This website is obsolete

Please direct your browser to www.triumphspitfire.nl

How, what, why, where, when

Owners of cars like this know what I mean: you park somewhere and you're besieged with questions. These are rarely original, since misunderstandings seem to be pretty universal. So the same answers are given over and over again. A good base for a FAQ.

About the car

"What'll it do, mista?!"
Is it not an obvious victim for car thieves?
Isn't it cold, driving with the top down?
Aren't parts hard to get?
Is it hard to maintain?
It leaks oil! Isn't that bad?
What does the little switch on top of the gearstick do?
Is that bright green colour original?
I want one! How much are they and how do I get one?!
What mishaps have you had so far?
What have you done to it so far?
My Spit needs a full restoration. Whaddayathink?
Do you sell parts?
Can you tell me what the value of this car is?

About these webpages

Why on earth did you build these pages?
What did you use to build these pages?
Why did you write these pages in English and not in Dutch?
Will you put a link to my webpage on your links page?
Mind if I put a link to your pages on my site?
Why didn't you reply to my E-mail?

About the car

"What'll it do, mista?!"
According to the specs, it should be able to do about 160 km/h, or 100 Mph. Mine has been slightly tweaked, so it may be faster. To be honest, I've never really tried. There's no way of being sure anyway, since the speedometer on my car is not exactly accurate. I estimate it indicates about 20% too low. Let's say the speed is more than adequate.

Is it not an obvious victim for car thieves?
Not where I'm living. I don't just leave it anywhere, and when I do have to leave it in a place where it's not watched, I take out the distributor rotor arm. There isn't a car thief in the world that carries all possible permutations of Lucas distributor rotor arms in his pocket...

Isn't it cold, driving with the top down?
First of all, this thing has an excellent heater that can burn your feet if you're not careful. Secondly, it is only ever cold on the back of your head, as the wind comes from the rear when you're driving. An English flat 'at and a generous leather coat collar take care of that.

Aren't parts hard to get?
I estimate more than 75% of the parts are available new. The rest can be had used or reconditioned. Even replacement chassis are available. As more and more parts are reproduced, the spares situation is actually improving.
I did run into a quality problem when the front of the car needed some major repairs: replacement bumpers are decidedly mediocre, with bad finishing and very thin chrome. If you know a source of good quality Spitfire bumpers in the Netherlands, please let me know.

Is it hard to maintain?
Naah, it doesn't even have a computer on board. There's nothing on this car that can't be fixed with the right tools, a workshop manual and some common sense. The engine is the easiest in the world to work on, as the whole front of the car opens up.

It leaks oil! Isn't that bad?
Not at all. It just marks its territory.
Furthermore, it's the car's way of saying everything is alright inside the engine. I'd be really worried the moment it stopped leaking oil...

What does the little switch on top of the gearstick do?
That operates the overdrive - an epicyclic gearbox installed right behind the main four speed transmission. Overdrive works in third and fourth gears (making this a six speed car) and effectively reduces engine revs, noise, wear and fuel consumption. It makes the car much more pleasant to drive on long journeys. I wouldn't want to be without it.

Is that bright green colour original?
It certainly is. It's called 'Triumph Java Green', its code is 85 or 'HAB' and was available from 1975 to 1978 (also see my Spitfire identification page). Nowadays, people tend to prefer darker greens, so it's pretty rare.

I want one! How much are they and how do I get one?!
Have a look at the buyers guide I wrote. Read it very carefully. Read it again. Then go out and realise your dream if you still want it.

What mishaps have you had so far?

In 1999, 'Sputter' was treated to some expert cosmetic surgery to bonnet and windscreen frame.

Shorted-out light switch, which nearly set the wooden dashboard alight
Failing brakes, caused by dealer making a mess of replacing left hand rear halfshaft and wheel bearing under warranty...
Broken heater flap control arm
Bolt of bonnet/hood stay dropped off
Had to overhaul a leaking clutch slave cylinder
Nr. 2 plug lead dropped off the plug in a fierce right hand corner
Front number plate dropped off one day...
Encountered a speeding moped driver - who miraculously survived with only a few scratches

What have you done to it so far?
Driven it! regularly washed it, changed the oil, plugs and points, filled the tires, oiled and greased the appropriate bearings. In addition to that:

The original wooden dashboard had been bodged by a previous owner. Replacing it in 1995 took a few evenings and some scraped knuckles.

