Back in May we sent a survey out to VTO owners and asked, among other things, how they first found us. We got 237 answers. Most of them were some version of a forum, a friend, or a car show.
Then there was response 183.
"Bought our '72 Mk IV Spitfire because it had VTO wheels on it!"
We read that one twice. Not "I put VTO wheels on my Spitfire." The wheels were already there, and they were the reason the car got bought.
So we wrote to the man who filled it out, and he wrote back with the whole story.
The find
Scot and Sonja Thompson live in Franklin, North Carolina, up in the Smoky Mountains. They found the Spitfire for sale by owner, locally. A 1972 Mk IV, 1500cc, white with a red stripe down the middle.
"It had just the right look for us," Scot told us, "and, of course, the VTO wheels were the deal clincher."
First day home. The wheels came with it.
The deal clincher.
Those wheels went onto that car before the Thompsons ever saw it, by an owner they never met, for reasons we will never know. Years later they were still doing their job.
The part the seller left out
Scot volunteered this part without being asked: "While the car looked great, the seller embellished the mechanical condition of the car."
Anyone who has bought a classic knows that sentence. The paint is straight, the stance is right, the seller is friendly, and the list of things you find out later is longer than the list you were given.
Scot did not go back and argue about it. He got to work.
One solid year
The engine and gearbox in the car are both 1977 units. The engine carries a setup you do not run into often: four Keihin CR Special 35mm carburetors. Scot built the choke system for them by hand.
Four Keihin CR Special 35mm carbs under K&N filters.
From there the list ran long:
- Fixed a lot of oil leaks
- Sorted out the wiring
- Added a passenger side mirror
- Pulled the noisy 4-speed and put in an overdrive gearbox
- Reconfigured the exhaust to offset to the right
- Swapped to a 2-chamber muffler
- Upgraded the rear axles
Red leather, wood dash, and nothing in the way.
"It has taken a solid year's effort to make the car truly road ready," Scot wrote, "but we are now enjoying it."
Sonja's car
One more thing Scot wanted understood, so we are putting it in writing.
"It is okay to use our names, but Sonja is the owner."
Scot, in his own description, is "just the mechanic."
The plate reads MKIVSPIT. No ambiguity there.
"We get nice comments from folks everywhere we go," Scot said. "It is very fun to drive."
Sonja, on their road.
It happens more than you would think
The Thompsons are not the only ones. Three other people in those 237 answers told us some version of the same thing.
A 1970 MGB GT owner told us the wheels "were already installed on my 1970 MGB GT when I purchased it in 2021."
A 1976 TR6 owner said the same thing about his car.
Someone else bought a project car that came with a set of VTO wheels "still new in the box."
Nobody planned any of that. A previous owner made a decision years ago, the wheels stayed on, and the car went out into the world and did the introducing.
That is a strange and gratifying thing to learn about your own business. We have spent 26 years trying to make wheels that fit cars almost nobody else bothers with. It turns out a good set of them keeps working long after the person who bought them has moved on.
If your car came to you on VTO wheels
We would like to hear about it. Send us a photo, the year and model, and a line or two about the car. We will feature a few of them.
And if you are the one doing the fitting rather than the inheriting, that is what we are here for. Give Alex a call at 866-855-3473 and tell him what you are building. He has probably helped somebody with the same car.
Thanks to Scot and Sonja for the story, the photos, and a solid year of patience.