My buddy, Todd, and I got together to showcase our roadsters. Todd drives the 1975 Triumph Spitfire 1500... Fully restored in 2009, Pecos stage 2 engine, Crane fireball ignition, 4-speed manual with overdrive, Minilite race wheels, removable factory hard top, 65,000 original miles. Will post pics:
John (JoNack)















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The Spitfire is pretty much the only Triumph that hasn't balooned in price over the last decade or so. Well, maybe the TR-7 too...but the Spitfire is actually good looking!

Hilarious to see them side by side. I should send that pic to my family members who are so worried about my safety driving "such a tiny car."

 

The Spitfire has to be one of the most gorgeous "everyman" cars ever designed. Many years ago I almost bought one (a BRG '74, I think) as my very first car, but it would have required twice as much as asking price to put in driveable shape -- and it wouldn't have been at all practical for lugging my stuff to and from college, especially in winter!

What might have been....

 

I had a Mk 3 Spitfire when we lived in the UK. I never drove it though. I bought it from a friend, trailered it home, took it to bits, then moved to Canada and had to sell it as a giant bag of parts...

It's amazing how small it looks next to the MINI though, it certainly didn't feel that way at the time!

 

I had a 1980 Spitfire that I retrofitted a '72-73 Triumph GT-6 engine into. Used the chrome bumpers too! Juiced it up and put triple Weber side draft carbs on it, roll bar, TR-8 aluminum wheels, OD transmission. It was a fun car to drive. It could get it. I did that in '86. I liked all the TRs except I didn't have a lot of love for the 7s.

 

Yes..ST-G,

A bystander said that my roadster looked like a tank next to the Spitfire...
JoNack

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A friend of mine from years ago had a GT6 and a Spitfire (same vintage) and basically swapped the rear parts of the bodies so he ended up with a four cylinder GT6 (he said it was safer that way...) and a 6 cylinder Spitfire similar to yours. I never saw it, unfortunately, I think he broke the GT6 (GT4?) when the rear end folded under somewhere...

 

I sure miss our 73 Spit. She was stock and even at 1200 lbs the 90 hp motor couldn't hold up to the Cooper S. It would be cool if BMW revived the marque. In the meantime, here's a pic of our 2013 Cooper S and the 73 Spit.

 

I am glad to see so many other car nuts. I love when jon and i get to b.s about engines and autos! I have owned many cars and have been a custom bike builder and foreign specialist for over twenty years! Keep those wheels spinning!

 

Thanks for the post. My first new car was a '74 Spitfire I bought in Spokane at my first permanent posting working for the Strategic Air Command. I bought it because I could not fit into the cockpit of a TR-6, and I never regretted it.

I converted that car to twin carbs, and started autocrossing with it on the East Coast in '77, where I was reliably whipped by a 914/6. Damned good fun and I miss that car to this day!

Kind regards,

Charlie

 

This was as good as my Spitfire got while I owned it...

 

 

Had one of these for awhile too, but in real decent shape. Fun, fun little car. We called it the Tomato. You had a ways to go on yours.

 

Hey jon! Looks like we are getting alot of admirers! This is great to see all these car nuts! Happy motoring to all!


1995 restored range rover
1975 restored triumph spitfire
1987 restored yamaha yz 125
1988 restored yamaha xt 350 enduro
2008 honda vfr 800 with upgrades
199 kawasaki vulcan 800
1984 yamaha enticer 340 snowmobile
1989 arctic cat ext snowmobile
1985 honda atc 110
2006 arctic cat dvx 250 atv