But Why?

(Written on 1/20/2022)

I've seriously let down my wonderful wife of 37 years. In the spring of 2020 we started talking about retirement being only a few years away. The nest was empty, and it was time to start relaxing a bit and enjoying life. She surprised me by suggesting we go to a BMW dealership to test drive something fun. We're basically Hyundai people, so this was pretty heady stuff. We took a Z5 out for a test drive and loved it. It's a wonderful mix of sportiness and refined comfort. Conversation turned to thoughts of purchasing a Z5 upon retirement.

Then I started thinking hard about what I really wanted in retirement. I thought about what gave me enjoyment and satisfaction. I decided happiness for me wasn't buying the "perfect" car. What I really enjoy, and what retirement will hopefully afford me the time to do, is create, build, and restore things. During high school my father and I restored a 1964 Sunbeam Alpine. See "1979, a good year". I've always loved the looks of the Triumph Spitfire. I even impulse bought one in horrible condition years ago. At that time our first child was an infant and I was balancing fatherhood with focusing on my career. Sure, let's add restoring a car to that. One would call that a bad idea at a bad time, and I sold it in less than a year. But now was the time. As dreams of the beautiful BMW evaporated, my wife, showing little emotion, said "sure, find yourself a Spitfire to restore".

Working on a few cars in my youth, I found that I don't enjoy body work. So my objective was to find a Spitfire with as little rust as possible. After a few months of searching I lucked out and found just such a car: a 1979 Triumph Spitfire 1500 that had spent most of its road life as a California car, and then spent 20+ years parked in a garage in NY state. Get any images of a pristine beauty that needs a wash and wax out of your head. Upcoming pictures will show you that this Spitfire was not pampered, and it will require a lot to bring it back. But it won't require sheet metal work and bondo. 😉 

In August of 2020 I purchased the Spitfire and my son-in-law helped me transport it home.


 

Location: Chambersburg, PA, USA

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