[Tony Wheeler]

Hi Tony,

Good to hear you have a pintle hook assy, they can be hard to come by. So many blitz wrecks have had the rear chassis chopped off, a lot of them have gone for scrap. Likewise the rear fairlead assy on winch trucks. As you say there were some very handy parts with that chassis you bought. Spare wheel carrier and tool box were especially good pick ups.

I agree with you re originality, particularly in this case, where the chassis has already been irreversibly modified. But with the chassis plates and pintle hook assy in place it will be very hard to pick, so it's hardly worth worrying about hole patterns in the rear crossmember. There's not much point drilling holes if there's nothing to put in them!

On the general question of originality, I think it all comes down to how the vehicle will be used. If it's a "museum piece" which only gets driven to MV events, then originality is the whole purpose. But if it's a "daily drive" blitz, then comfort, safety, and performance on the road are more important. Why not make a few improvements in these areas, if it can be done unobtrusively like the ones you mention. They can always be reversed later on if some future owner wishes (I'm conscious these vehicles will outlast us by a long way!) Therefore to my way of thinking, these kind of improvements don't detract from the basic integrity of a blitz.

On the "improvement" of 12V conversion, I personally don't see the point, except perhaps for headlights if you plan to do a lot of night driving. And maybe wipers in heavy rain. Other than that, why go to all the trouble and expense of fitting an alternator (or rewinding your genny if you want to look original) and changing your regulator and getting all your gauges recalibrated? Is there some reason I'm missing here?