RobPearce

I think your hoses on the heater end are correct. The extra brass tapping should be replaced with a plug as in the exploded diagram. Some early cars had heater hoses direct from the head so that's probably a Vanguard 6 fitment (or very early 2000 saloon?) For the front hose, have you tried turning it round? It looks like the two ends are different lengths and it might well fit better with the long end on the manifold.

I suspect I'm also free and could help out.

That sounds like a "powerfloat" finish. The concrete is laid and tamped as usual, but then it's smoothed, first with a big flat paddle then, as it is drying, several times with a rotating disc. I had my garage floor done that way so that the trolley jack will roll over it.

Similarly, I've paid once, for the Spitfire that's currently roadworthy, and will do so again once I've got one of the others back together.

That's a discredited and disingenuous claim by a sensationalist newspaper. While everyone has admin costs, and many charities have little choice but to pay them out of incoming donations, very few "large" charities lose more than a couple of percent that way.

Fuel definitely does go off, and easystart (or even WD40) down the inlet will often get it started. In fact, once it's started, the engine may just cope with the stale fuel, at least long enough to go fill up with fresh. I had that on my GT6 some years back (albeit after rather more than a winter lay-up)

Hmm... I currently own cars with both (Spitfire Mk3, Vitesse, GT6 Mk3) and have previously owned several others (another Vitesse, some Dolomites, two 2500s). I've almost never switched the column one by accident and never found it obscured or inhibited access to anything. It's no flimsier than the indicator or light stalks (I have managed to break an indicator stalk off once). It does feel a bit floppy if the fixing nut is loose but then the cap of the gearknob ones is prone to working loose and falling off in your hand, too.

I have never understood this perspective. The column switch is much nicer to use and the gearstick one is a pain. However, the OP's car is a Mk3 and would originally have had the gearstick one.

You'd be more than welcome to come over Cambridge way though 😄

That probably comes under "radically altered" - so it's the points system. If you just drop a Spitfire tub onto a GT6 chassis, with its original drivetrain and suspension, then you get either 9 or 16 points (depending on how you interpret the "chassis" section), which means you can retain the identity, no problem. It's the identity of the GT6 that you are retaining, of course.

No, it's all fairly clear and very reasonable. It's designed to expose the criminal - in particular those who create fake Bugattis and try to sell them as the real thing for vast amounts of money. It only seems excessive for a Spitfire because Spitfires aren't worth enough for criminals to build replicas for passing off. If you have the V5 in your possession, and if you're putting the car back on the road after a thirty year restoration, then the DVLA aren't likely to send an inspector round to confirm that your suspension and steering are the ones that were fitted at the factory! They certainly didn't inspect mine.

The rules for retaining identity and the rules for being a historic (tax & MOT exempt) car are different. For the latter, you can change anything as long as it's to original (or common period mod) spec. For identity, though, you have to retain several original parts. In fact, you are allowed to replace the chassis (with an original specification replacement) providing you keep "2 other major components from the original vehicle". See https://www.gov.uk/vehicle-registration/rebuilt-vehicles There's also a points system for whether you can retain the original registration on a modified vehicle, at https://www.gov.uk/vehicle-registration/radically-altered-vehicles

No, not any more. The chassis alone falls a fair way short of the number of points required to retain identity. You can't legally sell a V5. It is not an entity in its own right, it is merely a certificate of identity and responsibility for a vehicle registered with DVLA. As soon as that car ceases to exist (meaning the chassis, body, and major mechanical parts are no longer united at least in ownership if not physically) then the corresponding V5 no longer has legal standing and must, legally, be returned to the issuing authority (DVLA) for them to remove the vehicle from their records (or mark it as destroyed). The bit of paper becomes worthless at best, fraudulent if you try to use it for anything.

If the car has been broken, the law requires that you inform DVLA by returning the V5 to them with the relevant section filled in for scrappage. There is no value to a V5 without the original car other than for illegal activity (such as ringing).

The average Englishman - even one who considers himself true English born and bred, not descended from foreigners - has significantly more French genes than Anglo-Saxon.

Yep, sounds good.

It has NEVER made financial sense to have a car professionally restored. The same is true of most things, to be honest - repairs or improvements to your house will always cost a lot more than they add to the value. If you're in the classic car market with a view to making a profit then get out, you're wasting your time. At times, there have been people who "restored" cars to make money but there are two very big caveats: first, they did all the work themselves and the money they made wasn't exactly top dollar per hour. Second, they generally cut so many corners that the "restored" car fell apart with a couple of years' use. My GT6 owes me nothing - its current valuation matches what I've spent on it over the 30 years I've owned it. Of course, that's not accounting for inflation. But it's never been an "investment". I bought it because it's fun to drive and I've had a lot of enjoyment from it. The Spitfire is similarly huge fun (that was a car that had been "restored" before my brother bought it, fell apart in two years, then took me 30 more years to rebuild to a decent state). The Vitesse had been professionally restored for the owner before last, then was garaged and unused for a few years before being sold for a quarter of its restoration cost. Since then it's had a lot of use and given a lot of fun... and needed a fair bit of work. It's currently off the road having significant bodywork done, but given that the restoration is now older than the car was at that time, I'm not complaining.

You weren't the only one 😄

Sure, the actual clamshell bonnet is remarkably similar, but very little else is. The sidelights, bumper, wheel arches, doors, roof line, boot shape, and tail are all different (and rather more Dolomite-like on the Hino).

Definitely more than mine. I think the Spitfire probably topped 4000 but the GT6 was under 500 and the Vitesse hasn't gone anywhere in over two years now.

Maybe mine had lost all its padding - it certainly tended to poke you in the back if noticeably reclined (which was hard to achieve because of the fuel tank bulkhead). The GT6's seats just seemed more comfortable, despite being pretty badly worn out (most of the foam seemed to be lying on the floor in tiny flakes).

Oddly I found my TR7 to be "OK in small doses". It wasn't a great car for the RBRR, even compared to a GT6 (and the Spitfire was better than that!).

Unless the UK can manage to be a DAMNED sight better than "the likes of China" then we're sunk, and any appeal to your argument comes across as a piss poor excuse for a "fuck you 'cos I'm all right" attitude that has no intent to do anything. That's the point. We need to be better. If we're not better from a position of knowledge then we're more guilty than anyone. We know the Chinese are bad but you also know murderers are bad - you don't use that as an excuse to go out and randomly beat people up, do you?

I think he was responding to nang, not you, glang.

Unfortunately the numbers they give are mostly complete nonsense. Their algorithms are seriously flawed.