Hi, Joe. You haven't said how much the owner of the Spitfire is asking for the
car. Is it a good deal? In other words, what is your risk? Can you turn the
car around with little or no loss if you decide you don't want to keep it?
That's one question.
Aside from that, here's what I think:
1) That Spitfire will be so much fun that you'll drive it at least a little more
than your usual rountine. You'll be looking for new destinations to get you on
the road.
2) The car excites you, and if you don't try it you'll be driving that Tercel
(nothing against that), but you'll be thinking about the Triumph that got away.
Maybe for years.
3) Crash safety: there's no way around this one. The Triumph doesn't have it.
Just plain doesn't. We all have faced the fact in owning these cars that a
Lincoln Navigator would just roll right over us. I guess we feel that we're
more careful, as Martin has pointed out in his reply, or we feel we're lucky or
fated or something. I've heard people tell me they'd never drive anything that
small, but I've driven them for (oh, my gosh!) 30 years (I was just a child!
;-)) and my only major accident was in a mid-sized sedan and it wasn't even my
car. Go figure.
I'm afraid this isn't the place to ask for practical advice. We're all having
too much fun in our Triumphs to think in practical terms. Do come back and let
us know what you decide either way? And, certainly, if you get that Spitfire
come back often and tell us how you're both getting along.
Good luck!
Pat Fischer
"Garner, Joseph P." wrote:
> Hi everyone,
>
> I need some sensible (and perhaps sobering) advice.
>
> Here's my problem....
>
> In my search for a used car on a tight budget, I have happened upon a 1974
> spitfire 1500. Every sensible nerve in my body tells me not to be so silly
> and to go and put the money down on that tercel i saw earlier in the week,
> but this is the first car i have seen which I am really excited about.
> Perhaps it is because i am an englishman in california and it is a beautiful
> reminder of home, but at the moment i am sturggling with the urge to
> purchase with my heart and not my head.
>
> I have done as much research as i can (the TVR website was so helpful!), and
> have enlisted the help of a friend of mine who is a better mechanic than i
> am to go and give the car a first look the car over in the flesh. I would
> not buy it if there were any mechanical or body problems of note, and i
> would get a professional mechnic to check it over first. But my main worry
> is that if the car does turn out to be sound, then i have to decide where it
> really is appropriate.... in short, I hardly drive anywhere, living within
> cycling distance of work, my only major trip is a 2 and a half hour drive
> (sacramento to palo alto) that i make there and back maybe twice a month. Am
> I crazy to think of doing this in an (albeit) mechanically sound spitfire?
> Or in other words, am i crazy to consider buying a mechanically sound
> spitfire for the purpose of making that round-trip twice a month? My
> particular concerns are mechanical reliability, and crash-safety (which is
> why i said it was a head-versus-heart tug of war going on here!)
>
> All honest opinions would be very much appreciated!
>
> thank you all for your time
>
> cheers
>
> Joe
> ___________________________
>
> Dr. Joseph Garner
> University of California
> Department of Animal Science
> One Shields Avenue
> Davis
> CA 95616
> USA
>
> Phone: (530) 754 5291
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