Do you remember Multi-Coloured Swap Shop?

So, my question is do you remember Noel Edmunds and Swap Shop at the Weekend ? Because I just feel like I have been doing the Automotive equivalent!

When I built my first Corvette I started by contacting the recognised UK expert on all things Corvette, Tom Falconer at Clairmont Corvette. He actually gave me the lead that found that first Corvette and encouraged my restoration / conversion and even in the run up to the 2005 Goodwood Revival allowed me to queue jump him to grab the last C1 Corvette windscreen in the country to replace one I cracked in testing.

So, I had kept in touch with Tom and regularly looked at his web site http://www.corvette.co.uk/ . And it was whilst looking on there that I spotted a set of 5.5inch wide steel wheels. 

These may not sound very exciting in a world full of 8-10" alloy wheels on every road car driving around today, but for this project they are very important. The standard Corvette wheel was only 5" wide and the 5.5" was a very rare option that is nearly impossible to find (and not being reproduced). So Tom's set of 5 wheels and tyres were just what I needed.

A quick phone call to Tom secured them with my name on them but also put in place a cunning plan. You see between the first Corvette and now this one, I was beginning to build up a substantial collection of unused, spare and duplicate parts. All of which, Tom expressed interest in taking off my hands in the form of a swap (at last you see the link to Noel and Saturday morning kids TV!).

So, I grabbed up a van load of items of no use to me and headed south to Snodlands to see Tom, pick up my wheels and see what he made of my bits.

 So, as you can perhaps see, I had a couple of seats, a pile of (standard) wheels, I refurbished 1962 radio, a servicable soft-top and (not in the pictures) a 2x4bbl intake manifold and carbs (that when sent from the USA had been cracked and that I had re-welded).

What I came away with was this very nice set of precious wheels (and new tyres);

plus a bundle of cash as Tom was convinced he could sell on my items for more than he was asking for his wheels!!

So it was smiles all around and I was humming a happy song the whole (300miles) home!