Texas A&M's 2012 Challenge Spitfire-Page 2: Grassroots Motorsports forum: Grassroots Motorsports Magazine

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Feb. 3, 2011 10:36 a.m. Ian F SuperDork

MrJoshua wrote:

ArthurDent wrote:

Very nice. You can sell those hard tops for a decent price too. Probably the hardest part about a Spitfire engine swap is having to swapping out the rear axle.

Are they worth much? I have a scraped up metal one I want to sell but have no idea where or how much.

How bad is it? For a point of reference, we jsut bought one off ebay for $175. It's complete with glass and hardware, but needs to be completely restored with new gaskets and headliner as well as painted to match the car. She hemmed and hawed about it but eventually some of the NASS guys concurred that $175 was a decent price for a complete one these days.

As far as the OP is concerned... I'm in the "that car looks too solid to cut up into a Challenge car" camp... IMHO, if that car is as solid as it looks, FMV would put it close to Challange $ if it were in the NorthEast. Over if it runs.
Feb. 3, 2011 12:52 p.m. unevolved HalfDork

Ian F wrote:

As far as the OP is concerned... I'm in the "that car looks too solid to cut up into a Challenge car" camp... IMHO, if that car is as solid as it looks, FMV would put it close to Challange $ if it were in the NorthEast. Over if it runs.

It may be a legitimate moneymaking venture for you to buy cars from down here and truck them up there, then. We got this one for $640, and that was right on market price around here. They come up frequently in unrestored condition like this, although they do go fast. Cars down here rarely rust, so long as the interior doesn't fill up with water.

I don't think it's too nice to cut up for the Challenge... It's going to be a badass race car when we're done with it. It's going to live a life most Spitfires only dream about.
Feb. 3, 2011 1:47 p.m. Ian F SuperDork

unevolved wrote: It may be a legitimate moneymaking venture for you to buy cars from down here and truck them up there, then.

I wish I could...

Unfortunately, living in the rust-belt, where a $640 Spitfire is lucky to have any useable parts left, seeing what looks like a decent restoration candidate get cut up into a Challenge car is painful... and unfortuantely, I have enough experience with these cars to know that unless you install something like a rotory, substantial cutting will be required.

That said, I did see a Toyota-engine conversion (under construction - the same guy we bought the hardtop from) recently where he fit the engine under the stock bonnet. However, he did have to cut the firewall and move the engine back to clear the suspension towers.
Feb. 3, 2011 3:00 p.m. Curmudgeon SuperDork

ArthurDent wrote:

Probably the hardest part about a Spitfire engine swap is having to swapping out the rear axle.

Um, yeah. What he said.