Replaced the wooden dashboard
Found and installed original seat belts, which some stupid previous owner removed
Added K&N air filters
Had the carburettors professionally hardened, polished and reconditioned, with new, richer needles, springs, the lot - done at BCCP fuelsystems
Installed an oil cooler
Installed an overdrive
Replaced the battery, front tyres, front shock absorbers and springs.
Re-covered the centre armrest
Renewed right rear axle and bearing
Overhauled complete brake system: new hoses, pads, hydraulic seals in master cylinder and front calipers, new rear wheel cylinders
Removed the propshaft and had it overhauled and balanced
Had it repaired after a suicidal moped driver threw himself at it.
Installed an original map reading light, found at the Spitfire Graveyard.
Changed front springs (again, since the reproductions lowered the front of the car too much), installed new front (Koni) and rear (Spax) shock absorbers, replaced old rubber suspension bushes with modern polyethylene bushes.

My Spit needs a full restoration. Whaddayathink?
I think: good luck to you. Spitfires are fairly simple cars, so you should have few problems if you know what you're doing.
When it comes to full, all-out restorations, I'm really not the man to talk to. I know my Spits, I know how to maintain my own car, but I have no experience with restoring Spitfires, since mine had already been 'done up' when I bought it. If you want to know more about restoring Triumph Spitfires, there are many webpages filled with pictures of half (dis)assembled cars. Feeding your favourite searchengines with terms like 'Triumph', 'Spitfire' and 'restor*' will lead you to them.

Do you sell parts?
No, I don't. This website is a purely private, non-commercial effort, set up as a free service to other Triumph Spitfire lovers. I have a day job completely unrelated to Spitfires or cars in general and I'd like to keep it that way.
If you're in the USA and you're having difficulty finding parts for your Spit, try some of the places mentioned on the suppliers pages of the Vintage Triumph Register.

Can you tell me what the value of this car is?
I get this question a lot by e-mail and it's impossible to answer. I'm not a valuation expert and even if I were, I wouldn't be able to tell what a particular car is worth from a description given by e-mail.
If you want to know whether the price on a particular car you want to buy or sell is reasonable, look at the prices on cars similar to the car you want to know the value of. Notice how they tend to vary wildly. The market 'value' of a car is determined by so many factors outside the car itself (the area it's in, the number of similar cars for sale, the weather, the climate, the number of mad buyers willing to pay way too much money) that it's pretty hard even for an expert to put a price on a car, let alone for me.

About these webpages

Why on earth did you build these pages?
Why do people climb Mount Everest? "Because it's there". My pages weren't on the web yet, at least not in the form I thought people would like to see, so I built them myself. "Because they weren't there".

What did you use to build these pages?
I like to make my webpages 'hands on', by diving into the bare HTML code. I only use a fairly simple but excellent text editor called Editplus and some good books and websites on HTML.

Why did you write these pages in English and not in Dutch?
English is fast becoming a universal language, especially on the World Wide Web. Besides, most Dutchmen understand English quite well, so it seemed logical to do the pages in English only. There is no Dutch translation, since that would take a lot of time and effort to set up and maintain. Not worth the trouble for the 20-odd million people on this earth that understand Dutch.

Will you put a link to my webpage on your links page?
Sure, if it's worth the trouble. Send me a message and I'll see what I can do. Don't expect it to happen overnight, though. I do have a life to lead. Updates to these pages may take quite a while.

Mind if I put a link to your pages on my site?
Not at all. Please go ahead, the more links the better. You'll probably get a link in return.

Why didn't you reply to my E-mail?
You may have asked some obvious question that is dealt with quite clearly on my pages or in this FAQ. Or you misspelled your return e-mail address.
Or something may have gone wrong on my end. I get a lot of mail about Spitfires and such and I really try to answer them all, if I can. Very rarely, one slips through and disappears into the sea of other messages I get. It doesn't happen very often, but it does happen. Please don't hate me for it.