Talk with previous owner!

Today, I made contact with Steve, one of the past owners of the estate, from New Paltz, NY. I appreciate the time he took to fill me in on some of the earlier history of the car. Apparently, Steve found the car outside a service station where it had apparently sat for some time, victim of neglect and a mild collision. After Steve bought the car, he replaced the "nose cone" and acquired another front bumper. He also swapped out the front seats with those from another car. He added wheels from an MGB (the ones that appear in the pictures). Once he got it back to the house, he couldn’t get it started…"drove him insane". He removed head, decoked engine, etc…and it still wouldn’t start. Finally, he found that the engine had very little compression. He then put a TR6 engine in, had to change oil pan to make it fit. Steve drove it for a while, he commented that it drove nicely. After about a year, he sold the car to Vern, whom I bought it from.

So...as the parts roll in from eBay, the saga continues. Now if only I could find some more time!