Triumph Spitfire Review

Overall Rating

My Triumph Spitfire is a 1980 1500 non overdrive in vermillion and I think its the best looking car I have ever seen, and that includes my mates 1965 E type Jag. It is impossible to drive this wonderful car without smiling, it is built for dry sunny days and B roads, OK the car does go wrong but it is the easiest, cheapest and most satisfying car to work on with fantastic access to everything. Also I get an easy 35 mpg and today with fuel costs that has to be a real bonus, also you can fool yourself into thinking that you have eighties fuel costs as you can fill it's tank with less than £30! You are very low to the ground which adds to the sports experience. I am six foot three and I have loads of leg room.

Please don't even consider a spitfire if its reliability that you need, you won't get it! These things go wrong for a laugh on a regular basis; you will need to carry a reasonably comprehensive tool kit in the boot. Also don ' t forget some hand wipes and a few dry rags. The electrical system is rubbish, even with a good battery when the engine is warm if you have the lights on and the heater running the engine won't turn over on the starter.....what a joke! This is a fair weather car that must not be used in the rain! And MUST be kept in a good dry garage. When driving along in the rain with the roof up and the windows up every now and then for no reason that I can fathom around a quarter of a cup of water hits me in the face and splashes all over the gearstick and centre console! ...comical really... but ridiculous, oh yeah and the footwells fill up with water. Also the brakes are awful, I have tried coasting at around 30mph and absolutely slamming my foot on the brake pedal, you will stop but the wheels won't lock at all even in the wet, they are fine when your used to them providing you drive defensively but don't ever lend it to your teenage son or daughter...it could be the last time you see your offspring or your car again. The 1500 engine is rumored to be fragile? Mine ran to 150,000 miles and then smashed itself to bits, It cost me £1500 and two months in the garage to get a genuine craftsmen nut and bolt rebuild, it's nice now though. From an engineering point of view it's an agricultural nightmare!

I bought my car on eBay during early February 08, I had just woken up after a Saturday afternoon snooze after dreaming about the Spit that I owned in my early twenty's, just on a whim I had a look on eBay and saw this lovely mint Spitfire with just minutes to go, a few minutes later I had bought it, It has brought me nothing but pleasure ever since, it's gorgeous! It looks like it's doing a hundred miles an hour just standing still, The first time I took my wife out for a drive we got about a quarter of a mile, looked at each other and burst out laughing! No other car I have owned has had this effect. I sometimes just go the garage just to sit in it, I have replaced the standard dash with a Rimmers walnut burr affair and fitted a Mountney steering wheel, also fitted a voltage gauge and a oil pressure gauge (Smiths of course) I am currently looking for a Smiths clock to finish the job. Driving the car is amazing at sixty you are focused and hanging on to the wheel and smiling (it FEELS very fast which ultimately must be what a sports car is all about). My wife ' s car is a modern sports car that will pull some good speeds but it's so boring. The Spitfire smells like a car should, hot oil and wood...great! I have parked the car at the golf club between a 911 and an Audi R8 to have the locals come out and eulogize about my old Spit and ignore the German cars!... very satisfying. To me the car represents everything that an English sports car should, it looks great, sounds great and is the closest thing to a road going go cart that you will ever experience! This is no-way a car for every man or woman, but I will never part with it, it's made a summer Sunday what it should be!