The car, a MkII Triumph Spitfire, was originally brought by my father in 1980.  A complete rebuild followed, including welding a new front chassis section, as the original chassis had been cut off just in front of the radiator mounting to fit a custom bonnet.  A second, otherwise beyond repair, donor provided the correct bonnet and missing front chassis section.

The car was driven by my mother until late 1988 when it was given to me, a present for completing college.  Who says bribery doesn't work?  I used the car daily, though during the winter months it was always a cause for celebration if it started first thing in the morning.  It was also christened "Bobby" as it was bright yellow, and there was a program on the television at the time featuring a character called "Bobby, the ace banana". 

Going up hills, of which there are many where I live in Sheffield, UK, was a real embarrassment, as the original 1147cc engine was distinctly lacking in power, and the speed in second gear was never great!

Reliability and a lack of power lead to an engine rebuild in September 1989, though the need to use the car for work, and living in a terraced house at the time with no garage and on-street parking forced the purchase of a second engine (honest).  A high compression MkIII engine was obtained, and mated to the cylinder head from a scrapyard Triumph Dolomite, which had the larger inlet valves. 

A replacement differential was also obtained from another scrapyard, which was supposed to be the 3.89:1 ratio, but actually turned out to be a 3.63:1.  This had the larger input pinion flanges that were more reliable than the earlier smaller ones.

To swap the engines I managed to get use of the companies garage where I worked.  Fitting the diff and gearbox was done very quickly, but getting the new extractor manifold exhaust to fit, and clear the chassis rails was a nightmare.  By 2 o'clock in the morning I was getting more than desperate, and very tired.  Fortunately the garage was part of a  large steelworks, and a call to the shift foreman had the shift pipefitter sent to assist.  Obviously upset at being woken up, and then sent out to do a job, the pipefitter was not in the best of moods, but did manage to get the exhaust pipes warmed up to allow them to be bent and clear the chassis rails.

The car was finally driven out of the garage at around 5 o'clock in the morning, I had been up all night for all the wrong reasons, but at least the job was done.  I ran the car in properly for quite a while, but at 500 miles the urge to see what it could do was too great.  Hills were no longer an embarrassment, and it actually sounded like a sports car again, especially with the twin silencers hanging from the back.

Reliability was much improved, even on cold winter mornings, though inside was always damp and cold.  In the summer months, on the one week the sun did manage to push through the clouds, it was magic. Until the front wheel fell off - the bottom trunnion had snapped!  Fortunately I was only in the car park at work.  Garage here we come!

New bottom trunnions were fitted, as was a new vertical link on the now snapped drivers side.  The opposite side was checked for cracks using dye-penetration.  Oh the advantages of working in heavy industry!  Soon after I decided that while the engine was feeling much better, the hole in the passenger footwell was now getting too big.  My girlfriend at the time was getting more than a little perturbed at watching the tarmac whizzing beneath her, though it was always great fun watching her try to get out, especially with a short skirt on!

Deciding to do the job properly I brought a new car, a Vauxhall (Opel) Cavalier.  It didn't smell, had a heater that worked, and the girlfriend could get in and out in a dignified fashion, though the latter was really a disadvantage from my perspective.

Bobby was moved to a friends workshop on a farm, where everything was unbolted, tagged, and bagged and work started on the chassis.  A plate was welded over part of the inside chassis rail, where repairs had been made following the cars theft by joy riders a few years earlier.  Removing the plate revealed a massive crumple in the chassis, which the garage had merely plated over.  The damaged metal was removed and replaced with new, as were the rotten front outriggers and the front cross member.  There was a slight twist in the chassis, which was corrected using an 80 foot elevating platform (don't ask!). 

Cutting a very long story very short my wife (the aforementioned girlfriend) decided I needed a project and I decided to rebuild Bobby.  Fancying something that would be able to hold its own in the modern world I decided that a bigger engine was necessary, and the search was on for a suitable candidate!  The project has started, and a plan has evolved, though this is of course subject to change!

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Last updated 23 September 2007