Triumph Spitfire

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In 1972, as soon as I got the job with SSB as a trainee production wireline operator, I was sent to BSP in Brunei for two years’ training. I was staying at the SRC bachelor flats. I bought my very first car in Brunei. It was a twenty year old Triumph Spitfire! It cost only 2000 dollars. The special thing about this car was its twin Weber carburetor which was the fore runner of the turbo charger.



The car had very good pick-up in spite of its age, was therefore very fast off the mark! It was a real sports car, a convertible. The bonnet was hinged in front and opened the other way, forward. There was a lot of room for the mechanic to work on the car as it had only a small 1.2 litre engine. Wearne Brothers in Seria could not give it a proper tune-up because that car was just too old! It never performed 100%.

I learned to drive by driving this sports coupe to work every morning for a month. Then, I went to KB with a licensed driver for my driving test! The oral test was easy because I knew the highway code as I had a motor cycle driving license for many years. The practical test was harder because I had problems negotiating the S bends tests.

However, I surprised the vehicle tester and myself; because the Spitfire’s steering wheel could turn the front wheels beyond 80 degrees and I managed to just clear the last stick! Most saloon cars cannot over steer like that!

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