One of the World’s Favorite Two-seaters, The Triumph Spitfire Turns 60

It’s named after a World War II fighter plane and based on a tweaked version of a workaday passenger car. No, it’s not the Ford Mustang, it’s the Triumph Spitfire, a car so right from the start that it barely changed from its introduction until its discontinuation in 1980. When the 1963 Spitfire made its debut in the autumn of 1962—some 60 years ago now—it was the culmination of work going back to 1957.

Crowning a shortened Triumph Herald chassis was a svelte "roadster" (actually a two-seat convertible with roll-up windows) body penned by Italian stylist Giovanni Michelotti, who had also shaped the Herald. Michelotti was a prolific designer, not just for Standard-Triumph but for coachbuilder Vignale. His efforts also adorned Alfa Romeos, Lancias, Ferraris, Maseratis, BMWs, Volvos, and more.

Triumph was no stranger to building sports models based on its passenger-car line, with the TR-series of roadsters having their origins in the Triumph Vanguard of the early 1950s. The TR was still around in 1962, now in TR4 guise, with a fresh body (also courtesy of Michelotti’s pen) on a chassis derived from the previous-generation TR3. The TRs used the expensive, wet-liner Standard four, and competed with cars like the Austin-Healey 3000 and the new MGB, but the new Spitfire was intended to draw buyers who might otherwise consider the smaller, less-expensive Austin-Healey Sprite or MG Midget cars.

1967 Spitfire MKII

1968 Spitfire MKIII

1977 Spitfire 1500

"The Spitfire helped Triumph better compete with MG, because MG had the Midget; the Spitfire was conceived as a competitor in that price range," wrote the late Mike Cook, Standard-Triumph’s one-time assistant advertising manager in the United States and a former columnist for Hemmings Sports & Exotic Car. "It came out a little more expensive, but it was a much bigger car with better performance. We were really looking forward to receiving that car."

The delay between the Spitfire’s 1957 conception and 1962 debut can be blamed on the acquisition of Standard-Triumph by truck-and-trolleybus maker Leyland Motors in 1961. It seems Standard-Triumph had simply allowed the prototype to gather dust in one corner of the factory, but representatives of the new owner were so taken with the little car that it was immediately ordered into production.

The initial version (sold as the Spitfire 4 and retroactively dubbed the Mark I) was little changed from the prototype, with just some styling and structural tweaks for production. Disc brakes were perhaps the most notable addition to the production model, a bit of kit not shared even with the Herald. Items that did carry over were the Herald’s coil-sprung, double-wishbone IFS; rack-and-pinion steering; and swing-axle rear suspension with a transverse leaf spring. The 1,147-cc OHV four-cylinder engine was from the SC series, which had started life in the Standard Eight as an 803-cc unit back in 1953 and was cheaper to produce than the wet-liner four.

Fitted with dual carbs and enlarged to 1,200 cc, the SC (for “small car”) inline-four did yeoman’s duty in the original Spitfire.

The engine's pinnacle was in the Mark 3 years, when it was bored out to 1,300 cc.

The bigger-still 1500 replaced the 1300 in 1973, but that single-carb, emissions-compliant engine wasn’t quite as inspiring as its predecessors.

Twin SU carburetors were optional equipment on the Herald, which itself only gained the larger displacement (and a corresponding "1200" badge) in 1961. The two-carb unit was rated at 63 horsepower and was backed by a four-speed gearbox featuring synchronizers on second, third, and fourth gears. A Laycock de Normanville overdrive was available as optional equipment starting in 1964, as were a steel hardtop and wire wheels.

The simple little roadster, with its plastic steering wheel, rubber floor mats, and one-piece clamshell bonnet was a good bargain at just $2,199 in the U.S.—about the same as a Chevy II Nova sedan, but with wind-in-your-face and four-on-the-floor standard. The result was an unqualified success, and Standard-Triumph built 45,753 Mark I’s before the car’s first major set of revisions came in 1964.

