In the spirit of Colin Chapman with strong influence by the guys at Roadkill this Spitfire buggy is a total hoot to drive. She has had a lot of lightness added and is a stupid amount of fun to drive. I would suggest that there are two ways to look at this car:
1) If a regular Spitfire is nimble and tossable this is off the charts and on a dollar per fun basis I defy anyone to generate more grins per mile than this car. If you are looking for a weekend blow the cobwebs out of your brain, autocross car or seeking to annoy your neighbors this is your car.
or
2) Basically you are buying a fresh very strong newly rebuild engine from a known Triumph race engine builder, a new aluminum flywheel, a newly rebuild 4 speed overdrive, shortened drive shaft and healthy differential all neatly installed in a carrying case for likely pennies on the dollar
Which of these two makes more sense to you is probably a good Rorschach test, of what I am not sure, but it seems important.
The car runs, drives, starts, stops, shifts very well. It is very quick and runs at highway speeds just fine. The engine pulls hard (after being carefully broken in) and the overdrive shifts properly and snaps into/out of overdrive properly. Differential is quiet. The Weber is a bit rich right now and could benefit from a quick tune.
New parts include:
- Freshly rebuilt engine from a known and well regarded professional Triumph race shop (Joe at Checkered Flag)
- Freshly rebuild 4 speed overdrive
- Header
- Weber
- Pertronix distributor
- Aluminum flywheel
- Clutch
- Clutch slave cylinder
- Shifter bushings
- New water pump
- New cooling fan
- New valve cover
- New Lucas Gold ignition coil
- Balance and shortened drive shaft
- New driveshaft u-joints
- New front springs from Moss Motors
- New front shocks from Moss Motors
- New aluminum radiator
- New electronic fuel pump
- New mechanical fuel pump (installed but not connected)
- New fuel tank
- Two new SpitBits GSA385 rear shocks
If you do the math that is over $6,500+ in parts that will bolt right into your Spitfire or Herald (drivetrain).
Other included parts:
- The car currently has Miata seats mounted.
- OEM left and right 1974 seat frame cores
- Two complete doors, one left and one right
- Spare hood (needs some attention - not bolt on ready)
- Good condition trunk lid (needs cosmetic attention)
- Fair condition trunk lid (probably for parts)
- Lower front valence with side pods where turn signals are and front spoiler
- Comes with driver side rear floor Heritage stamping
- Comes with passenger side rear fender
- New ignition column switch with keys
- New mechanical fuel pump
- Used but good condition factory manual
- Used knee pads and center H-brace
- Used but usable Handbrake gater
- Two TRF rear wheel cylinder rebuild kits NO-HK2074
- Brake MC rebuild kit TRW brand
- Spare starter solenoid
- Spare alternator belt
- TRFC0155 metal brake pad set
- New metal clutch line
- Spare alternator (not tested)
- Two new rear rubber brake line
- New rubber brake MC boot
- New rubber clutch MC boot
- New pinion oil seal (not installed since I didn't see leaks when I removed the drive shaft)
- TRF574245 body mounting kit
- New SpitBits heater valve 724021
- Spare windshield
Note: As of 11/19/15 the original 4 speed was sold separately and is not available as part of this sale.
Other things to know:
- Convertible top present and operable but the top needs to be replaced and there is a broken link on the passenger side top that should be addressed (doesn't prevent the top from working but it has a sharp edge)
- Cockpit floors have been replaced by the prior owner with thick flat sheet metal
- Sills (aka rocker panels) under the doors look to have been touched by prior owner but I have not stripped them back to bare metal
- Frame looks solid based on what I can see but has normal wear from not being a museum piece for the last 40 years.
- Tires are OK and hold air but the driver side front tire has non-structural side wall cuts from front hood not being properly fitted
- I fabricated two fender covers from a donor hood which need to be installed to be fully CA legal
- Turn signal switch is broken, but new front and rear turn signal housing mounted but need to be wired up
- Headlights work
- Fuel, oil pressure, and coolant gauges work and appear to be accurate
- Brake work fine but the PO installed a non-Triumph brake MC that requires greater pedal effort than the OEM Triumph one
Why I am selling the car
- My Jensen Interceptor ate the one thing you never have to worry about. That is right, the 440 engine blew up while all the Jensen bits have proven to be utterly reliable. Go figure.
- My Porsche 911 top end needed a full rebuild, which as some of you may be aware costs about as much as a lightly used Boeing 787. This, of course, happened right when the Interceptor died.
Other key details
- No reserve.
- Clean CA title
- Current registration - no back fees due
- I will help load the car for shipping but you need to arrange and pay for all of that AND keep in mind that all the extra will not fit in the car so you'll have to make extra arrangements for that
- Local inspections encouraged
- Questions about the car encouraged
- $500 deposit due within 24 hours of auction closing