Home » $500 Cross-Country Project Battle: 1980 Triumph Spitfire vs 1979 Datsun 620

$500 Cross-Country Project Battle: 1980 Triumph Spitfire vs 1979 Datsun 620

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Good morning! Today we’re going to really scrape the bottom of the used-car barrel, and look at a pair of projects offered for five crisp Benjamins each.

But before we get to that, let’s see how yesterday ended up:

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And the green Manta takes a comfortable win. Honestly, I don’t think there is a bad choice between these two; it comes down to preference. I might be tempted to choose the Renault just for the rear-engined novelty, but I’d happily wrench on either.

One of today’s picks comes to us courtesy of my pen-pal and fellow contributor Stephen Walter Gossin. He found a viable-looking Triumph Spitfire being offered at only $500, a price that used to be a sort of default “get this thing out of my garage” price. I was curious to see if I could find another likely-looking project on this side of the country for the same money. Pickings were slim, but I did find a few, and chose the one most interesting to me.

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So here they are: Two project cars, one on the east coast and one on the west, for only $500 each. Let’s take a look at them.

1980 Triumph Spitfire – $500

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Engine/drivetrain: 1.5 liter OHV inline 4, 4 speed manual, RWD

Location: outside Richmond, VA

Odometer reading: 59,000 miles

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Runs/drives? Unknown

“So when are you picking it up?” I asked S.W. when he showed me the listing for this little yellow Triumph. I was only half-kidding. Spitfires are fun little cars, easy to work on, and if this one is as clean as it looks in the two small photos in the ad, it’s the steal of the decade.

But only if it’s complete and broadly functional. It’s a simple car, and parts aren’t hard to come by, but those Moss Motors invoices can add up quickly, if you don’t watch it. Trust me; I know.

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The ad doesn’t give us much to go on, either. The seller says it is “partially restored,” whatever that means. It looks rust-free in the photos, and that yellow is an original color, but there’s no way to know if the paint is original without looking at the car in person, and with a magnet. It could be 80% Bondo by weight and still shine up nicely, with a fresh coat of paint.

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The seller does note some deterioration of some vinyl parts in the interior, but again, we’d have to see it in person to see how bad it is. And I really wish there was at least one photo of the engine, so we could see what we’re dealing with. It’s a basic 1500cc pushrod four, with one Zenith-Stromberg carb feeding it in 1980, and a tangle of smog controls. Of course, you can ditch all that and install twin SU carbs, like a proper British sports car should have, but only if you don’t need to pass an emissions test with it.

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Fortunately, it includes the most important bit of any classic sports car project – the repair manuals. Both the classic Haynes manual and a still-shrink-wrapped Robert Bentley manual are included, and both will serve the new owner well. These two books, in my experience, fill in each other’s holes when it comes to repair and service. Use the Haynes book for troubleshooting, and the Bentley book for the exact repair procedures.

 

1979 Datsun 620 pickup – $500

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Engine/drivetrain: 2.0 liter SOHC inline 4, 4 speed manual, RWD

Location: Moses Lake, WA

Odometer reading: 148,000 miles

Runs/drives? Will start, but not drivable

Over on this end of the country, the best-looking $500 project I could find is this Datsun pickup. Hey, it’s kinda similar: two-seater, with a small inline four and a manual transmission driving the rear wheels. It’s practically a small sports car itself!

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OK, maybe not. But you can haul a lot more stuff in it than the Spitfire.

This is the final year of the 620 series Datsun truck, before the more squared-off 720 took over. It uses Nissan’s L-series overhead cam engine, here with four cylinders and two liters of displacement. It’s a handsome little truck, and has been a popular choice with the mini-truck crowd since it was new.

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This 620 looks like it has been someone’s, or possibly several someones’s, project for a while. It’s in primer-gray, the universal color code for incomplete rust repair, but looks mercifully stock, right down to the two-spoke 1970s Chevy-looking steering wheel. It is rusty underneath, in the floors and sills, but it looks like it will hold together for a while longer.

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According to the seller, this truck starts and runs, but idles badly, and the rest of the vehicle isn’t ready for prime-time either. It hasn’t been on the road in 15 years, so some rubber parts will want replacing, not least of which the tires.

