I had the same problem, trying to find an original style rack for a
roundtail Spit was like looking for unobtainium! What I found was if you
get a boot (trunk) rack for a TR4, you can modify it to fit as it's
basically the same rack as the one the Spitfire used, with slight
modifications- why the manufacturers don't do the same and offer it to
Spitfire owners is beyond me since it is SOOOOO simple, but here goes. The
modifications consist of grinding the two L shaped, rear boot mounting
brackets off flush with the tubing, and then drill two holes through the
tubing where the tabs you just ground off were. These are for the bolts to
go through the rack into the boot lid (which means that you will also have
to drill through the boot too, but that is how the original Spitfire racks
mounted.) You may also have to make a couple of new brackets that mount
under the boot hinges for the rack. The reason I say may is that I had to,
but I mounted mine a little differently. I left the brackets on, but if
you do this, you will have to use a GT6 hatch handle for the boot as the
Spitfire latch will foul the rack if mounted this way. If you look at the
car you would see what I was talking about - Removing the rear mounting
brackets by grinding them off allows the rack to be more or less flush with
the trunk (clearing the handle and is the way the original Spitfire rack
mounts) instead of sitting about an inch off from the surface - which is
where the T handle is :-)
****************************************************************
>Anyone have experience of fitting a boot rack to an early spit? Was it
>successful? Some sites selling bootracks will say their products work on,
e.g.
>MG Midget but not on MGB because of the slope of the tail.
>
Barry Schwartz (San Diego)
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