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Considering a spitfire GT6


Nolsjames

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Evening James. I can understand, I fell in love with them a good decade or more before owning one. 
You’ll find that GT6 (6 cylinder hard-top) and Spitfire (4 cylinder soft-top) are two distinct models, although there’s a mass of shared components. There are also quite a lot of Spitfires ‘conversations’ with 6-cylinder engines that get called Gitfires or Spit6. 
 

Regarding what to look for, I’d say as little rust as possible! I’m sure others will respond with suggestions. 

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Hi, as Ben says theres lots of similarities but also important differences so any conversion must include these. Im talking bigger brakes back and front plus the master cylinder to operate them and beefier suspension springs (certainly at the front) plus anti-roll bar.

The clutch arrangement is also quite different and obviously a larger unit is used on the 6 so the master cylinder would have to match.

Finally it would probably benefit from a higher ratio differential than either the Spitfire or GT6 units (both depending on the model of used) to make first gear useable and improve high speed cruising....

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On 20/06/2021 at 20:49, Nolsjames said:

Thanks Ben! I really thought it was called a spitfire GT6, thanks for putting me straight! That’ll clear up confusion talking to sellers. 🙂

So now we need you to let us into the secret of which one you really want.....

Spitfire  - 4 cylinder 1300/1500 convertible

P1160870s.jpg.e933b3971b053ecb198a5a1cfadf0bd3.jpg

or

GT6 -  6 cylinder 2L coupe/"hatchback"

IMG_5762s.jpg.22ad4f29578cd28f5a9f33a93130a190.jpg

As already mentioned it is also possible to find hybrid (not factory) 6 cylinder convertibles.  4 cylinder coupes are also possible but I only know of one though and that's special in many other ways.

Both the above are "square-tails" Mk3 in GT6-speak or MkIV / 1500 in Spitfire-speak.

Earlier cars are "round-tails".  No pics as I don't have any in the fleet.

Nick

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Can I ask what sort of price I'm going to be looking at? I was thinking around £12-16K, but there are some shockingly cheap GT6's on classiccars.co.uk is this right??

http://www.classiccars.co.uk/search/results/t/eJw9zFEKgzAQhOG77Al8qBomp4lJoAupazcRKaV374rE14.5J8DhWzGBXkHfeybPeEzj4CtGM0m5XDQ7oxkUZV-bfk48Rw5UJIbGsnayblOOdlUxgOhaad4Kx1DJLz08uD2rlNTJQtGU9Q5.f80lL50~/32/

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They do seem a bit too good don't they. That's what I'd expect to see a good Spitfire for but could be wring. I think it's important to force yourself to be patient and look at quite a few. 

I really benefited from others' experience when buying mine. Not sure what area you're in, but I'd recommend joining the club, going to a local monthly meet, actually sitting in an GT6 (to check you can deal with the headroom, offset pedals, magnitude of it's magnificence etc 😂) and you might find there are one or two folks who can go view a car with you.

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Yeah - they must be scams.

Along the lines of : you email the “seller”, get told that someone else is coming later, but if you’re prepared to bank-transfer a deposit then they’ll hold the car for you - you feel pressured because you don’t want to miss such a good bargain, so you send cash, then they disappear without trace. 
 eBay and F.Book marketplace full of such ads - looks like they’re getting everywhere.

Edited by npanne
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Agreed. I've sent off quite a few emails and have no response from anyone, so I believe the ads/website to be dead and not updated. I'm now giving it a wide berth. 

@Ben Hutchings I'm in Chertsey, Surrey and will definitely look for a meet up. I believe the GT6 is 'compact' inside and I'm not exactly a tiny fella.

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Longstanding GT6 owner here who moved from Chertsey two years ago.

I would be happy to bring my mk2 to you for you to try, I can pop and see my family after seeing you.

Be very careful about what you buy as some real rotters out there.

I am 5ft 8 and weigh approx 11 stone, ideal size for a GT6. 

Would the car be garaged? All old cars benefit from being kept in a water tight garage.  

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11 hours ago, Tim Bancroft said:

Longstanding GT6 owner here who moved from Chertsey two years ago.

I would be happy to bring my mk2 to you for you to try, I can pop and see my family after seeing you.

Be very careful about what you buy as some real rotters out there.

I am 5ft 8 and weigh approx 11 stone, ideal size for a GT6. 

Would the car be garaged? All old cars benefit from being kept in a water tight garage.  

Thanks Tim that would be amazing. Let's get it arranged. And unfortunately the garage is now part of the house, but I have been considering building a wooden car port. 

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