Documented Spitfire 6's Pre 1991

[rlubikey]

With the recent discussion on MOTs and substantial changes, the regulations say that a change in the number of cylinders is usually considered substantial, *unless* it can be shown this sort of swap was being done within 10 years of production ceasing. Those of us with 6-pot Spitfires are therefore quite interested to know when people were doing this. It was too hot this afternoon, so I came in and looked through the Courier Archive DVDs - a most useful tool indeed! - and found some examples as follows:-

• Sep 83 pp. 18 - A question about doing the conversion. Eddie Evans the Technical Secretary answers, running through what's involved without actually saying it's been done.
• Nov 83 pp. 30 - A member from West Germany writes that he has put a Spit body on a GT6.
• Feb 84 pp. 89 - The Spitfire Register writes about fitting 6-pots from Vitesses, GT6s, etc. into Spitfires. He then goes on to say that there are currently 25 registered 2-litre Spitfires and two 2.5-litre Spits. Presumably these are the Triumph engine conversion as this is what has just been discussed.
• Oct 84 pp. 35 - Another Q&A about the prospect of doing the conversion, answered by Eddie Evans.
• Aug 87 pp. 42 - A member discusses his Spitfire-6, built on a GT6 chassis & running gear. He comments that building it on the Spitfire chassis would have been easier in hindsight.
• Mar 89 pp. 45 and May 89 pp. 57 - A 2.0 Spit Mk2 or GT6 Mk1 convertible build - well, the latter really as it's on the GT6 chassis & running gear.

So there you go, 3 documented examples, plus the evidence of 27 registered cars way back in 1984. Does anyone know of any other *documented* conversions pre 1991?

Cheers, Richard

[rlubikey]

I finally got around to taking my V5 to the post office a few weeks ago. Funny how apparently simple things keep going to the back of the queue. Today my V5 came back from DVLA and my 2.5l Spit is now classed as historic - that will save a bit of money!

This reminds me that there's been a recent article in the Courier on a 6-cylinder Spit in the June 2021 edition of the club magazine. The former owner describes how he bought a Spit with a Vitesse 1600 engine all the way back in 1975. Another documented Spitfire 6.

Cheers, Richard