What would truly worry me is if no one cast a critical
eye on a car.
Engine fires? (I don't know of anyone that's had a
spitfire engine catch on fire. My brother's Firebird
did though.) I'm surprised they didn't mention the
malfuctioning pop-up headlamp motors on TR7/8 cars. Or
the head warping on Stags (I love the look of stags,
but that engine was a dog).
Spitfires have the infamous swing-axle tuck (which is
a serious issue at high speeds and almost a non-issue
with around town driving), the sump filling up with
thrust washers on 1500's, overheating (Triumph
engineers were oblivious to the climates of other
countries evidently), and the fan in the radiator
trick for the viscus fans, and of course rusting like
a two-penny nail in a pirates peg-leg (but what
60's-80's cars didn't?).
It's odd that even though there are some documented
issues with spitfires, the American and European
markets continued to give the car such high praise
through it's production run.
Do you have the book in front of you Fred or was that
relayed to you from someone else? I'm interested to
know if the Corvair ("unsafe at any speed") is in the
list. (And my brother had a Ford Pinto, that I took my
driving test in. If there is any car that I've been in
that I wondered "how the hell did this ever pass
safety regulations? it would be a Pinto.....oh, and a
Geo Metro.)
-Terry
'76 spitfire 1500 (No engine fires...yet)
--- Fred Griffiths <griffco@mail.cadvision.com> wrote:
>
> Just for interest, the book "Lemons -the world's
> worst cars"
> by Timothy Jacobs, 1991, London, gives Triumph one
> full
> page, 2 B&W photos PLUS a full double page colour
> photo of a
> '77 Spitfire!
>
> Some of the text relating specifically to the Spit
> goes:
> "British Leyland seemed to leave the solid ground
> of
> mechanical care ........What arose in the mid 1970s
> was a
> deplorable run of out-right faulty manufacture and
> bad
> design ideas. There was a severe problem with
> quality
> control that had in fact been building since the
> late 1960s.
> The lowest point of quality control was reached in
> the
> Triumph model years from 1974-78. These cars
> included
> Spitfire, Spitfire 1500, TR-6 and TR-7......
> Also, these same models had defective brake
> proportioning
> valves that occasionally blew the dashboard warning
> light
> completely out of its socket - and only then would
> the
> warning light flash on, telling the driver that his
> brakes
> were 'in danger of failing' when they 'already' had.
> Enghine fires were a problem for 1975 Spitfires,
> and 1974
> TR-5 models had the unfortunate potential for fuel
> leaks
> from a number of defective sources in the engine
> compartment.
> Windshield wiper/washer failures, horn failures,
> panel
> light failures and persistent fuse burnouts resulted
> from
> badly-designed wiring arrangements in 1974-78
> Triumphs....."
>
> What do you think of that lemon juice?
>
>
> "defective brake proportioning valves" - indeed!
> Guess he
> didn't know much about the cars either.
>
> I think Mr.Jacobs was a bitter and twisted man, and
> probably
> related to Ralph Nader!
>
>
> Cheers, Fred
> --
> Fred & Wendy Griffiths,
> Calgary, Alberta, Canada
> http://www.cadvision.com/griffco/index.htm
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