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all photos taken May/June/July 1999
The Exterior The Engine The Interior
Well she's not as fine as Cherry, the '75, or my newest '78, Punkin, but she is 98.9% original right down to the fuses in her fuse box when I picked her up. Nearly ZERO rust. The photo above does her a little more justice than deserved. The paint is good, but showing its age. A really good cut, polish, and wax job would solve that. A minor ding in the top edge of the passenger side bonnet wheel arch could use some attention, but nothing major. Initial steam cleaning found the entire chassis still a glossy shiny burgundy color, completely devoid of rust. She must have been stored somewhere in the south for part of her life or in very warm dry storage, as most of the rubber is bit hard and or starting to show sign of drying out. I originally bought her for the Overdrive transmission to put in my 1975 Spitfire. But after going through the car, found it in just too good a condition to break up.
Not shown in the photo above, are the trim rings and excellent condition factory original hardtop. I bought the hardtop from a second source, originally for my 1978. Wouldn't you know it though, it was burgundy, so,... it's staying with the '80. This ragtop does have a rip it in over one of the rear triangular windows. so the hardtop will keep it dry for now.
The engine was rebuilt by my P.O.'s, P.O. It does have a new head, oil pan, manifold and other gaskets. But I'm not planning on taking it apart to check what is or isn't new. A quick look at the dipstick.... GOLD! almost clear! This engine has never been run since the rebuild! I was told by my P.O. (who I bought it from), that his P.O.... was the one that had done all the engine work, but that his P.O. (like him) had a lot of problems getting it to run right after the work. That's why MY P.O. was able convince him to sell it.
The most recent P.O.,(my P.O.) sold it to me after he had it sitting around for about a year. His interests were more directed towards a TR7 V8 project he had in the works.
Well no wonder neither P.O. could keep it running right! Someone had installed an aftermarket electronic ignition module, but the wrong one! The little opto-chopper that goes in the distributor was the wrong type! The late model Spitfire had O.E.M. Lucas electronic ignition to start with. The shaft in the distributor doesn't have the four little flats on the shaft which would normally open/close the points. The little chopper wheel they had installed, needed the flats to hold it in place. Hence, every time they set the timing, started the engine and turned it off, the wheel would jump out of adjustment, throwing the timing way off again.
A new (correct model) Pertronix system...., and she's been singing happily ever since!
The Exterior The Engine The Interior