The new Spitfire Mark II debuted for the 1965 model year. A new camshaft, intake and exhaust manifolds boosted output to 67 horsepower. The exterior received a light restyling, and the interior was spiffed up with carpet and increased use of vinyl to cover exposed metal surfaces. The revised Spitfire was produced for just two years, giving way to the Mark III in early 1967, but Triumph still managed to build over 37,000 examples.

Interior appointments grew steadily more luxurious over the years. The original Spitfire 4 was all business, with a plastic-rimmed steering wheel and no carpets. By the end of production, wood veneer and driver-centric instrument positioning were standard features. The bucket seats went from slim to plush and grew headrests in the same time period.

The Mark II/III era also coincided with the release of the GT6, a Spitfire coupe variant with six-cylinder power. The decision to market the Mark I as the "Spitfire 4" suggests that Triumph may already have planned a six-cylinder version as early as 1961, and indeed one would ultimately debut in 1965. The fastback coupe body was already penned, but it had been determined that it weighed too much for the SC engine. Instead, Triumph utilized the straight-six that had debuted in the 1960 Standard Vanguard and remained in production powering the Vanguard’s Triumph 2000 successor (along with the TR5 and TR250 sports cars). Nearly 41,000 GT6’s were built across three generations, with production winding down in 1973.

The actual Spitfire Mark III was heavily facelifted and some diehard fans of Michelotti’s original styling have poo-pooed it as compromised, but it was a successful response to impending U.S. crash-safety regulations. Perhaps the most noticeable changes were the raised stance and front-bumper placement. Softening the blow to purists were further increases in passenger comfort, including a wood-veneer instrument panel and a new steering-wheel design. A simplified folding top was also introduced.

Likely more important to buyers at the time, and indeed a big factor in the higher values of the Mark III cars, the 1967 and ’68 models featured the most-powerful engine ever offered. The SC was bored out to a displacement of 1,296 cc. The new engine, rated at 75 hp and 75 lb-ft of torque, pushed the Mark III from zero to 60 in 13.4 seconds and to a top speed of 95 mph.

The 100,000th Spitfire was a Mark III, produced in February 1968. Perhaps unsurprisingly, at that point three out of every four Spitfires built had been exported to the United States. The Mark III run would exceed 65,000 cars before the introduction of the final form in 1970.

The Mark IV (with a Roman numeral to avoid confusion with the original "Spitfire 4") was notable primarily for three things: a revised rear suspension, a bigger engine, and an updated body. Michelotti reworked his 1957 creation one last time, trying to make it fit with the new decade. It’s subtle, as the car is still recognizably a Spitfire, but put them side by side and the earlier cars are obvious. The changes are especially noticeable in the lift-off hardtop and in the rear, where the revised styling was intended to echo that of the Triumph 2000 and Stag. The practical effect was somewhat better luggage capacity and a stiffer body, thanks to a variety of reinforcements throughout.

The swing-axle rear suspension changes were a long time in coming. Although Spitfires had plenty of success on the racetrack, more average drivers could get in over their heads when pushing a swing-axle car too hard into a corner. Triumph’s solution was not to drop the swing axles for half shafts, à la the Corvair, but to tinker with attachment of the transverse leaf spring. The changes, which had been developed on the GT6, were a revelation in handling. The suspension modifications coincided with a widened rear track, further improving cornering ability.

Less thrilling were the changes to the SC engine. Increasingly stringent emissions standards for U.S.-market cars meant that the old 1,296-cc engine was being strangled. To make up some of the difference, for 1973 Triumph fitted the stroked, 1,493-cc version to the Spitfire. The new "1500" engine had better torque, but the single-carb four-cylinder was rougher and less reliable than the earlier, smaller-displacement versions it had supplanted. The 1500 was also used in the 1974 to ’80 MG Midget, as Leyland had merged with British Motor Holdings in 1968, bringing MG along with myriad other makes under the same corporate umbrella.

Spitfire production ended in 1980. Along the way, Triumph had built 314,332 copies of the little roadster, making it among the most popular cars of its type and providing plenty of fodder for today’s restorers and enthusiasts. Although prices are climbing, the Spitfire remains both relatively affordable and easy to find, meaning they’re a great way to get into the hobby.