I understand that cars with factory OD 
> usually had that indicated in the VIN?).

According to information I have, the first Spitfire Mk2 built in calendar 
year 1967 was FC88550, still some from end of production. (The first 
built in calendar year 1966 was 71766; extrapolating from that, I'd guess 
your car was built in later summer or early fall, more than late enough 
to be considered a 1967 model -- if not by the factory, then almost 
certainly by almost everyone else by the time it reached the US.)

> Are these rare?  Why do so many british car "experts" think I don't have 
> what I say I have?

See above "witticism"! :-)

> I even have an 1147 engine - could it be that this is actually an earlier 
> car that took awhile to first register?  How can I find this out?  I have 
> the original plates (it's a black-plated California car), so my registration 
> has been continuous, but it shows 1967 on the paperwork . . .
> 
> Somebody please tell me I'm not crazy . . . or confirm my wife's diagnosis 
> of me!

You're not crazy. I'm curious about the 67 prefix on your paperwork. 
Normally, the commission number (easily verified by the plate on the 
scuttle) would begin with FC; regardless of that "67" that FC is the key to 
your car being a Mk2 -- the FC series. It all sounds completely legit to me.

--Andy

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