10/23/13

As mentioned the other day, Junky Von Junkerton called to say that he would be able to take the dead cars away as well as the rest of the scrap metal.  I hadn’t actually spoken to him when I told y'all that but had listened to the voice mail he’d left me.  Later that day I called him back to arrange some details.  I described what cars out back he could have, basically all of them but the 620 truck.  He was beside himself with disbelief at his luck.  He sheepishly mentioned that the Miata rear suspension I'd given him had a Torsen limited slip differential.  He wondered if I was sure I'd meant for that to go and did I want it back.  “I have no use for it nor do I have the time to try and sell it,” I told him.  We discussed some of the other “junk” including the Formula Vee frame.  Apparently he brought his brother along to look at the situation and said brother fell in love with that piece of shit.  I told JVJ that the Volkswagen front suspension and transaxle were part of that race car and that said suspension ought to bolt right up to that frame.  “My brother is going to love to hear that!” he said.  At first I wasn’t sure if John's blue 210 was on the “Shit Can It” list but it was confirmed to be after all.  I told JVJ that and informed him that an engine and transmission would put that car back on the road.  I failed to mention the lack of title… oops.  We’ll probably point out that with a little fiddling, one of the A-12/four-speed combinations he’s getting from us would turn that into one of the slowest 210s in the world… but it would drive that way.  Psh, he’ll probably drop a V8 in it and make it a dragster.  He could use that GM ten-bolt rear axle for that project.  I doubt he’d gopher it, but there is also a rebuildable 289 in the shop.  John, looks like “Travesty” might become a racecar after all!  I'm just speculating and stereotyping this guy as a whisky-tango hillbilly drag racer of course.  He might surprise us.  As if we’ll hear another thing about any of this crap once it goes away.  Anyhoo, there’s all of that going on.  As for the Spit, remember how I'd decided that it should go away?  Well, if the Triumph guys coming Saturday don’t buy it, I think I'm going to keep it.  There is some speculation that the Mini might not be the project for me after all.  There are several factors going into this line of thinking… it is by no means a “decision” yet.  First and foremost, even though it is a totally ridiculous and specious reason which I fully admit up front, the Spit and I will both be fifty in 2015.  Second, and this is actually a wash because I've always wanted a Mini as well, but I've always wanted a Spitfire.  Third, I'm a rear-wheel-drive man at heart.  Everything is packed so tight and so cramped with FWD, especially in a Mini, whereas there is a ton of room to plop your big heavy lump up front and the big heavy drive bits out back in a RWD platform.  Fourth, the Spit will be SOOOOOOO much cheaper to build.  Fifth, the Mini is worth more AS IS than THIS Spit will ever be.  Now, I know this sounds like I'm justifying keeping the Spit, but if the Triumph guys want it, it goes away.  If I do keep it, then we’ll need to have a “Come to Jesus” about whether or not I'm doing the Mini.  Financially, it makes more sense to sell the Mini and build the Spit.  Idealistically, it would be ever so cool to build them both.  Willing-to-settle-istically, selling the Spit and building the Mini would still be friggin’ awesome… ‘cuz I'd have a Mini!  I guess, in the interest of fairness, I should mention some of the negatives about the Spit.  There is that wicked dent in the right rear quarter.  The right door can be replaced, easy-peasy, but that dent is… well, pretty wicked.  The deck lid is very rusty and should be replaced.  Chances are those two replacement parts would not match the red of the rest of the car so paint would be in order.  I'm not a body man so all of that cosmetic work would have to be farmed out.  John could do it, but when would he have the time.  I'm not going to take him away from his projects any more than I have to.  I'm already monopolizing his efforts to move us and finish Lil' Wiggly.  I need to shoo him away from the next car once Lil' Wiggly is done.  He needs to get back to work on his 1200, "Timmy!"  So, where was I?  Right, one of John's biggest issues with me having the Spit is the fact that it is kind of superfluous with The Seven in my fleet.  Do I really need TWO open-top British sports cars?  Duh, of course I do!  Everyone does.  I've argued all along that the Spit would be a more relaxed, easy going, comfortable, LBC whereas The Seven would be… not that.  The rear suspension of a Spitfire is diabolical in that it actively tries to kill you if you push the car past its limit.  Sure, there are fixes, but they would have to be performed in order to comfortably live with the car… so, that’s a minus.  Going strictly on numbers, the Honduh engine in the Mini will triple its horsepower; an A-14 in the Spit will only double its horsepower.  Also, since the final horsepower numbers will be about the same, the Mini should perform better since it should be much lighter than the Spit.  So, what’s the tally?  We have four reasons (we have to eliminate the “I’ve always wanted one” argument since it goes both ways) to build the Spit rather than the Mini, and four reasons (if we lump the Spit’s cosmetic stuff together) to build the Mini rather than the Spit.  I guess it is all up to the Triumph guys this Saturday.  And on that note…