 the triumph spitfire is a small english 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 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, in coventry. as was typical for cars of this era, the bodywork was fitted onto a separate structural chassis, but for the spitfire, which was designed as an open top or convertible sports car from the outset, the x-frame 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. factory-manufactured hard-tops were also available. ==models== five spitfire models were sold during the production run: {| class="wikitable" style="margin: 1em auto 1em auto" |- ! style="background:#efefef; width:220px"| model name ! style="background:#efefef; width:150px" | engine ! style="background:#efefef; width:150px" | year ! style="background:#efefef; width:150px" | number built |- |triumph spitfire 4 (mark 1) |1147&nbsp;cc inline 4 |oct 1962 â dec 1964 |45,753 |- |triumph spitfire 4 mark 2 |1147&nbsp;cc inline 4 |dec 1964 â jan 1967 |37,409 |- |triumph spitfire mark 3 |1296&nbsp;cc inline 4 |jan 1967â dec 1970 |65,320 |- |triumph spitfire mark iv |1296&nbsp;cc inline 4 |nov 1970 â dec 1974 |70,021{{sfn
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