Triumph Repair: 1979 Spitfire, body restoration, electronic ignition

Question
This doll has been barn kept for 20 yrs since my dad gave it to me. My grandfather bought it new and it has 23000 miles. I had a local mechanic check it out and he believes it only needs a distributor. I'm considering an off body restoration to use as a daily driver. What do you suggest replacing with new after sitting 20 years? I understand it would be a shot in the dark without seeing the car.

Answer
Hi Joe,
The 23K miles will not cause a distributor to need replacing and even rust should not have made it necessary to replace, but electronic ignition will cause a mechanic to need to replace a distributor if it is a Opus/Lucas 45DE4. They failed even when the car was new. Almost no car got out of warranty without one or more being replaced.
Howard