Hi y'all, a quick update here from (currently) sunny England.
The torn/shabby seats have now been fixed:
and I took the Speedster out with the Long Haired General (aka wifey) to a local monthly car meet and had plenty of positive comments about the semi-outlaw look of the chrome wheels, black and red interior, which was nice to hear. One guy was/is very interested in buying it, even though I'm not selling it (yet).
There has been a persistent clonking around the rear suspension when driving since I bought the car and, using the guy's car hoist, we worked out it was coming from the rear torsion bars. So the car went back on the axle stands yesterday and I removed the left hand side spring plate and torsion bar. The bar itself was fine but it became immediately apparent that the problem was the inner spring plate bush - it was 20 year old urethane hardened to a shrunken, solid plastic lump..
The outer bush, being rubber, was slightly perished but nowhere near as bad as the urethane (another reason to avoid urethane despite their seeming enduring popularity?). So, new rubber bushes ordered and I'll fit when they arrive later this week.
The number plate transfer went through and the car looks better with an 'ageless' plate. I took a few photos out on the hill overlooking Portsmouth Harbour (you can just see the Spinnaker Tower in the backgound of the first photo below - for those that are interested).
I've have regained my love of driving I lost after selling my Miata Mk1 around 10 years ago. It's totally impractical yet so engaging! And puts a smile on everyone who sees the car. :-)