All good stories have a begining, weather or not this will be a good story will be revealed in the telling.

Back in the mid 70's a friend of my dad bought a yellow Spitfire and dropped by our house to show my dad. Dad was working on this guys 36 Plymouth coupe at the time and I was about 7 years old.

My dads friend took me for a ride in that little yellow car and I was hooked. Ever since I have been able to drive I have wanted one of these cars.
However, I understood that this car was not a "daily driver" for commuting to work everyday, hauling people, etc. If I was to have one I knew it would have to be my second car. Life carried on, the wife came, followed by the kids, the house, the car payments...
everytime I found myself with a bit of extra cash I found myself without the space and time for a second car...and whenever I had the space and time...well...I didn't have the extra money.

I have been watching pricing on these cars and reading blogs and doing research trying to prep myself for the day when I would have one.

About two years ago I saw a red Triumph Spitfire 1500 sitting in the lot of a small mechanic shop near my house. On a whim I stopped in and looked the car over and asked the price. The guy tells me $3000. That was too much for the car as it sat and well outside of the budget I had set for myslef.

Jump forward to two weeks ago. I notice that the little red Triumph is still there. I figure the guy may be willing to deal on the car two years later so I stop in again. I get the keys and the little 4 banger fires right up. Oil looks good, interior looks to be in decent shape under all the dirt and grime. The top is shot, there are a couple of dings, and some small rust spots... Tseller says that the car will not go down the road due to what he feels is a carb issue. It starts rolling but when you apply the gas to speed up it just bogs down and kinda falls on its face. I ask how much. he say he is asking $1400. i think to myself "now were getting someplace". I tell him I will get back to hime on it. Needless to say i didn't have $1400 just laying around...but i did have some "stuff" laying around. I sell some stuff and manage to gather up about $1000. I return with $900 in hand and $100 stashed in my pocket. I say $900 he says $1200, I say $950, he says $1100, I say $1000 is all I got. he accepts, I grab a trailer and my father-in-laws truck and bring it home.

I was able to drive it up on the trailer and up into the driveway but a test drive around the cul-de-sac confirms what the seller had said...it falls on its face if you try to give it any juice at all.

back up the drive for a good cleaning. The engine is covered with oil and the body has about 5 years worth of sun damage and road grime on it...engine brite for the engine...zip wax for the body... vacuum/shampoo/armoral for the interior. Now I can get close to it without getting covered in dirt... to be continued....