Meet Our Triumph Spitfire

We have always liked Triumph Spitfires. The last of the breed—1500 cars from 1973 to 1980—are among our favorites.

Recently while on a trip up north, we stopped at Vintage Racing Services in Stratford, Connecticut. There on the showroom floor sat a white 1980 Spitfire that seemed to be in pretty good overall condition.

The price was right at $5000, and after a little bit of negotiation we made a deal and loaded it up to take home to Florida.

While Vintage Racing Services generally deals with much higher end cars, proprietor Kent Bain, loves Spitfires as much as we do and has raced them for years.

He had found this car locally where a kid was starting to ruin it, and he decided he had to save it.

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Comments
Ian F
Ian F MegaDork
1/4/16 1:05 p.m.

How much????

Wow... makes me feel better about the price I paid for mine.

Woody
Woody MegaDork
1/4/16 1:11 p.m.

Fun Fact:

Kent's father was Conrad Bain.

OFracing
OFracing Reader
1/4/16 7:22 p.m.

Kent runs a great shop. Our brit car club has been there a few times and the diversity of cars he has there getting worked on is always amazing. Nice guy and a very fast racer.

mike h

Tim Suddard
Tim Suddard Publisher
1/5/16 7:01 a.m.

Like everything else, nice low mileage, overdrive equipped Spitfires are going up.

NOHOME
NOHOME PowerDork
1/5/16 9:06 a.m.

Funny thing about Brit cars...most people refuse to buy in for much money, however, once in, there is no limit to what they will spend on the $500 wreck they bought.

I expect $5k bought a nice foundation for a restoration or a car that can be driven as you go.

Jerry From LA
Jerry From LA Dork
1/6/16 12:49 p.m.
Tim Suddard wrote: Like everything else, nice low mileage, overdrive equipped Spitfires are going up.

Every once in a while, it's nice to buy an old car you can enjoy and tinker with from the get-go. If every single project car was as rough as the Elan project, you'd go bats.

Hamiltonguitars
Hamiltonguitars New Reader
1/8/16 7:32 a.m.

I hope you have a plan to get rid of those big black things on the front and rear... I didn't realize spits had ramming bars as an option.

paranoid_android74
paranoid_android74 Dork
1/8/16 8:23 p.m.
NOHOME wrote: Funny thing about Brit cars...most people refuse to buy in for much money, however, once in, there is no limit to what they will spend on the $500 wreck they bought. I expect $5k bought a nice foundation for a restoration or a car that can be driven as you go.

I am living, breathing proof of this! Lol!

spitfirebill
spitfirebill MegaDork
1/8/16 9:55 p.m.
paranoid_android74 wrote:
NOHOME wrote: Funny thing about Brit cars...most people refuse to buy in for much money, however, once in, there is no limit to what they will spend on the $500 wreck they bought. I expect $5k bought a nice foundation for a restoration or a car that can be driven as you go.
I am living, breathing proof of this! Lol!

Guilty

paranoid_android74
paranoid_android74 Dork
1/9/16 5:34 a.m.
Hamiltonguitars wrote: I hope you have a plan to get rid of those big black things on the front and rear... I didn't realize spits had ramming bars as an option.

I just got a chance to look at the photos- that's a nice example- complete with Sabrinas! Didn't realize Spitfires got them too.

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