66’ Spitfire Rescue
Car was purchased in the fall of 2017 off of craigslist from a man representing the widow of the previous owner (yeah new one for me too). The ad was a bit scarce on details and pictures however the price was so low, I really couldn’t help myself. When I spoke to the rep, he naturally gave me the highs on the car, low miles, no rust, 2 owners, bit of a project, not running. When I asked him about the engine, he told me it was out of the car but together. I would later discover that his meaning of “together” meant within a 6ft radius. Within a week of seeing the ad, I was headed to nowhere Illinois with my buddy Simon and a uhaul trailer, ready to discover the finer points of British motoring. Just before arriving, we emerged from a number of fields into a tiny town where we soon learned contained our destination to our relief. we pulled up to one of the old brick victorians and sure enough around back lie a quaint 3 car garage like you see in lots of barn-find internet and tv posts. The excitement soon gave way to a bit of surprise however as we met with the rep and the wife and looked into the garage, seeing the carcass of what used to have been a spitfire. As we were filled in on the entire story, we quickly learned that the gentlemen had completely torn the car apart in the mid 80’s only to have the project stall; insert plethora of reasons here. This wasn’t quiet the project car I had been described, but none other then a complete nut and bolt, valve spring and keeper tear down. It was impossible to know what was there given the ample amounts of old cardboard box’s and coffee cans. All I knew was that I had just purchased a body, frame, engine block, transmission, diff, 4 wheels, and what could have been boxes filled with refrigerator parts. This last comment proved true in some regards as the wife did not hold back on insisting we take everything!
As you can partially see from the above picture, the deceased had made a lovely wooden cart to hold the main part of the body directly above the hood. There was no way I could have planned transportation any better! One of the best thing about the spitfire is that all parts were easily moved without the need of engine hoists or more then two people. You can see that the frame fits nicely on a garden wagon and is easily maneuvered just by me into the garage. These pictures also start to show the upside to a torn apart car as I could start painting from the ground up and replace bushing and what not as I started to re-assemble the car. Luckily to my surprise, as I started inventorying what I had purchased, I came to realize that the previous owner had been quite meticulous in keeping all parts and putting them in boxes by their respective subsystem.
It was a sad discovery when I found part of a crankshaft in one of the boxes. I was riding fairly high in what a good purchase I had made up until this point… Examining the block and other rotating components, it didn’t appear that the destruction had happened while running although it would potentially explain why the car had spent most of it’s life in a garage. I theorize that this event had happened some time while the engine was disassembled, potentially being caused by gravity when it fell off a bench or shelf. This still left me with a big dillema whether to continue on the path of having an all original car, or as many do, find a larger later spitfire engine from the late 70s, early 80s. I pondered this for some time but after scouring the internet, happened to come across an ebay listing for a 66’ crankshaft that had already been machined 0.010” under. This purchase would later negate the “I found a good deal” feeling but I’m happy to know this car still has its original 1147cc engine as many don’t. Quick sidefact, Triumph actually raced spitfire’s with this same engine at LeMans in 1964 & 1965. These cars did get a few upgrades over the stock cars however including larger custom cylinder heads, headlight covers, and custom bonded hard top making the car into a fastback.
