I immediately started looking for interior parts and door panels when I came across the second (puke green in the pics - I apologize to anyone with a similar color car and it is growing on me the more I work on it). It was a recent 'barn find', hadn't been driven since 1991, the engine was supposedly seized but the seller listed the body and interior as 'perfect' even though I could see dents in the pictures. The seller was in a cash flow pinch (and honestly I think he realized the project was over his head) and he was willing to sell for cheap. So I drove away with what I figured was the perfect parts car.
A couple of days later I start working on the first Spider. Replaced the fuel injector hoses (one was cracked and the source of the leak) and some vacuum hoses and the sucker started right up. I tweaked the timing and fortunately there was no snow or salt on the roads so... I couldn't resist. Surprisingly, nearly everything mechanically and electrically worked. I noticed that 5th gear doesn't get you much of a rpm gain over 4th and that the lights and gauges are very dim - but everything worked and boy was it fun to drive. There was no gasket between the top of the front windshield and the convertible top so cold air was blasting me in the face. Then not only had the console been removed with the heater controls but the heater core was missing - so cold air was swirling all around me. We were expecting some 40 degree weather over Thanksgiving, so i stole the front windshield gasket from the parts car, covered the heater core hole with duct tape and decided to put some miles on the car to get a sense for what needed to be done with my Restomod!!
Then enter the parts car. I decided to see what was preventing the engine from turning. Long story less long - one piston was stuck. Was able to get it free without damaging the cylinder. So do I have a parts car or another restoration project? Currently my thought is one mild restomod - largely stock except some engine tweaks and bolt-on performance improvements. For the second I'm thinking less mild restomod. A turbo with some more aggressive handling improvements? Unfortunately might have to sell the first to fund the second!!
Hmmm. Seem to be having problems getting pictures to load from Dropbox. Suggestions?
