Triumph Spitfire Buying Guide - The CHEAP British Sports Car!

Fancy a lightweight, highly customisable British classic with the bonus of the wind in your hair? Well you're in luck! In this buying guide, Paul takes us for a walk around the Triumph Spitfire and gives us all the dos and don'ts of getting your hands on perhaps the last of the affordable British sports classics!

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Chapters:
Intro: 00:00
Exterior and Bodywork: 00:30
Engine and Drivetrain: 02:46
Suspension: 03:54
Interior: 05:39
Buying and Conclusion: 07:22

[nickyalousakis]

it's also tremendously better looking than an mgb.

[jojag]

There are 2 main issues with this car:
1. It's slow and has bad acceloration. 0-60 in about 15 seconds and can struggle to maintain speeds over 50mph without the overdrive modification. This is a car to take into the city or on winding country roads. Don't take it on major roads and highways.
2. Safety. It's really tiny and less than 800kg, at a time when most cars on the road are 3x heavier or more. Any collision at speed, and you're pretty much dead.

Literally everything else about these cars is amazing. They look fantastic, they sound great, they're fun to drive, they're cheap on the market, and extremely easy to work on. Like working on a lawn tractor. Easily accessible for DIY maintenance.

[paulelverstone]

That's a lovely looking example. Always liked the design. I think one of these with the 6 cylinder engine would be a very desirable sunday toy...

[simonhodgetts]

The Spitfire was such a pretty car - and that is a lovely example.

[-triumphgt]

I saw this one for sale a month or so back. Mine has a similar interior with the white dials, door cappings etc but a red leather interior. Mine is blue with a fuel injected 2 litre six cylinder engine. Very smooth and like this one, has the column mounted overdrive and metal ball gear knob. Also uprated suspensionn and 3.27 diff and a variety of enhancements. Can easily keep up with modern traffic though our Volvo V90 could certainly show it a clean pair of heels. However that is not the point - it is just fun to drive and to maintain!

[EuropaSman]

No mention of the "swing spring" rear suspension that came on on the Mk4 and also ended up on the 1973 model year GT6 Mk3. Nearly as good as Rotoflex in solving the tuck under issue but simpler and cheaper (I had a swing spring GT6 Mk3 in the late 1990s and couldn't fault the back end).

By the way, the trunions were good enough to be used by Lotus in the 1960s, 1970s, and early 1980s. They were used on the Elan, Elan +2, Europa, wedge shaped Elite, Eclat, and even the Esprit S1, S2 and S3 & Turbo Esprit up to 1985!

[-triumphgt]

You oil the trunnions rather than grease them. EP90 gear oil - grease can result in more wear and the upright can break - or get the Trunnionless kit.

[roygardiner]

Thanks for an excellent review. 🖒
I don't own a car but if I were to buy one the Spitfire would be a strong contender.

I had one of these/ did about 85k miles in 20 years. Great little car and dead easy to work on as you say. It came with an personalized plate- sold the car for £900 and the plate for £1500 😂😂

[oscarjones]

What wheels are those, they look lovely

[terryjacob]

Until it was outlawed for it's ladder chassis, ace Superstox driver Dave Pierce successfully campaigned a BMC B-Series engined Spitfire in short oval Hot Rod events.

[CorrosionAcres]

Nice overview, but it would have only taken a moment to fold the hood properly.

[yorkshirewanderer]

Surely the title ‘Last of the Cheap British Roadsters’ belongs to the MGTF? The TF is a far superior car to the Spitfire which, nice though it is, is an antique.