This thing is probably not worth doing the rust repair on, but some mechanical fixes to get it roadworthy again, while leaving it ratty-looking, could make it a good weekend yardwork tool. And these little trucks are fun to drive. Not as fun as a bona-fide British roadster, but still fun.

So that’s that. You’ve got $500 to spend and an empty garage spot to fill. Which one gets your money?

 

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(Image credits: Craigslist sellers)

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SquareTaillight2002
SquareTaillight2002
1 year ago

That pickup bed has some serious cellulite.
Gotta go Triumph.

Frankencamry
Frankencamry
1 year ago

The problem with the Spitfire is that if you want to use it much, you need an overdrive. And that costs more than the project car.

I went with the Datsun, as there’s already a parts Spitfire in my extra garage that’s giving Dad its overdrive.

Sid Bridge
Sid Bridge
1 year ago

Whoa. $500 for the Spitfire?! Either something’s fishy or I need to go snatch that up RIGHT NOW. It’s not that far away from me and even if the frame is a rusty mess, I could use the parts for my 1980 Triumph Spitfire.

Ivan256
Ivan256
1 year ago

It is taking all my willpower not to purchase that Triumph immediately.

Stephen Walter Gossin
Stephen Walter Gossin
1 year ago
Reply to  Ivan256

Right?! Same here.

JDE
JDE
1 year ago

both of these seem kind of scammy, the spitfire more so since it could be flipped for a profit pretty easily if finished. but I would want the spitfire for that flip alone, otherwise both are for someone else.

MaximillianMeen
MaximillianMeen
1 year ago

My first car was a 74 Spitfire. My fifth car (acquired less than 2 years later) was an 81 Toyota pickup. I spent a lot more time in the Toyota, it lasted for all four and a half years of college, while the Spitfire stopped running after I attempted to drive it upside-down. I learned that day that the Supermarine Spitfires can be driven upside-down, but not the Triumph version.

Therefore, I have to go with the Triumph, just so I can learn what I missed out on in my much younger and much, much dumber days.

Mocamino
Mocamino
1 year ago

Assuming the Spit isn’t mostly Bondo, that’s my choice (since you can see the Datsun definitely is). The bumpers would definitely need to be switched out for older chromies. If the Spit fails the magnet test, however, it’s a hard pass on both. Don’t get me wrong, the Datsun would be great…but it looks rode hard and put away wet.

Dug Deep
Dug Deep
1 year ago

I feel like the Spitfire is an angry wife’s “revenge sale”.

Brooks Fancher
Brooks Fancher
1 year ago

I am going with the pickup. Why you ask, because I always loved my 76 Little Hustler until it fell apart. It was a great little truck, reliable and easy to work on, plus I still have my old Haynes Manual! Plus it has less rust on it than mine did when it fell apart in 1998!

IRegertNothing, Esq.
IRegertNothing, Esq.
1 year ago

The Datsun’s known rust makes it a no-go for me, but I think this comes down to personal preference for $500. I’d take the Spitfire. I can totally understand why someone else would go for the Datsun. Either way you’re only out a few hundred bucks if the vehicle turns out to be beyond salvage.

XLEJim700
XLEJim700
1 year ago

My boots are plodding to The Land of the Rusting Datsun.

A thing of beauty.

Lokki
Lokki
1 year ago

Here is a vote for the Spit. It’s in great shape, and when you are tired of futzing with it, it’ll be easy to sell to some “greater fool” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_fool_theory) no matter how much money you pump into it.

It’s a wonderful project car because it’s tiny and its parts are tiny so it’s almost like working on a motorcycle. Easy-peasy. You and your dog can lift the head off the engine, no sweat. It’s also a wonderful project because you will never run out of things that just need a little more work or a little upgrading. It will linger in that 85 to 90 percent done state until your heirs sell it on after your death for …$500.

The Datsun, the Datsun, the Datsun. I had a friend who back in the day went through a string of these and loved every one. The problem was that (in the Northeast) every single morning there was a little bit less to love as they oxidized faster than Alka-Seltzer tablets. Even in Washington State where rust has been banned by decree, the subject truck will have, by weight, more bondo than sheet metal. Hit one good bump on a really cold morning and that truck will look like the mummy in one of those horror movies where after not aging much in 4,000 years, it crumbles to bones in 30 seconds.

