The condo is owned by a rocket scientist. Really. He is working on the next generation of rockets for NASA up in Huntsville, Alabama. This condo is his vacation home and he wanted to update the kitchen cabinets and appliances.
But the really cool part. He is a car guy, too. I mean a real expensive and rare car kind of guy. He had a DeTomaso Mangusta on display at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance last weekend out in California. It is the only Concours in the US that is more famous than the Amelia Island Concours the Kid and I attended last year. Greg also owns one of these, but 2009 model converted from a coupe to a convertible by a shop over in Gainesville, Florida. And next month, I am meeting a transporter up in Flagler to put Greg's original Meyers Manx in the garage of his condo. He acted like he was putting me out. H*ll No. That's what car guys do.
Plus I get a blog out of it to share with you Counters out there.
Now, I can hear you asking, if Manuel Labor and I finished that condo a couple months ago, why am I up there now? Well, it seems I should have primered those newly plastered walls as that semi gloss paint is just flaking off those walls like the peel off an orange. So I have had to peel and scrape all the paint off in anticipation of repainting the entire kitchen. Luckily is it fairly small.
So, what does that have to do with What I Saw Today?
Well today, after finishing up that scrape and peel job, I climb in the oleragtop to head on down A1A to do a drive by at Richie's Oceanshore Garage.
Anyway, as I was passing through Flagler Beach, I spotted this parked right on A1A, just across that famous roadway from the Atlantic Ocean.
It is a late 70's Triumph Spitfire 1500, manufactured by British Leyland at their plant in England.
This one is in very good condition and showing not one bit of rust.
And even though the roof isn't long enough for this olelongroof, it would qualify for inclusion in my livery as it is an oleragtop and a blue plate special. Except for those d*mned Lucas Electronics (scroll down to the King of the Road entry in that link).
In the early 70's, the US Department of Transportion mandated that in 1973 all automobiles have bumpers that would withstand an impact of 5 mph with damage to the body components. That explains the honking, HUGE rubber bumpers on this beauty. BL sold this car worldwide, or didn't sell, as the case may be, and for the US market they bolted these monstrosities on while, as usual, everybody else around the world got the cool stuff, in this case much more desirable chrome bumpers.
That's What I Saw Today.
And in finding something rare and in such good shape and sharing it with you Counters, I am allowed to continue to
Celebrate Life.
1 comment:
I notice the bonnet catches are not closed on the Spit. Thought maybe you'd been taking photos of the motor.
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