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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