Thanks for the interest everyone.
To answer a few questions:
No build thread just yet, might open one in the relevant section when I get started on the car.
Nice ideas about the donor - hadn't heard of the Pie Valley MGF based chassis, I'll have to google that later - but nobody's hit the nail on the head yet and I'm keeping that one close to my chest I'm afraid.
Just bear in mind that it is going to be a proper outlaw capable of making string-back gloved Porsche purists choke on their Pimms (apologies in advance to any Porsche purists reading this who've just spat Pimms on their favourite string-backs because they're so outraged at my criticism of their choice of hand wear, ok, I'm a d*ck).
The body has been around the block a few times although never with a chassis under it. The doors have been 'glassed shut, the front hood doesn't fit properly and the scallops for your fingers to go in under where the door handles fit have been cut out and filled flat. It's at least twenty years old, has had an unknown number of owners, none of whom ever even really started building it and the (very nice) chap I bought if from thinks it might be a Pilgrim body, but it could have been churned out by any one of the twenty or so manufacturers of Speedster bodies who've come and gone (mostly) over the last thirty odd years.
The body was on ebay for less than twenty four hours on a 'buy it now with best offer' basis. I saw it about ten minutes after it was listed, finished my very large glass of wine, looked over my shoulder to make sure my wife was still on her night shift at the hospital and hadn't sneaked home while I wasn't watching and submitted an offer of 60% of the asking price. Counter offer of 75% of 'buy it now' received the next evening and accepted without hesitation.
Even the wife's (semi) happy. She's not really into cars so long as she gets a new one every two years (and she does really like my Spyder), but a couple of weeks ago we put 'Top Gun' on the TV and when Kelly McGillis locked up the brakes in a black Speedster when she's pissed at Tom Cruise, she told me she wanted one of those and I said, well, funnily enough so do I!
Just a few minor issues with the spontaneous ebay purchase of a Speedster body, sight unseen... I live in Norfolk. The body was in St Austell. I don't trust Shiply drivers. I only have a piddly little box trailer. I only have a piddly little Nissan Micra to tow the piddly little box trailer with. And it was a 700 mile round trip. And it pissed down the whole way.
So, this trailer -
And this body -
And 350 miles across country in a torrential downpour. What could possibly go wrong???
Well, nothing actually.
Okay, so I daren't go above 45mph and it killed the fuel consumption, dropping it to about 30mpg from its usual 45 (when suitably thrashed), but it was eight and a half hours of relative calm in the slow lane listening to the smooth vibe of BBC Radio 2.
To be fair, I've had better ideas...