3/26/14

Once again, I'd like to tell y'all that the Mini sold yesterday… so I will!  Ha!  Gotcha with the old “Switcheroo.”  Anyhoo, John accepted the offer of $2,000.00 for the car and set yesterday after work as the pickup time.  He called me to ask that I bring the title down there when I got off.  Since the title has been in the front seat of Fiona since Saturday, that was no big deal.  I cut out of work at about 1600 h and started that way.  Traffic sucked and I arrived around 1710 h or so.  As I was pulling up to the shop, a pickup with a trailer was driving away.  I rolled in and asked John, “Was that the dude?”  It was.  Turns out the trailer he had rented had about a dozen screws in one of the tires.  John called the U-Haul place which can be seen from the shop and sent the guy to get another trailer.  While he was away, John and I rolled the Mini out and grokked it again.  Yeah, it was way too far gone for my taste, upon further inspection.  I do not regret selling it.  We discussed other projects and the guy eventually came back.  We loaded the car and strapped it down on the trailer then he paid up and left.  Yeah, I suppose I should have gotten the cash before loading… but it worked out.  He left so John and I discussed the shop some more until mom called to ask that I come home with food.  We closed up and left.  Now I'll go back and talk a little about what we discussed while waiting and after.  I had the thought that the Spit might be worth more as a running and driving car with the Standard-Triumph donk than it would with a Datsun engine.  Sure, it would probably be quicker with the Japanese motor, but not so much so as to justify the swap.  I asked John what he thought and we walked over to the car.  He grabbed the radiator fan and gave it a turn.  The engine rolled over.  So now we’re giving passing thought to trying to make it drive with that engine.  We discussed The Seven versus the Spit and John pointed out that The Seven needs about $1,000.00 worth of stuff to get back into tip-top shape while the Spit might need only $500.00 or so.  [ I actually said $5000.00 - SM ]  Incidentally, I just went to Victoria British to price the body panels it needs and they come to $670.00 for the fender skin, B-post, and sills.  It also needs a door, a boot lid, a whole interior, and all the mechanicals refreshed, so his $500.00 estimate is a bit shy. [ Again. $5000.00 - SM ]  But I digress.  His point was I could probably make the Spit right for less than The Seven would require.  [ My point was the Spit could be made nice for less than half what the 7 would sell for. - SM ]  I mumbled something in “agreement” and we moved on.  He offered to put a “feeler” ad up on Craigslist but I think I'm going to stick with The Seven as my open-top toy car.  I just sent him a text saying something to the effect of, “The more I think about it, the less I think I want to sell The Seven.”  I went on to suggest that we give the Spit’s motor one chance at resurrection and then, if that fails, decide if we want to bail out or “improve” the car with a Datsun engine.  Damn, now I am about to go back to VB to see what “Hot Rod” parts are available for the ST mill.  I'm dumb.  Well, I found a cam kit and Pertronix electronic ignition for it but that’s about it.  Probably for the best.  If we’re going to try for more power, we’re going Datsun!  Well, I've got to go clean the filter in a projector then I think I'm going to lunch.  Have a day.