For Sale- 1979 Triumph Spitfire 1500

I bought this car over a year ago, and have had a lot of fun with it. The only reason I'm selling it is I bought a BMW M3 convertible, and so it doesn't really get any use. Now for the specifics:

General Info:

The car was shipped out from the west coast (Oregon I believe) a few years ago. It had been purchased by a guy who was a retired mechanical engineer with a Triumph shop, who at the time that I bought it from him, had 5-10 Triumphs in there. The car is painted in the Original "Parade" Blue, and has very little rust (see photos), and what is there appears to be all surface stuff, no big pitting or rot, and floor, fenders, and wheel wells are good. He had done the majority of the work you'll see listed below. I drove the car when the weather was nice and garaged it when it wasn't from April or so until October, when I put it away for the winter. Not a daily driver, but it got a lot of road time. I'll go through the specifics below, but in my opinion this is a great car, and I had no trouble getting into it with confidence to travel to meetings and such. It is not a show car, but functionally sound, and it does look great. Please ask any questions, and I'm happy to give you all the info I can, I'm not an expert on these cars, but I do buy and sell a lot of toys, and am always upfront and honest. It's a 1979, so don't expect perfection, but it has clearly been taken care of.

Exterior:

Please refer to the photos. There are a couple small dings and dents (nothing I can think of bigger than a dime), but otherwise it is in great shape. Gets looks everywhere you go and sounds great. Convertible top is in good shape, must have been replaced at some point. Fits well, and no tears. There is one small area (about an inch long) where the rear window has separated from the canvas. It's not tearing, and hasn't gotten bigger since I've had it, and doesn't really let water in even when you wash it because of the way it sits. I do not have bumpers for the car. I had bought chrome bumpers, but liked the look better without them, so I left them off and they got stolen from behind my office. There are a few scratches where the bumpers mount, which you can see in the photos, but they never really bothered me or I would have hit them with touch-up paint. Other than that, exterior looks great.

Interior:

The seats in it are off a Mazda Miata. A little more comfortable, and they hold you in place when taking tight turns. I have brand new carpets for the interior still in the box which will come with the car. I just never got around to putting them in... again too many toys. The dash is in decent shape, but does have a few areas where the lacquer is peeled and cracked. Normal for these cars. It can be refinished or replaced easily. Also, there is a custom carpet insert over the top of the dash. Underneath that the leather looks good except there are a couple little metal pieces that are broken under it (I don't know what they are). I bought it thinking I'd replace the little metal pieces, but liked that I could put my phone on the insert and it'd stay there, so I didn't. No heat, no AC. All gauges, blinkers, lights, etc. work fine.

Mechanically:

This is where this one shines in my opinion. The last Owner had done a lot of work, including but not limited to the suspension, brakes w/ all stainless brake lines, put in a new secondary radiator fan on a t-stat, and replaced the Stromberg Carbs with dual SU Carbs with a manual choke (much more reliable and easy to work with). From what I hear, this is the big difference maker in keeping this thing running right. I had the carbs synced again last August, and it runs great. Also has a custom exhaust, that makes it sound like a fun little racecar. It's not too loud, but it doesn't sound like it's just putting along either. I also had a British Import shop nearby replace the rear wheel bearings over the winter. As I said, it runs great, and I never broke down, overheated, etc. and felt I could take it anywhere without a problem. Also, this Spitfire is significantly more powerful than any other Spitfire I've driven, I'm not sure what else the last Owner had done aside from Carbs, intake, and Exhaust, but you can merge without fear due to lack of acceleration. Has a newer battery, and I just got an oil change and tune-up from the British Import shop near me, not for any reason but I like to do that to every car after every winter of generally sitting. Tires are new last year, and have less than a thousand or so miles on them. Mileage is original at around 57,000. I'll post actual, but I may still take it for a spin or two, and I'm at the office not looking at the car. One of the photos looks like the car sits crooked, but it doesn't.

I really don't know what else to say about the car. If you have any questions, let me know. The reserve is set at $3,000. A $500 deposit is required via Paypal within 24 hours of auction close, and payment in full prior to pick up. I will not arrange shipping but I will meet with and give the car to a shipper at either my home or office. Arrangements must be made to pick the car up within 14 days of auction close. It is also for sale locally (people ask about it all the time and for the right number I'll get rid of it right away). I can also be reached on my cell at (856) five seven seven-7455 with any questions.

Good luck and happy bidding!

On May-09-14 at 06:54:02 PDT, seller added the following information:

I got a question about it as a daily driver, and wanted to clarify. I didn't use it as a daily driver, only when the weather was nice. I did use it interchangeably with my daily driver though, as I am confident in its reliability. Although one certainly could, I wouldn't use this as a daily driver just because I personally like the comforts of modern technology in cars.

Also, forgot to mention above, it does also have rear sway bars installed. For fun, last year I took it to a buddy's shop that does high-end import tuning (porsche, lamborghini, etc.) and put it on his dyno tuning machine, and it put out a whopping 92 horsepower. That's almost 25% more than the euro spec 1500 came off the factory line with...

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Typically, these track battle videos pair up car against car or, in more disparate circumstances, car versus crossover, as we saw the other day. While the outcome of that battle was quite predictable, what'll happen when an equally fetching (and fast) four-wheeler is put up against one of the icons of the two-wheeled world? Evo just had to find out.
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Triumph Spitfire for Sale