1977 TRIUMPH SPITFIRE 1500

BIG HEMI PROJECT: FULL RESTORATION

The Triumph Spitfire is a small English two-seat sports car, introduced at the London Motor Show in 1962.[2] The vehicle was based on a design produced for Standard-Triumph in 1957 by Italian designer Giovanni Michelotti. The platform for the car was largely based upon the chassis, engine, and running gear of the Triumph Herald saloon, and was manufactured at the Standard-Triumph works at Canley, Coventry. As was typical for the manufacture of cars in this era, the bodywork was fitted onto a separate structural chassis, but for the Spitfire, being designed as an open top or convertible sports car from the outset, the ladder chassis was reinforced for additional rigidity by the use of structural components within the bodywork. The Spitfire was provided with a manual hood for weather protection, the design improving to a folding hood for later models. In addition factory manufactured hard-tops could also be purchased and fitted for use in winter months.
In 1973 in the United States and Canada, and 1975 in the rest of the world, the 1500 engine was used to make the Spitfire 1500. Although in this final incarnation the engine was rather rougher and more prone to failure than the earlier units, torque was greatly increased by increasing the cylinder stroke to 87.5 mm (3.44 in), which made it much more drivable in traffic.[1] The reason for the engine problems was the continued use of three main bearings for the crankshaft.[citation needed]
While the rest of the world saw 1500s with the compression ratio reduced to 8.0:1, the American market model was fitted with a single Zenith-Stromberg carburettor and a compression ratio reduced to 7.5:1 to allow it to run on lower octane unleaded fuel,[1] and after adding a catalytic converter and exhaust gas recirculating system, the engine only delivered 53 bhp (40 kW) with a fast 0–60 time of 14.3 seconds.[4] The notable exception to this was the 1976 onwards model year, where the compression ratio was raised to 9:1.