Triumph Spitfire: a real roadster on a shortened saloon chassis (1962–1980)

For the price of a modest family saloon, Triumph put a real two-seat roadster within reach of ordinary buyers, with wind-up windows, a forward-tilting bonnet and genuine Italian styling. The Spitfire sold by the hundred thousand, and more than any other car it is the friendly, cheap, fixable classic that introduced generations to British sports-car ownership. It still does the same job today.

The Spitfire is part of the classic Triumph family, and the most successful sporting Triumph of all. It was built to do one thing, put open-top motoring within reach, and it did it for eighteen years across five distinct marks.

A sports car on a saloon’s chassis

The Spitfire was designed by Giovanni Michelotti in 1957 and launched at the London Motor Show in October 1962 as the Spitfire 4. Underneath the pretty body it was, cleverly, a Triumph Herald in disguise: it used a shortened version of the Herald’s separate chassis and the Herald’s running gear, which is why Standard-Triumph could bring it to market quickly and cheaply. That separate-chassis layout gave the Spitfire two of its best-known party tricks, a famously tight turning circle from the rack-and-pinion steering, and a one-piece front that hinges forward in a single panel for superb access to the engine.

The car was built at Canley in Coventry throughout its life, and aimed squarely at the MG Midget and Austin-Healey Sprite. Against those rivals the Spitfire offered a roomier cockpit and the civility of wind-up windows where the early Midgets still had sidescreens, and it outsold them comfortably.

The five marks

The Spitfire ran through five distinct versions:

• Mk1 (Spitfire 4, 1962–1964): the original, with a 1147cc engine of around 63 bhp.
• Mk2 (1965–1967): a mild power and trim upgrade on the same engine.
• Mk3 (1967–1970): the bigger 1296cc engine and a raised front bumper to meet American headlamp-height rules. The peppiest and best-handling of the early cars.
• Mk4 (1970–1974): a Michelotti restyle with a cut-off “Kamm” tail matching the GT6, and the important chassis change described below.
• 1500 (1974–1980): the largest 1493cc engine, the best torque and a genuine 100 mph top speed, though the bigger unit has a slightly weaker bottom end.

Across all five, around 314,000 Spitfires were built, making it by a wide margin the best-selling sporting Triumph.

The swing-axle handling, and the fix

The Spitfire’s one real dynamic flaw was inherited from the Herald. The early cars used a transverse-leaf swing-axle rear suspension, and under hard cornering or a sudden lift off the throttle the rear wheels could tuck under and change camber abruptly, producing snap oversteer. It was manageable once you knew about it, but it earned the early cars a reputation. Triumph fixed it properly on the Mk4 of 1970 with a clever “swing-spring” arrangement: the transverse leaf spring was pivoted at its centre, which removed the rear roll stiffness that caused the tuck-under. From the Mk4 onward the Spitfire handles cleanly and predictably, and many owners retro-fit the swing-spring to earlier cars.

What it is like to own

The appeal of a Spitfire is its simplicity. It is light, the engine is a tough, well-understood Standard-Triumph four, the cockpit is snug but usable, and almost everything on the car can be reached and repaired with ordinary tools. It is not fast in modern terms, even the 1500 takes around 13 seconds to 60 mph, but it is a genuine wind-in-the-hair roadster that costs little to run and even less to fix, and it has a charm that more capable cars lack. For many enthusiasts it is the perfect first classic.

Buying guide: what to look for

Rust is the Spitfire’s enemy, and because the body sits on a separate chassis there are two structures to check. On the body, look hard at the sills (which are structural and stiffen the whole car), the floors and boot floor, the front of the bonnet around the lights, the front valance and the rear wheel arches. On the chassis, check the main rails, the outriggers and the rear trailing-arm and radius-arm mounts. Cars built in the late 1970s used poorer-quality steel and rot faster. The worst trap is a home-restored car whose sills were replaced without bracing the shell, leaving a twisted bodyshell, so check that the doors shut cleanly and the gaps are even and the bonnet sits square.

Mechanically the news is good. The main thing to grease and check is the front vertical-link trunnions, which must be oiled regularly or they seize and can snap; replacement kits are cheap. On the 1500, watch for crankshaft thrust-washer wear, felt as fore-and-aft movement in the crank. Otherwise the engines and gearboxes are tough, and parts of every kind are available new, which is a large part of the Spitfire’s appeal.

The cheapest open Triumph, and where it sits

The Spitfire remains genuinely affordable, with the Mk4 and the 1500 the cheapest ways in and the early Mk1 and Mk2 the exception, priced for their rarity and originality; whatever the mark, condition and a sound chassis matter far more than the year. The full record, 487 recorded sales by mark, how the Spitfire compares with the Midget and the Sprite, and what the market has done since its 2020 peak, is on the page covering Triumph Spitfire values.

In the wider story the Spitfire is the people’s sports car, the open Triumph that put the roadster experience within reach below the TR sports cars, and the perennial rival to the MG Midget. Its upmarket six-cylinder sibling, the GT6, took the same platform and added a fastback roof and a straight-six.

Owners’ clubs and parts

The Triumph Sports Six Club is the principal club for the Spitfire and the rest of the small-chassis Triumph family, and runs its own spares operation; Club Triumph is the other long-established choice. Parts supply is excellent: body panels, chassis sections, trim, hoods, the optional factory hardtop’s fittings and mechanical parts are all available new through the marque specialists, which is exactly why the Spitfire is such a practical car to own.