Arrest-me Red
Arrest-me Red
1 year ago

Both are good choices. The Datsun edged out as it is confirmed running, rough but running. The Spitfire would be fun car once put together and you spend 2 hours fixing it for 10 minutes driving.

If it is in rough shape, you could do the V8 swap and make a very dangerous and fun car.

StillPlaysWithCars
StillPlaysWithCars
1 year ago

Eh, I went Datsun on this one. Leave it as is an use it for projects. I don’t trust the ad of the Spitfire. If it really was partially restored, the seller should be providing a laundry list of things done to it. Instead we get a brief description and only a few pictures. I suspect more than a few shady/dangerous repairs/coverups have been done to move it. The truck ad is at least honest.

Staffma
Staffma
1 year ago

As someone who is in a lifelong abusive relationship with Spitfires, I vote Datsun.
Spitfire ownership is a bit of a disease, and they tend to multiply. ( I personally have ~3.5 spitfires).

Michael Ibach
Michael Ibach
1 year ago

Honest question: has an autopian reader ever actually purchased a shitbox showdown car? Because if that Datsun was closer to Wisconsin, it would be mine later today. That is a SOLID deal!

StillPlaysWithCars
StillPlaysWithCars
1 year ago
Reply to  Michael Ibach

If someone has, Mark should totally do a follow up article on how shitty or excellent the resulting ownership has turned out to be.

Boxing Pistons
Boxing Pistons
1 year ago

Ditch the emissions system and remove that huge growth from the Spitfire’s face (those later bumpers were barf-inducing), and you have yourself a proper little runabout!

Acrimonious Mofo
Acrimonious Mofo
1 year ago

Can I just say that the front bumper on the Spitfire is a crime against eyeballs. Regardless, after the work is put in to get these things roadworthy you’ll end up either with a fun little British sports car, or a rusty old pickup that’s more Bondo than bed outback, so I’m going with the proggy Canadian hard rock band on this one.

MaximillianMeen
MaximillianMeen
1 year ago

Lay it on the line, my friend! That Spitfire just oozes the magic power.

DanielleWhitaker65
DanielleWhitaker65
1 year ago

gthy

IRegertNothing, Esq.
IRegertNothing, Esq.
1 year ago

Get The Heap (in) Yellow? Grab That Hauler, Yo?

Inquiring minds must know.

Man With A Reliable Jeep
Man With A Reliable Jeep
1 year ago

I think it’s short for “girthy”…”lengthy”? Not sure what else works.

IRegertNothing, Esq.
IRegertNothing, Esq.
1 year ago

Well I have plenty of girth for her. Too bad it’s the kind of girth you get from sitting close to the candy bowl in the office.

8th--Note
8th--Note
1 year ago

I owned a ’74 Spitfire 1500 when I was in my early twenties. Super easy to work on and parts are plentiful and inexpensive (or at least they used to be. Prob not so much anymore). I vote Triumph all day long.

Boulevard_Yachtsman
Boulevard_Yachtsman
1 year ago

Spitfire! Another in a long line of Cars I Will Own Some Day and this one appears to be quite a good deal. Around these parts they’d be asking $3K with a requisite “my loss is your gain” and “quantity known by me”. Wish it were closer.

Shop-Teacher
Shop-Teacher
1 year ago

I fully expected to vote for the Datsun, but man that thing is ROUGH. Assuming the Spitfire isn’t actually 80% bondo, I’ll take that one.

Man With A Reliable Jeep
Man With A Reliable Jeep
1 year ago

I was FULLY prepared to vote Datsun. Love that vintage of Datsun-Nissans from Nippon. But for the same price, that Spitfire is absolutely clean and worth every penny. If the worst things about this project are the interior and maybe some mechanical work to get it running, it’s a steal at $500. This is, of course, assuming the paint wasn’t laid onto soft, rusted floor pans and structural components.

*reads ad for MG* Oh! And a Mallory distributor? Yeah, you get my vote, Triumph.

Nsane In The MembraNe
Nsane In The MembraNe
1 year ago

Spitfire, easily. British roadsters rule. For that little money I may drive down there and buy it this weekend…

Ken Beauchamp
Ken Beauchamp
1 year ago

I’m a sucker for a mini truck with a manual trans.

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