Faith’s been the undoing of countless fools throughout history, but every time I’ve had faith in a faceless seller over the internet it's seemed to work out ok. This, coupled with some sick, deep-rooted desire for financial punishment, was the reason why my dad and I decided to up the stakes a bit.
After a bit of searching, we found a car that met the criteria. It was sitting at a dealer in Los Angeles, at a price that seemed either too good to miss or too good to be true. The obvious first hurdle was how we’d get in back to South Yorkshire. After a bit of background checking and a few telephone conversations the wheels were in motion, although not literally unless you wanted to push.
Three months later, we had this in our garage.
It’s a 1971 V12 Auto, the bottom rung of the ladder it seems, and it needs an engine rebuild. As far as we can work out, the 30k mileage is genuine, but it’s overheated at some point and has sat for over 20 years in need of some remedial work.
The body and interior, though, are bang on. Apart from a bonnet and door in primer, the Turquoise paint has come up like new and there’s no rust. The hot, dry climate has (faithfully) preserved it in a way that would make Lancia’s seventies sales department physically sick.
So, where’s faith left us? Well, with some work to do.
We need an oil cooler (missing on arrival) so if anyone knows where to find one that fits, we’d appreciate it. Any recommendations for a decent engine builder would also be appreciated. We’ve noted Rob Beere Racing, but that’s about it so far.
We're new to E Type ownership, as well as this forum. It'll be fun to see how it works out.
Cheers for reading
Jack
