Picture yourself driving a Spitfire?

We have a bright yellow 1980 Triumph Spitfire which we're preparing for sale to you. Please visit it in the shop.

It's winter and we'll either sell it as is, at any stage, or keep improving it until it's sold.

With less than 60,000 miles, a four speed gearbox and very little rust, we'll have about $6000 (our cost) in it when it's ready for the road. The Motorhead Inspection revealed a car that has not been neglected but needs the sort of mechanical work that 3,000 miles driving per year provokes. We would like to sell it, with a year's mechanical warranty, for $7500.

Any rate, make us an offer and buy this car from us for daily fun commuting, a graduation present or some equally appealing reasons.

This car isn't perfect, but it may be perfect for you.

Here's the rest of the story...

Winter in a British sports car shop can be a bit depressing because perfectly good mechanics and parts-people have less to do than during the main driving seasons. Throughout our 21 years we have built about one car for sale every other year to fill in the winter work gaps. Some years we have enough restoration and project work so that we don't need to risk our meager resources hoping to create a car for which there may be little demand.

Since we prefer to sell a Motorhead car with a year's full mechanical warranty, the price-tag of our cars includes lots of work to bring the car up to a standard. The cost of our car for sale directly reflects the efforts expended to make it a Spitfire worthy of such a price.

A complete restoration on a Triumph Spitfire could be accomplished in an experienced and competent shop for about $35,000. Very few owners can justify the true costs of such a meticulous project and instead settle for a certain patina o age and the more reasonable costs of renovation-level ownership.

A great Spitfire can be owned for under $10,000. While you can always spend 2 or 3 times that about if your car needs to look as good as it drives. A diligent search can probably locate a solid, low mileage, well maintained Spitfire for under $5,000 that would need a few thousand more dollars invested to fix the known mechanical defects. You would then own a mechanically reliable car with accepted deficiencies in paint, body work and interior details. We are selling such a car with a bit of the risk removed.

The list of work which we'll complete on this car is less costly than if it were encountered as normal repairs in the course of average driving ownership.  Our cars are delivered with no known significant mechanical defects and a year's warranty to further improve the car against initially unknown symptoms.

Once the mechanical defects on a daily-driven British sports car have been properly fixed, the typical repair costs average about a $100 a month. We are hoping hat the $7500 price will cover our year's mechanical warranty. Most of the cars which we have sold have used up the budgeted warranty "profit" so the money you spend on your car at Motorhead mostly ends-up in your car.

We get a bunch of dough when we need it most, keep Rob, Gail, and Dave in work, and you get a nicely renovated Spitfire whose mechanical upkeep will cost not a dollar extra for a year. At the end of that year you own a proven car at a reasonable and predictable cost.

Check-out this car before you buy one of unknown heritage.

Ask lots of questions and it can't hurt to make an offer.