Butchered scorcher
Whilst I was enjoying the SRB race at Snetterton on Sunday (during the Spring Drive meeting) I got talking to a bloke who had wondered in from the crowd in the market to watch. He remarked that he had 'one of those beetle things' in his shed. I asked if he wanted to sell it - he said 'I'd be glad to get rid of it'! At this point my overactive imagination and my irrepressible positive nature went into overdrive. I had visions of this bloke pulling out a mint SS and presenting it to me on a red velvet cushion. All of the chrome parts would be intact, the paint work un-blemished and it would be fitted with a black bumper (please note that I also still believed in Santa Claus until I was 23 years old - I was depressed for weeks when I found out). Anyway I followed the bloke back to his place, which wasn't far from the track. He led me into his shed, which was almost completely open to to the elements and he pulled out a plastic crate with this thing in it.
I've seen worse but I've seen a damn site better. Needless to say my visions of SS perfection were cruelly dashed (God! I'm hard to please). The shell has none of the external 'extras' left on it, apart from the number plate light. It is basically sound but someone has hacked the front and rear wings about and drilled some additional holes in the headlight surrounds in the nose cone. It was also covered in bird droppings, spiders webs and some sort of grease (nice). The tyres are badly perished where it has been effectively left outside for 8 years and the alloy parts have oxidised. On the plus side the chassis plate is in good condition, the rear cage is un-broken and the radio box is very good under the dirt. Best of all it has a front bumper!!! I don't care that it's not black - I'm just glad it has one at all. I was beginning to give up on ever getting an SRB with one on again. It's also partially ball raced and has most of the orignal speed controller with it. It came with a Tamiya 1200 NiCd quick charger and a couple of totally knackered hump battery packs.Whoopee.
I think this will become a runner, I'll swap out the good bits with one of my other SRB chassis'. I can't really do much with the shell so it'll be 'dipped and stripped' and re-painted.
UPDATE:The paint on the shell stripped quite easily - this is probably because the shell itself is knackered. If the shell was in good condition it would be virtually impossible to get the paint off!!! This is a classic case of 'Sod's Law'