Archive for November, 2006
the hook is set
November 23, 2006 8:29 pmA few days later, Lane replies with the following email and photo:
hey man, here’s the details:
58 Sunbeam rapier, electric overdrive, it has the original motor which is the same as the alpine series 1, has the 3 position top, allows you to make it into a targa top. Engine is apart, the #1 rod journal has a little scarring it was spinning a bearing, Can be turned easily… Dad says 1800, price includes delivery to Utah, and you would own it… later man LAne
After showing Liz the photo, I reply back a few hours later, “we’ll take it”
a seed is planted
November 18, 2006 7:03 pmSo, this is where our fine little saga begins.
It was just a few days before thanksgiving 2006, and a few of us from the local Land Rover club (The Wasatchrovers) thought it would be fun to get together and do a Rover run to the Utah food bank. The plan was to meet at Liberty park (in downtown SLC) and caravan down to the food bank, where we would all make our food deposits. While waiting at the park, I chatted with a friend who was telling me about how his father was liquidating his small British car collection. Lane rattled off a half dozen cars of varying marques that his dad had rat-holed up at his place in Spokanne. All of which I had little or no interest in, until he brought up this little Rapier his dad had that they named MIMI. It wasn’t the silly name that struck me, but the fact that I had never heard of a Rapier before that perked my interest. “Oh your wife would really like MIMI, Marc” Lane rambled, “it’s got Liz written all over it”. I prepared myself for the hard sell that Lane is so good at doing, but there wasn’t any, the conversation simply drifted to our Land Rovers, and a few minutes later we were off.
Later that evening, I told Liz about the conversation I had with Lane, and she was curious as to what the car looked like. So, with a few key strokes, and the help of google, we caught our first glimpse of a 1958 Sunbeam Rapier series 2 convertible.
Once we stumbled on that wiki page, I knew we were sunk! Liz was hooked and I knew I was about to be buried in yet another project. That night, I sent Lane an email , asking him for photos and more information on the car.
