Mike,
As with anything else, one man's "junk" is another man's treasure... Maybe
there's someone out there with a speedo that works, but the face plate is in
poor shape for whatever reason, or the glass or bezel, anything! As for the
rest of the stuff, it's only limited to your imagination, really. I have a
hard time of letting anything go, afraid that if I do, "someday" I might wish
I had it for somthing else. Like an extra bracket that came with my garage
door replacement hardware. It's heavy steel and I had no possible use for it,
but I saved it anyway. Then a couple of weeks ago, I discovered that it made
a splended "support" for my Keihin quad carb conversion. If you keep your old
parts long enough, you'll find another use for them. Either that, or you'll
wind up with a lot of useless junk that your "estate" will have to sort
through and either toss in the dumpster or sell on eBay after you croak
someday. But it's always good to have "stuff". And more "stuff".
Take care,
Jeff McNeal (San Diego)
'67 RHD Spitfire Mk3 aka "Mrs. Jones"
'68 LHD Spitfire Mk3 project
Jeff's Classic '67 Spitfire Mk3 site & Vintage Spitfire Webring
http://www.TotallyTriumph.net/spitfire/spitfire.shtml
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----- Original Message -----
From: Michael Hargreave Mawson
To: spitfires@autox.team.net
Sent: Sunday, February 03, 2002 12:43 AM
Subject: New uses for old parts
Dear All,
I seem to be building up quite a selection of worn-out or otherwise
unusable parts as I gradually replace them with functional ones. The
latest addition to the scrap heap is a speedometer (accurate to within
+/-15 mph, odometer drive gears stripped). Given that there are
thousands of second-hand speedos out there that do work, there seems
little point in getting it refurbished, yet the dial is quite
attractive, and it is highly evocative of the car.
I have a box of pistons that, one day, will be sawn horizontally through
the gudgeon pin bore and converted to use as ashtrays, but what other
parts have possibilities for use after their original usefulness has
ended? And what am I going to do with my speedo? Daft, and
not-so-daft, suggestions for post-functional use of this (or any other
items retired from our little cars) welcomed...
Actually, I have just had one idea for the speedo - replace the works
with those from a battery-powered clock. What time is it? A quarter
past ninety mph!
ATB
--
Mike
Michael Hargreave Mawson, author of "Eyewitness in the Crimea"
http://www.greenhillbooks.com/booksheets/eyewitness_in_the_crimea.html
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