1973 - 1500. Many extras

1973 Triumph Spitfire Description

This is a wonderful 1973 Triumph Spitfire 1500 which was featured in Spitfire & GT6 Magazine Issue #40. The car was completely overhauled, frame up, between 1988 and 1995.All floors, inner and outer sills, bonnet (new used), and rear quarter panels have been replaced. New door handles were added. It has had all major components either rebuilt replaced or "gone thru", I have rebuilt the engine and added a Kent street cam, new oil pump, new oil cooler, new timing chain and gears. New distributor with electronic ignition, gear induction starter, new water pump and new radiator. A stainless steel external oil feed to the rocker arm assembly as well as new rocker arms and rocker shaft. The head was machined and has high a performance valve and spring set. Piston sleeves were rebored just prior to my purchasing the car. The original carb was replaced with two rebuilt SU HS4's with K&N air filters. Hydraulic bonnet assist have been installed. Wrapped Steel headers with stainless steel Bell high performance silencers have been installed .All brake lines have been replaced with stainless steel lines from the master cylinder too the wheel cylinders. Crossed and drill front rotors with ceramic pads and all brake cylinders replaced. All suspension parts have been replaced and or rebuilt. This includes forward trunnions, lowered front springs, heavy duty rear leaf spring, bearings and seals for rear end. The rear end neither sags or leaks. Gaz shocks front and rear, plus all the normal front end stuff. A single rail transmission was rebuilt and installed in place of the original three rail tranny. It is mated with a J type overdrive. The transmission was rebuilt and the overdrive bench tested for correct operation and running pressure and gone thru with all screens and filters replaced. It has a brand new, this week, Optima Red dry cell battery with a trickle charger. This is a $215.00 battery folks!The interior has been completely replaced. All passenger compartment floors and foot wells have been heat proofed with an alloy heat/sound proofing material with fiber sound barrier laid over. The dash is hand made black walnut from one piece with the grain perfectly in line through out its length; you can clearly see this in the pictures. I took the liberty of removing the more obnoxious dash lights to enhance the black walnut. Instrumentation includes a new Smith speedometer, tachometer,original fuel gauge with new sending unit, and a new Smith water temp./oil sensor gauge. The new speedometer was installed there years ago and has 911 miles on it. The old speedometer was pulled out with about 35000 miles on it, as with many cars like this the actual milage is pretty much unknown. Front and rear bumpers as well as some trim has been recently re-plated. The car has the desirable black chrome rear fender strips. This car has mini light wheels with Sumitomo high performance summer tires with very low milage. The pictures include a list of all the items replaced or repaired on the car.This car is garaged year round and has never been driven in foul weather. It has never been driven between December and Mid-March. The car was last painted in 2009 and shows the wear you would associate with a paint job that is 6+ years old. A dump truck was nice enough to drop a rock in front of me last year and the bonnet has a small dent and chip. Additional the Bonnet has some water markswomen the paint was applied. I tried to capture there image near the dumbstruck ding but they are hard to see. It has a new windshield & the top is in OK shape but it is never ever been used; I mean really, why?!! The tonneau cover has a broken zipper and a 1" tear but still does the job using three small spring clamps. It has custom built JBL speaker cabinets fore and aft with 6" woofers in the rear and high performance 2" tweeters with cross overs in the front. All that said you can't really hear the radio at speed so all of that work was for naught. The engine is music enough!! When I want music ear buds do the trick.This car is a performer, once past 1500RPM she just bolts and keeps on giving. It is an awesome car to drive on a crisp New England day.
I have thoroughly enjoyed my time with this car, sitting on the front tires just whiling the time away. I have done every bit of work myself, except the machining, and I have kept a notebook of all the work performed, some that I've tried and gave up on and some still in the chute. I have a nearly complete list of parts used and associated cost. This delightful car has been driven strictly for joy and never, ever raced. It has very low annual milage 300-400 miles per year tops.Now the question everybody asks; why sell this little charmer. I simply can not comfortably work on this car any more. I have had two hips replace, my right knee reinstalled twice and a potential third time around in my future. I broke the damn thing if you can believe it!! If only I still had access to a lift.... The decision has been made; It is time to part with the old girl and let her play with someone else.
I took her out of the garage today and went thru the usual spring start up stuff and took her for a spin. Today was a beautiful spring day in New England and she ran freely and with much spirit. I will miss this car. One last note-as luck would have it the blinkers are not functioning. They were fine in the fall but stuff happens in storage I guess; The fuse is fine. I will try to pinpoint and fix this but no promisses.
I am being as honest and straightforward as I can Please look at the pictures carefully and ask questions if you have them, you will get an honest answer.
The purchaser is responsible for picking up the car or arranging shipment; I will gladly help where I can.
A final note- the car is located in Ashford, CT------NOT Westport