TL;DR Reviews: Triumph Spitfire - "Fun At Any Speed"

"Ross Kraz" (ropstafer)
03/18/2016 at 16:40 • Filed to: TL;DR Reviews, TL;DR, Triumph, Spitfire

Welcome to !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , where you can learn about a car even if you forgot your Ritalin pill today. Be sure to watch for other reviews, and if you would like to submit your own review, go ahead because this is the internet and nobody can stop you!

Front left

What is it? 1976 Triumph Spitfire 1500 (5th gen). It’s a British, two seater, RWD roadster powered by a 1.5L I4 through a 4 speed manual with overdrive. It made (maybe) 60 horsepower about 40 years ago, and supposedly had a top speed around 100 MPH if you had a death wish.

Right rear

Pros: Italian design; fun at any speed; easy to wrench on; parts are cheap and readily available; makes people happy; nothing beats a convertible

Interior

Cons: hitting bumps at over 55 MPH feels like certain death; rattles; leg and headroom for anyone over 5'10"

Adorable face

Recommendation: Highly recommended, four out of five stars, if you can find one. Driving a Spit will put a smile on anyone’s face. It is an excellent vehicle to learn how to work on cars because systems are simple and accessible. Plus, it will provide many learning opportunities because, well, it’s British.

Hood propped forward

For more information, including my experiences and wrenching stories, check out !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!

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DISCUSSION (4)

That's gonna leave a mark! > Ross Kraz
03/18/2016 at 17:50

Had a 1964 Spitfire when I was in High School. Bought it for $200 when I turned 16 and pushed it home. Fortunately it needed only a battery, generator and a starter. I say fortunately because that was the absolute max of my mechanical skills. Had a great time with it. Glad I didn’t see your listing because I would have probably bought it and then would have caught hell from the wife. Yours looked 20x better than mine. I painted it yellow myself. First time I painted anything. You can guess the results.

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > Ross Kraz
03/18/2016 at 18:39

Oppo Spitfire club represent! It’s interesting to hear experience of driving a stock one seeing as both of mine are neither driveable nor will be stock.

My first one I bought a couple of years ago and I’m rebuilding to a much modified state (2.5l Lucas injected Triumph 6-cyl up front, lots of lightweighting to get the weight distribution in order, fabricated rear suspension based loosely on the rotoflex GT6 setup to sort grip at the rear, body welded to the chassis like an Austin-Healey and hardtop welded to the body to massively increase stiffness). Should be finished this September if I’m lucky :)

The second I’ve only just bought and comes pre-painted! I’ve got a galvanised chassis to go underneath with a Triumph 1850 Slant 4 that needs rebuilding and will go in the front. Oh, and it already comes with the GT6 rotoflex setup swapped in! It’ll keep the BOF construction and the convertible for top-down runabout motoring while the other car will be a bit of a nutter rocketship :)

One of the things I love about this car is everyone I meet has a connection to it. Either they used to have one when they were growing up, or their parents had one, or an owner swing-axled into their garden one time and they had to help dig them out...

Ross Kraz > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires
03/19/2016 at 03:38

wow! I envy your wrenching abilities. That’s awesome I’ll be sure to keep an eye out for new progress posts

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > Ross Kraz
03/19/2016 at 05:06

Thanks :) it’s all a matter of having a go at it. It’s still scary pulling stuff apart that you might not be able to put it back together properly, but once you get past that initial worry it’s actually fairly straightforward, especially on Spitfires where there’s tons of info and helpful forums :)