Jerry Stasyszen wrote:
Jonmac or whoever wrote the last paragraph, I don't know who you got a
ride
from but if it could not do more than 60 mph some one was lying to you
about
how many miles it had on it or something was drastically wrong with it
mechanically.
Yes, Jerry, it was me who wrote in and also it was me who rode in the
Spitfire. As to the car's pedigree, it came back to the UK within the last
year where there was plenty of documented evidence that it is a genuine 7000
miler - since new. Seems to have won endless trophies in California and its
general condition indicates it is a very unused car from a time-warp. It's
in white with factory hardtop and with the original Goodyear tyres. I can't
remember Spitfires as late as this one because I left Triumph & BL in 1973 -
but I do recall the Federal spec cars from the non-Federal in terms of
performance. As each year went by - and starting from 1968, the de-toxed car
had less and less zip in it and as each year passed the US spec car got
slower and slower in contrast to the alternative Spitfire. Certainly, the
early cars (as I knew and remember them) were capable of higher terminal
speeds and higher cruising as well. That said, my former Standard-Triumph
friends have told me that as the seventies moved towards the 80's, a Federal
Spitfire had less and less urge to the point where they were an
embarrassment driving them on UK roads, even then. Not having been able to
sample them myself, I can only comment on what my former factory colleagues
told me.
This recent car *appears* to have all the anti-pollution stuff on it with
lots of pipes going into a mass of units I don't immediately recognise and
if there is a fault, then I feel it may be in that area - but with a 7.5:1
compression, one very strangled Stromberg and a retarded ignition, its
performance - even as a passenger - was less than spritely (non pun).
Perhaps with a long stretch of road things might have been better but at
60mph in overdrive 4th there was just no way it would pull more.
To be honest, I was thinking of buying it for myself but there's a lot of
work to do on the engine. Swap out pistons, skim the head, fit a new
camshaft and distributor, new SU's, throw the de-toxing kit in the nearest
trash can and convert to RH steer. Somehow, I can't summon up the financial,
mental or physical energy to do all that, so I'll just keep looking around
for one where all that work has been done by someone else. In all other
respects it was a super little car and I was genuinely sorry to turn my back
on it.
Apologies to all those I may have offended in stating the later Federal spec
car is slow. As I've already said, the early ones certainly were, but maybe
Standard-Triumph managed to coax more out of later Spitfires so they were
again convincing performers.
Cheers, Jonmac
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