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The mkiv Supra Owners Club

My Dad's Triumph Spitfire


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Please pass on my congratulations, what a stunning job! Looks beautiful. If the camber on the rear spring settles, which it probably will, the rear ride height and wheel cambers will back to OE spec. They usually settle. If it doesn't he'll have terrible inner rear tyre wear, plus it looks a tiny bit strange. He must have the patience of a saint, a talented chap, for sure!!

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No matte the engine in front. Police used them had a 2ltr and first 16valve engine with over drive in 3Rd and 4th really quick

 

Ah yeah sorry I'm thinking of a Hillman Imp. Uncle had one of them so that got me a little confused. Can imagine the speeds those things must reach with 2ltr 16v jobs!

 

Wow, amazing transformation.

 

I envy anyone who has the skills to do this themselves... or the money to pay someone else to do it!

 

I certainly wouldn't have the patience or skill either, guess that makes two of us! :p

 

Looks lovely :D I love the old british classics :).

 

Cheers Chris :)

 

Very nice car, my brother in law has a red spitfire iv that he's going to restore, it's so much fun to drive, 50 mph never felt so fast :D

 

Sounds good, if he has any questions just fire across a PM and I'll pass it on. Sure he'd love to pass on his wisdom as he took a lot of advice from other guys and knows the help it can give :)

 

Wow thats stunning.

 

One thing I would change is the number plate and lose the flag on it.

 

Thanks Ricky, that's also a change I would've made myself. He's always toyed with the idea of chancing pre 73 plates on it even though its a 74 but has never done it.

 

Stunning, I hope to have my current supra running as a classic as I get older and they get rarer

 

Insurance would probably come down a lot too once its a classic, Very close to 2 figures I think! :)

 

Please pass on my congratulations, what a stunning job! Looks beautiful. If the camber on the rear spring settles, which it probably will, the rear ride height and wheel cambers will back to OE spec. They usually settle. If it doesn't he'll have terrible inner rear tyre wear, plus it looks a tiny bit strange. He must have the patience of a saint, a talented chap, for sure!!

 

Will do Chris, thanks for the kind words! :) That's one of his main concerns just now with the car as its been standing on all fours for a good few years now (even though it hasn't moved much). He built a rig on wheels for moving the whole thing around like a trolley when its in the garage so the way the wheels are enclosed in it may be whats keeping it from leveling. I'll pass on the advice though :)

 

I'm loving his attention to detail ! Looks flawless :)

 

Thanks Joe :) Every nut and bolt had the treatment, sometimes I cant believe the work hes put into it over the years!

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  • 3 weeks later...

Just seen this, thats a fantastic job on the rebuild. I had two of these when I was younger but the only restoration i did was to hammerite the front wishbones.

 

My dream is to build an AC Cobra from a kit, but I look at restorations like this and I doubt whether i have the skills to ever finish it. Congrats to your dad, he must have a lot of patience!

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Just seen this, thats a fantastic job on the rebuild. I had two of these when I was younger but the only restoration i did was to hammerite the front wishbones.

 

My dream is to build an AC Cobra from a kit, but I look at restorations like this and I doubt whether i have the skills to ever finish it. Congrats to your dad, he must have a lot of patience!

 

Thanks mate :) There's a guy that lived across the road from us that built a Cobra from a kit. Think it was based on a Sierra and from what he said, it was very straightforward. They pretty much spoon feed you with instructions and there's a lot of info online about the ins and outs. I'd say do a bit of research and see what there is online, you'd be surprised at how easy they can be :)

 

fantastic restoration, i have the same spitfire on my drive i brought it to restore it but sadly i have no time to do it now, so will either ebay it or it will slowly get eaten away:(

 

That's a shame mate, hopefully you can find time to put another beauty together!

 

Nice!!

 

That's a huge transformation. Nice work!

 

Thanks guys :)

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It was that and the fact it had a monocoque shell that made my dad want one.

 

I think you will find that it is MG Midgets and Bs and Cs that have a monocoque shell and your dads Spitfire (along with the Herald,Vitesse,GT6 and the TR 2-6 series) definitely has a chassis which the engine and suspension and body attach to and can clearly be seen in some of the first photos you showed painted red before the body was refitted. IIAC only the 1300/1500/Dolomite and the 2000/2500 saloons, the TR7 and the Stag are monocoques:eyebrows:

 

Lovely car BTW Triumphs always look good in red and as Chris said once the rear suspension settles will look even better:D

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  • 2 years later...

I'd forgotten about this thread but it popped into my head last week so I guess a little catchup post is in order.

 

Car has been running really well for the last few years. It's now 41 years old and went tax exempt in January so it's road worthy all year round now.

 

My old man has been to the Scottish Transport Extravaganza every year since the build was finished. It's the biggest classic car show in Scotland with hundreds of cars entering. This year he picked up second place in his class! ('70 to '84) It'll go nicely with the second he got a few years ago and the 'Best 40 Year Old Car' he picked up last year.

 

Few recent pics:

 

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attachment.php?attachmentid=203301&stc=1&d=1437398246

 

attachment.php?attachmentid=203300&stc=1&d=1437398246

 

attachment.php?attachmentid=203303&stc=1&d=1437398462

 

attachment.php?attachmentid=203304&stc=1&d=1437398462

 

attachment.php?attachmentid=203305&stc=1&d=1437398462

 

 

Enjoy :)

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Lovely, but needs a BDG in it, and a sequential box ;) I used to race with someone who had a MKI with a BDG in it, damn it was quick, when nothing fell off, snapped or wilted!

 

PS, I like the house, plenty of room for toys in there That's when we built proper gaffs, not tents to celebrate the Millenium.

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Lovely, but needs a BDG in it, and a sequential box ;) I used to race with someone who had a MKI with a BDG in it, damn it was quick, when nothing fell off, snapped or wilted!

 

PS, I like the house, plenty of room for toys in there That's when we built proper gaffs, not tents to celebrate the Millenium.

 

That would certainly make it interesting with the weight of these little things :eyebrows: I've tried to put the idea of an upgrade into his head but seems to be falling on deaf ears, even a 6 cylinder from a GT6 would make for some enjoyable driving through the back roads out here! But like you say, keeping these things on the road and operational requires the patience of a Saint!

 

I should've got some pics of the back where the garages are. Looked like oversized horse stables but upon closer inspection it housed some lovely cars that they roll out for the show. The royals have a pretty vast collection it seems :cool:

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