1974 Triumph Spitfire 1500 (part one)

I grew up around convertibles and always wanted one of my own. It was the summer of 1996 and I had managed to scrape together $900 through months of careful saving and probably from holding on to my tax return. I decided that it was time to buy a convertible. I scoured the Sacramento Bee classifieds to see what the coolest convertible I could get for $900 was. There were only three viable options in my range: A 1971 Fiat 124 Spider in Antelope, a 1960's VW dune buggy in Citrus Heights, and a 1974 Triumph Spitfire in Roseville.

                                     
               Complete and full of potential, this little Spitfire was a perfect fit for a kid on a tight budget.


My brother and I went to look at the Fiat first. The owner told me over the phone that it hadn't run in a few years. When I got there, it was clear it had sat neglected in his driveway for years, unprotected from the elements. The red paint was oxidized and trashed. The interior was shot with rusty floors and a delaminating wood dash.  The engine had webs all over it. He was asking more than I had, but I figured I'd be able to negotiate. It was also out of date on registration. My brother and I had brought a few tools and supplies with an eye to getting the car running before making a serious offer. We did so. After a few adjustments and tinkering, to the owners amazement, the little Fiat coughed to life and ran smooth. With four flat tires, we didn't bother to try to drive it.

My offer to him was $900. He was asking $1100. He would not budge off his asking price. At $900 it wasn't that great a deal anyway, so we left and never looked back.

The next car on the list was the VW dune buggy. The owner told me over phone he was preparing it for the upcoming Sacramento Bug-o-Rama! Wow that sounded pretty good. My brother and I drove over to the guys house and saw the ridiculous pile of parts the owner claimed was a buggy. The fiberglass manx-style body was faded and cracked and not even secured to the chassis. There was a a large crescent-shaped hole cut into the hood for no apparent functional reason. There were no seats, no roll bar, a broken windshield and the rusty little engine out back didn't appear to be a runner. My brother and I didn't even bother knocking on the guy's door. we quietly left, annoyed that we had been lured there in the first place.

Finally I made it out to see the Triumph Spitfire. The owner was the first decent, honest and realistic guy I had encountered. The car looked really nice and purportedly ran, though it had suffered a dash electrical fire...Apparently he was having the exhaust welded up and it heated the carpet and set the carpet on fire which grew into the dash which melted a lot of wires. That is the condition I saw it in. He fired up the engine using a jumper battery and make-shift substitute wiring. It sounded good. We struck a deal for $900!

I towed the little Spit to the Union 76 station in Auburn where I worked and parked it out back. I worked on it as often as I could after hours and occasionally during my quiet graveyard shift. I sorted out the melted wiring and one at a time pieced back together the damaged circuits. With patience and contorting, I was able to have the car up and running in fairly short order.

 The paint looked better than any other I had seen in my price range. The top was supple and the tires were good enough.

 Good clean styling from any angle. Note the brackets for the impact rubber bumperettes still in place.

 This view was a little daunting at first, but I bit the bullet and committed to figuring it all out. There were way more positives than negatives to this car...and I was going to own a Triumph!!!!!

Not being able to leave anything alone, I determined that the car, once running and driving reliably, required some racing stripes and matched wheels. I laid these up with gloss rattle can paint and pin striping. I pulled the faded hub caps but left the stainless trim rings.

The side draft carburetor and stock exhaust manifold were highly restrictive. The car wouldn't pull past about 4200 RPM's. I think 70 MPH was the top speed too. With this little used Weber down draft and header, and after a little tuning, the 1500 cc engine would scream eagerly past redline. What an awesome upgrade! I saw 105 MPH on the speedometer too.