The books in the Everyday Modifications series are designed to guide classic van and car owners through the workshop skills needed to make their vehicles easier to use and enjoy. This book is concerned with improving the 4-cylinder Spitfire and Herald, and the 6-cylinder Vitesse and GT6, with engines ranging in size from 948cc to 1998cc. Classic car author and journalist Iain Ayre gives his hands-on advice on maintaining and modifying the Triumph Herald/Vitesse and Spitfire/GT6, covering both keeping them going and either subtly or dramatically improving them, with additional rescue options offered for Triumphs deemed economically terminal.

Benefit from the author's decades of working on and writing about Triumphs, with the real facts you need to decide whether a sports Triumph is going to suit you. The book covers all small sports Triumph models, explains how and where to buy one, how to handle auctions and whether to buy the best you can find, or to take on a restoration or a rolling restoration. It advises on choosing the right model for your needs and your budget, and describes the flavour of the more sporty or more cruising Spitfire types, contrasted with the more expensive and more powerful GT6 coupes. The book explains in practical language how to apply key checks to spot a bad car quickly, then gives you a comprehensive inspection guide and an in-depth analysis of the various models' strengths and weaknesses. It provides inside technical information to save you the painful process of learning about Triumph foibles the hard way. It discusses upgrades using the author's own research, and includes comprehensive details of club backup and support organisations, and model specs. Iain Ayre has been maintaining and repairing Triumph cars since before he was allowed in pubs, and has been writing about them for about 30 years. He continues to write for Triumph World magazine as a regular contributor from North America.

You might think a Cobra is an unattainable dream, and you'd be right. However, a replica that looks just like one and works rather better is not only attainable - it costs about the same as a Toyota. Iain Ayre has been reviewing, building and designing Cobra replicas for decades: there's nobody better to have in your pocket when you stop dreaming and start checking out buying or building one for real. This book condenses all you need to know into 64 packed pages covering Cobra types; low, medium and high budgets; buying pitfalls; engine and donor recommendations; and, good and bad points - pretty much everything you need to know to start scaring BMWs with budget V8 thunder.

Condensing several decades of hands-on Mini experience into a restoration manual that works with and enhances existing repair manuals, Iain Ayre encourages the reader to evaluate realistically their own potential, equip a garage as a restoration shop, and buy exactly the right sort of nasty old Mini. Showing two major semi-professional body restorations, on older and newer classic Minis, this manual explains how a full-scale rust rescue job can be successfully tackled, before looking at the aspects of restoration not usually covered in repair manuals, such as rewiring, and rebuilding and retrimming seats. Once your Mini is on its way to full restoration, you'll be shown the art of improving Minis, an art learned during the writing of hundreds of articles on modified Minis ... and in racing and crashing them!

Many dream of a new life Down Under. After all, who wouldn't want to exchange a life of grey skies and the ready meals for one of spontaneous barbies laden with fresh seafood under a never-ending blue sky? Author, Iain Ayres, did just that and has now built a business inspiring others to do the same. Jump Down Under is exactly the book he wishes he'd been able to read before he took a leap of faith and moved to Australia. This book tells it how it is. The reality of making the move, telling the family, settling in and, most importantly, how to get that coveted visa! With the emphasis on first hand accounts rather than endless to do lists, Ayres provides the reader with a snapshot of the pre-decision, pre-departure, arrival and settling in process told by people who have been there, done that and now got the (probably Fosters XXXX) tee shirt. After hours of interviewing men and women, husbands and wives, singles, the young and not so young, this is the only book of its kind and fills a very real gap in the market. All the practical stuff and vital information is there too, of course.This is the definitive must-read.