I've been a long-time lurker here on the Spit list. I have a '69 Spitfire,
bought it about 3 years ago, and have replaced a few engines and other stuff
so it was my daily driver. Before that, I had a '68 that I slowly worked on
for about 8 years, which became a donor for the '69; and a '65 before that.
I still had a few rust holes, so on Wednesday I took my 6-year old daughter
on a trip down to a local body shop to get an estimate for repairing the
holes. About a mile from my house, some emergency vehicles passed us going
the other way, and everyone in my lane pulled over to the side...everyone
except the guy behind me. He plowed into me going about 30 MPH while I was
stopped, crunching the rear end and tucking it under. Quite a mess, but no
one was hurt. Pictures are on http://freebacon.net/gallery/3.aspx. My Spit's
damage: all the body work behind the cockpit except the trunk lid is mangled,
it might have bent the rocker panels (passenger door now rubs against it).
Bumpers are surprisingly untouched, probably because I had a push-bar
installed. It doesn't look like the frame was touched either. The other car
definitely won this battle, it had a few scratches in the bumper where it hit,
his air bag didn't even deploy.
If his insurance company totals my Spitfire, I'll be in the market for
another roundtail. If anyone knows of one for sale around Colorado, let me
know.
Mike Welch
'69 Spitfire MkIII (with new shortened rear-end)
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