Wordly Scions,
I have been spending the last few days dismantling the '75 AKA the
'Royal Blue Rust Bucket'. I plan to restore the frame & running gear
but the body tub has seen better days. There were rust holes that
you could put your foot through under both seats & in both footwells.
Here comes the weird part:
While staring at what's left of the floor of this car today, I noticed
that the body tub has been 'spliced' together. There is a continuous seam
welded across the width of the whole car, even through the sills.
The 'seam' is about 6 inches rear-ward of the handbrake pivot point.
I have not been able to determine if the front & rear 'halves' of the
body tub are from different cars. That is the only explanation I can
think of. Commision numbers match & appear to be as originally fixed
to the body. Paint scraping has so far been inconclusive. The car appears
to have been three shades of blue- Delft, Pageant, then Royal with some
primer in between layers. If two halves were married, it must have been
early in the cars life. All of the 'interior' paint matches (behind dash,
behind rear trim panels, inside boot cavities, around fuel tank etc.
It almost seems as though this could have been done at the factory.
I am about to remove the tub from the frame, perhaps this will provide
some clues. As far as I can tell the frame is undamaged. But, who knows,
maybe I'll find it has front & rear half of different origin :-(
I don't really care about the body, but could this be the ultimate bodge? ;-)
Bob "scratching his head" Sykes
75(1/2?) 78, 78 Spitfires
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