Anybody have any experience with Triumph Spitfires? After flipping through the local paper and researching I think it would make fun car to autocross and drive on weekends. I really don't want to run the truck at autocross anymore and I don't know how long it will be until I get the racecar built and sorted out. My only concern is If I get the Truimph Spitfire I might have too much fun with it and scrap the Integra project. Should "Miss Tex" fear for her life if I get a triumph spitfire or will she be safe? Nice thing about the spitfires is that they don't lose value...so I can use the spitfire until the racecar is finished and sorted out and then sell the spitfire at 0 loss. What do yall think about this? Has anyone done a similar thing and what resulted from that decision if you did? Thanks.

V "Triumph Spitfire 1500" racer111 .....hmmm

 

You would have to be out of your ******* mind to pay good money for a piece of **** like that.

This much is true - they are worth zero already.

Scott, who suggests that the worst and cheapest Miata you can find is light years ahead of the best Spitfire you can find.......and who is saying all this in the voice of Sam Kinnison....oh, Oh, OOOHHHHHHH..............

 

Main problem with miatas is that I don't sit well with the first gen ones...literally.

The car i would actually like is a Sunbeam Tiger, but ack the price of those are higher than used miatas in excellent condition, and I'm sure insurance would be insane...but it would wax miata's like nothing, only thing better would be a Ro-spit or Ro-Bugeyed sprite...

Anybody have any suggestions for a small, light, RWD roadster that can be had for $5,000 or less...and no gen I miata's. I would get a Gen II miata in heartbeat, but the cost is not right. All I want to do is keep it for about 1 year and resale it at or just above cost....

RR98ITR, I don't get how you are calling the spitfires junk....ones in very good conditon go for around $10,000. They are the simple essence of a car - not the fastest or best roadster around, but are generally mechanically sound and have ample parts supply. I don't want the "best"...I want to have an affordable British roadster for about 1 year....that will keep its value and run most of the time.

But in the end if everything doesn't go ok, then I can have an excuse and say British cars are a piece of junk and sell it....

 

Ugh, if you just have to do something like this then the only reasonable choice is an MGB. It is mechanically and functionally superior to anything else of it's type that came from that poor island during that pathetic period.

And OMFG - if you would spend $10K on a Spitfire you need to get help fast.

Scott, who built a Toyumph Spitoda hybrid 20 years ago, just looked at 300 old British motorcycles in a warehouse yesterday, and has been around such things all his life - find another way....FIND ANOTHER WAY!

 

MGB "Midget" version is the other one being considered.... So the Spitfire is really a terrible car?

 

Other roadster-- Datsun 1600 or Datsun 2000?

I know a guy in NJ who will sell his Bug-Eye for about $5k.. it looked great when I rode in it..

 

2nd generation CRX. They hold their value suprisingly well...... the later cars in good shape are fetching $3-4K around DC. I dont want to know what people are pulling in for cars in great shape for a 12 year old 2-seater.

RJ

 

"Sunbeam Tiger" AKA the poor mans cobra,
There was a nice one @ Hyperfest this weekend, Haven drive one,, i will say this the one I drove, it was great in a strait like however you can tell that it still has pretty much the same chassis and the suspension that the Regular Sunbean had as it does not handel very well at all.

As far as Advice on a Triumph, ... well its a britsh car... so .. File your Eviormental Impact statement, and trash it !!!

 

OK, since everyone is trashing Spitfire's I've gotta step up as a previous owner. I had 3 of 'em, a '78 Spitfire 1500 was my first car, and to be honest I wish I'd never sold it. All of the old British cars died when the Datsuns and other such came over and provided better performance for less money and were less quirkey, with a warranty, and didn't need the intense preventive maintenance that the Brit's did. You can still find great Spitfires, ones that will be virtually trouble free, if you look hard enough. My old car, for example: I looked at 14 different cars before I bought that one. I put over 120K miles on it over 10 years with never a mechanical breakdown. Did I do a lot of preventive maintenance? You bet. You change u-joints in the rear prop shafts almost as often as you change air filters. All fluids on regular intervals. I spent hours tuning that old stromberg carb just to make sure it was perfect. Hell, I rebuilt the thing several times when it didn't need it just because I was fascinated with how it operated and I wanted to be so familiar with it. Yes, I was sick.

Point is, they aren't bad little cars. You just have to be VERY careful selecting the right one because most people didn't give them the attention they needed to live this long and you can get a real rag if you aren't careful. Look around, find a good one, and go though it. Rebuild anything that is suspect. Parts are relatively cheap and in good supply. Take care of it and you will have a car that will last a long time for not a lot of green. You just can't abuse them like you can Hondas and expect them to like you for it!

 

I just finished reading "Whatever happened to the British Motorcycle Industry". An example of the kind of leadership that permeated all of their motor culture is revealed tellingly in a description of the rejection by a managing director of the idea of an aircraft style one piece cylinder/head. "Motorcyclists enjoy removing the cylinder head and reseating the valves on Sunday afternoons". Right decision probably (rare that), but the reasoning is quite incomprehensible. Tea?

Egad Man! That's not a car - that's a parasite!

Scott, who just did a reality check......Yes, you were sick.....


[Modified by RR98ITR, 11:27 AM 9/9/2002]

 

LOL! Yes, I admit it. But, I learned a lot from that car. And I agree, the people in charge should have been strung up and they deserved to go under for such bone-headedness.

Parasite, maybe. But that car does have the potential to become an entire hobby in itself. Just to keep it running. There, I think that was a euphamistic enough way of putting it!!

PS, you'll notice it's all Honda products for me now, other than the GMC that drags 'em around. What's not listed in my sig is that since the Triumphs, with the exception of a Corvette, it's been 2 Civic's, 3 Accords, 2 CRX's, and now 2 Integras. I Hondas!

 

I'm not without a heart. I did my Spitoda because I liked the late Spitfire body (especially at about 3 inches of ground clearance with really wide tires). And I have a weakness for the shape of the TR4. And I too learned alot - though thankfully not as much as you about the British parts.

Scott, who really tries to balance heart and mind....making the best of what he got....