Thank you, all. I?ll tell my friend, who will be glad to know his work is appreciated. His name, for posterity, is Gonzalo ?Nene? SyQuia. A long time ago, he showed me how to use a hacksaw so the blade doesn?t break prematurely. He learned that from school, he said. He studied engineering at a trade school down the river from Harvard, as he likes to say.
When he retired, he began to build full-sized replicas, mostly for his own enjoyment, but sold quite a few under the name ?Michel? ? MG TCs, MG TFs, Lotus 7s, the mandatory Cobra, Porsche Speedsters and Spyders. Although he employed several workers eventually, he did a great deal of work himself, such as the windshield posts for the TCs.
Here is his replica Porsche Speedster, next to my MG TC:
And one of his Porsche Spyder replicas at a hillclimb. It is very accurate.
I think he found the 1:8 scale model more difficult!
Best,
Andy