Chrono 1:18 1970 Triumph Spitfire >
$69.95
The Triumph Spitfire is a small British two-seat sports car, introduced at the London Motor Show in 1962. The vehicle was based on a design produced for Standard-Triumph in 1957 by Italian designer Giovanni Michelotti. The car was largely based upon the chassis of the Triumph Herald saloon, but shortened and without the Herald's outrigger sections. The Herald's running gear and Standard SC engine were also carried over. The Spitfire was manufactured at the Standard-Triumph works at Canley, in Coventry.
The bodywork was fitted to a separate structural chassis, but for the open-top convertible Spitfire the backbone chassis' rigidity was augmented by the use of structural components within the bodywork, with the rear trailing arms being bolted to the body rather than the chassis. The Spitfire was provided with a manual soft-top for weather protection, the design improving to a folding hood for later models. Factory-manufactured hard-tops were also available.
The Triumph Spitfire was originally devised by Standard-Triumph to compete in the small sports car market that had opened up with the introduction of the Austin-Healey Sprite. The Sprite had used the basic drive train of the Austin A30/A35 in a light body to make up a budget sports car; Triumph's idea was to use the mechanicals from their small saloon, the Herald, to underpin the new project, this made the vehicle a classic parts bin special. Triumph had one advantage, however; where the Austin A30 range was of unitary construction, the Herald featured a separate chassis. It was Triumph's intention to cut that chassis down and give it a sporty body, saving the costs of developing a completely new chassis-body unit.
Italian designer Michelotti—who had already designed the Herald—was commissioned for the new project, and came up with a traditional, swooping body. Wind-up windows were provided (in contrast to the Sprite and Midget, which still featured side screens, also called curtains, at that time), as well as a single-piece front end which tilted forwards to offer easy access to the engine. In the early 1960s, however, Standard-Triumph was in deep financial trouble, and unable to put the new car into production; it was not until the company was taken over by the Leyland organization that funds became available and the car was launched. Leyland officials, taking stock of their new acquisition, found Michelotti's prototype hiding under a dust sheet in a corner of the factory and rapidly approved it for production.
The Spitfire was named to honour the World War II fighter plane of the same name.
The Mark IV brought the most comprehensive changes to the Spitfire. It featured a completely redesigned cut-off rear end, giving a strong family resemblance to the Triumph Stag and Triumph 2000 models, both of which were also Michelotti-designed. The front end was also cleaned up, with a new bonnet pressing eliminating the weld lines on top of the wings from the older models, and the doors were given recessed handles and squared-off glass in the top rear corner. The interior was much improved: a proper full-width dashboard was provided, putting the instruments ahead of the driver rather than over the centre console. This was initially black plastic however was replaced with wood in 1973.
The 75 horsepower engine was now rated at 63 horsepower (for UK market employing the 9:1 compression ratio and twin SU HS2 carburetors; the less powerful North American version still used a single Zenith Stromberg carburetor and an 8.5:1 compression ratio) due to the German DIN system; the actual output was the same for the early Mark IV. However, it was slightly slower than the previous Mark III due to carrying more weight, and employing a taller 3.89:1 final drive as opposed to the earlier 4.11:1.
The Mk. IV engine displaced 1,296 cc (79.1 cu in) throughout the production run, but in 1973 received larger big-end bearings to rationalize production with the TR6 2.5-litre engines, which somewhat decreased its high revving nature. The engine was also slightly detuned to meet new emissions laws. With the overall weight also increasing to 1,717 lb (779 kg) performance dropped as a consequence, with 0 to 60 mph (0 to 97 km/h) now being achieved in 15.8 seconds and top speed reduced to 90 mph (140 km/h).[1] Overall fuel economy also dipped to 32 mpg‑imp (8.8 L/100 km; 26.6 mpg‑US). The gearbox gained synchromesh on its bottom gear.
A new hardtop was also available, with rear quarter-lights and a flatter rear screen.
In another major change, the rear suspension was decambered and redesigned to incorporate what Triumph called a "swing spring". With this system one leaf was eliminated from the stack and only the bottom leaf was attached rigidly to the differential. The remaining leafs were mounted to pivot freely. With this change Triumph eliminated the worst characteristics of the original swing-axle design. This was a different approach than that taken with the Triumph GT6 Mk II (GT6+) and Triumph Vitesse Mark 2, both of which received new lower wishbones and Rotoflex half-shaft couplings. The result on all these cars was improved handling.
The Mark IV went on sale in the UK at the end of 1970 with a base price of £735