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Success Story: The Spitfire Has Shipped!

last-trip-in-spitfire

Saturday night was a bitter sweet moment. A few months back I sold my Triumph Spitfire that I brought back to life. The new owner Bruce, a reader and a frequent buyer of the cars we feature, hadn’t been able to get it shipped to its new home in California. Well, late Saturday evening the shipper finally arrived to take the little Spitfire away. I was both sad to see it go, but excited for it and its new owner!

last-time-sitting-in-spitfire

Getting it shipped out proved to be a more difficult task then it really should have been. You see, I kept every part that I removed, replaced, or upgraded and I wanted it all to stay with the car. The original engine is stuck, but Bruce wanted it anyway, so I took it apart so it could be put it in the trunk. I had been told by the shipping company they would give me a full day notice of when the truck would arrive, but instead they gave me about a six hour warning. I could have loaded the engine months ago, but I didn’t want to leave the heavy engine block sitting in the trunk putting unnecessary strain on the suspension for an unknown length of time.

1978-triumph-spitfire

I had stashed the engine at our office, so either it needed to get to my house where the car was or my car needed to get to it. I decided the later would be the easier option, or so I thought. I had been driving it occasionally until I mailed the title off to Bruce, but once the title was gone, I parked it and would go out and start it regularly so it would be ready to go at a moments notice. As things always seem to go though, when I went out to start it on Saturday, the starter wasn’t working. It wouldn’t turn the engine over at all, so I quickly came to the conclusion that the starter needed to be pulled out. It thankfully only took a few minutes to get it out, but then an hour to drive to the parts store, swap it for a new one ,and drive home. Thankfully, it was still under warranty, so I didn’t have to pay for the replacement at least. I then had the fun task of installing it, but it went in quick enough and did the trick perfectly!

1978-triumph-spitfire-trunk

With only a handful of hours to spare, I took it for one last spin around the block and then headed to the office to load up the rest of the spare parts and the engine. Jesse had to come help me lift the engine into the trunk, which proved to be a fun task. We were able to fit everything in there though, except for one of the spare wheels. I figured I could work something out with the shipper to get it there with the rest of the car. With everything loaded up, I took a few photos and grabbed some dinner. I hadn’t even started eating when the driver called to pick it up, thankfully he needed to load up three other vehicles, so that bought me enough time to eat.

1978-triumph-spitfire-on-trailer

It was dark by the time I made it back to our office to help load up the car. The driver did a quick inspection and drove it around the parking lot to get accustom to the controls. He had to unload the three enormous German SUVs he was carrying to load the tiny Spitfire. He saw how interested I was in the process, so he invited me to help him load the car up. Soon we were talking about classic cars and some of the stuff he’s carried over the years. I then told him about the spare wheel that needed to go somewhere and he offered to throw it in the back of one of the SUVs! Soon we had all four vehicles loaded up and he was ready to hit the road. I said one last goodbye to the Spitfire and wished my new friend a safe trip back to California.

triumph-spitfire

He had scheduled to deliver the car to Bruce early this morning, but thankfully he got into the Sacramento area late Sunday night and was able to drop it off before Bruce had to head out of town for work. I did hear from Bruce this morning though and he said the car arrived without any issues and looked beautiful! He can’t wait to see it in the daylight and to take it for a spin. I want to wish Bruce the best of luck with the Spitfire and I hope he will keep us posted!

Comments

  1. Avatar angliagt

    Great story! – we need more of them.
    I’ve many cars over the years,but in the case of the
    MKI Cortina GT (should’ve kept that one),& a ’68 MGB
    that I gave away,they can’t legally bring a 70′ truck here-
    (Eureka,CA),due to the tight corners on 199/101/299.
    I those two cases,I ended up driving the Cortina
    to Redding,& towing the MGB to Redding.
    Since I enjoy traveling (especially on someone else’s dime),
    I ought to do this for a living,but it’s more fun to do it this way.

    Like 0
  2. Avatar MikeG

    It’s always tough seeing a car you’ve owned disappear down your street…

    Like 0
  3. Avatar Pete

    I think of my cars like children. I want and owner that will take care of it

    Like 0
  4. HoA Howard A Member

    Man, those rubber bumpers look big in those pictures. Wish Bruce some happy top down motoring. I’ve found, the best way to get over a certain car you sold, is to get another car. You’d be surprised how fast you forget about the old one, kind of like women.

    Like 0
    • Avatar JMB#7

      Those bumper guards are huge. I love these spitfires, but those bumper guards keep me looking at the prior generations.

      Like 0
  5. Avatar Yellowjax Member

    When I was young and had mg’s and AH 3000’s we would call these spitwads. Last week I found myself looking for one. Nice car.

    Like 0
  6. Avatar Doug Towsley

    NEVER EVER EVER Trust anything these shippers ever tell you. The brokers do not give a flying Monkey F*** about you OR the Drivers. They ALL are liars and will always tell you whatever you want to hear. If I had a dollar for every time we thought we had a agreement on a heads up for pickup or delivery,,, well,,, I would be rich.
    Last one called the night before and sometime the next day. Because they failed to give the driver my phone number I could not warn him and he took a side road and got stuck.
    Not his fault. We almost had to call a tow truck. Lucky my neighbor was home, nice guy and was bribed with a case of beer and our 2 tractors, 3 scoops of Gravel and half a day of labor we got the semi truck unstuck.. I think pick up and delivery stipulations are more like “Guidelines” or suggestions!

    Like 0

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