| Issue #10 - 2002 |
In this issue |
| |
| Page 1 |
 |
The lastest rantings from the editor. [more]
|
| |
| 'Flawed Diamonds' |
| |
John Wood on the Triumph Spitfire & GT6. [more]
|
| |
| Jonathan Crossley's GT6 Restoration |
| |
Jonathan sent me the details on his restoration in late 1999...[more]
|
| |
| Josh Hickey's GT6 Restoration |
| |
...and Josh sent me his in early 2000...[more]
|
| |
| Lola |
| |
...and Roger sent me the story on Lola in mid 2000...[more]
|
| |
| Graham Johnson's GT6 |
| |
...and Graham sent me his in early 2001.[more]
|
| |
|
|
- [back to new format] -
|
| Triumph GT6 Ezine |
'Flawed Diamonds' |
|
Author: John Wood
The following is a talk given on behalf of TSOA to the Sporting Car Club of SA on 4 Feb 2000, where 2 Spitfires and 2 GT6s were on display.
TRIUMPH SPITFIRE (1962-1980) AND GT6 (1966- 1973)
"Flawed diamonds"
From the 1950s through to the early 1980s was arguably the heyday of the British sports car- many companies produced a wide range of products which were a breath of fresh air (in more ways than one) after the long war years and shortages that followed for years afterwards. These sports cars were fun, fast, cunningly designed and well-priced, and, importantly, appealed to the cashed-up Americans who could not get enough of them.
Triumph was one such company. Despite several bankruptcies and appallingly bad management, new and popular models were produced. With the assistance of people like Donald Healey (later of Austin-Healey fame) and Giovanni Michelotti, Triumph enjoyed almost 30 years of record sales. Under the surface, however, serious problems were worsening and lead to the inevitable forced mergers and takeovers which, as we all know, reduced the once-proud British carmakers to their present position where only a few specialist makers produce automotive jewels for the rich (Bristol, TVR, Morgan...) while others produce pale imitations of the past under instructions from Detroit or Munich (Jaguar, Rover, MG).
In the late 1950s, Standard-Triumph (as it was then known) was producing cars badged as Standard and others badged as Triumphs. Standards were mainly small family sedans and Triumphs were open sports cars, very much of the hard-riding, uncompromising and masculine mould. In Britain, the name "Standard" was well-respected and taken to mean " setting the (high) standard", but in America standard meant the lowest-possible level. Company management realized this and promptly rebadged their Standards in American as Triumphs, resulting in interesting products like the Triumph TR10, previously known as the Standard 10 sedan. This vandalism of nameplates was bad enough, but worse was to come in the 1980s when a Honda was re-badged as Triumph Acclaim and sold in Britain- similar to what happened recently to MG F.
But, back to the late 1950s: Triumph management wanted a new range of volume-selling cars. As always, there was very little money available, and design work for a new small car was contracted out to the Italian designer, Giovanni Michellotti. Shortages of funds meant that virtually all mechanical components had to come from the existing range of Standard 10s. Michelotti's design called for a new stylish, very Italian-looking small car with a separate chassis. This went against the trend of dowdy-looking cars with unitary construction (like the Standard 10). This new car boasted a super-tight 24-foot turning circle, a huge lift-up bonnet giving excellent access to the engine and front suspension, and independent rear suspension by a transverse leaf spring- more about that later ! In 1959, the Triumph Herald was released and was very successful. Mechanically, the Herald was virtually unchanged from the old Standard 10, which was very similar to the Standard 8 released in 1954. The advertising slogan of the day was "Heralding a New Era "As we now know, early Heralds were "dogs"- unfortunately, those sold here had many faults which were just about all fixed by the time the last Heralds were built in 1971 (well, these things took time to fix!).
The last Heralds were excellent cars for their time. Triumph management saw in the separate chassis of the Herald, an opportunity to build a wider range of models, often to sell at higher prices. There were several variants: 6 cylinder Vitesses, bizarre amphibious Amphicars, Bond sports cars, many kit-cars and Spitfires and GT6s. Here I must say- I'm biased- my preference is for the GT6, with the Spitfire running a close second.
Triumph Spitfire
"Stylish but initially flawed"
The Spitfire was designed by Giovanni Michelotti as a small, basic 2 seater using (in the Triumph manner) mainly existing mechanical components. The latest Herald 1147cc engine was fitted with twin carburettors and gave a reasonable 63 BHP when it was released in 1962. Top speed was over 90mph and 50mph was reached in 12 seconds- fast in 1962 ! Spitfires easily outperformed Austin-Healey Sprites and gave MG-As a real hurry-up! The Spitfire's separate chassis was quite different from the Herald, but the infamous rear suspension was retained. With only 14cwt to drag around , the Spitfire was quite fast for it's day and was what we would now call, "drop-dead gorgeous". Over three years, successive models of Spifires gained more power at the expense of more weight (just like me !) and so the performance did not vary greatly. Around 290, 000 Spitfires were built, with about three-quarters going to America. The Triumph Factory had teams of Spitfires in races and rallies- in the mid-1960s a Spitfire won the Index of Performance at Le Mans. Spitfires appealed to young people and many were raced and modified- some were even fitted with V8 engines !
Triumph GT6
"An underrated gem"
Contrary to popular opinion, the GT6 was not developed from the racing Le Mans Spitfires- this mis-information appears to be started by Triumph's own advertising dept.- probably to cash in on the Spitfire's many competition successes.
The truth is that Michelotti designed the GT6 soon after the Spitfire was approved for production, and Triumph approved the design, believing that a small sports car with a roof, more interior comfort than a Spitfire and, most of all, a much more powerful engine would sell extremely well, especially in America.
The GT6 Mark 1 of 1966 was fitted with the 6cylinder, 2 litre engine slightly modified from the Triumph 2000 sedan, giving 95BHP and a top speed of 107MPH, with O-60MPH in 11 seconds. Weight was only 17 cwt, so the power weight ratio was very good for 1967. These cars had good performance, but were marred by the "el cheapo" swing-axle rear suspension which allowed sudden transition to violent oversteer . Even the factory was worried by this fault.
In 1968, the GT6 Mark 2 was released, with an improved rear suspension featuring Rotoflex (rubber do-nuts) and the engine had 9 more horses and the body had slightly restyled nose, tail and dashboard. Now the GT6 handled well and went even faster- many were raced and rallied on both sides of the Atlantic. In America, the Mark 2 was badged as GT6-plus.
The last model of the GT6 was the Mark 3, released in 1970. The Mark 3 Triumph GT6 looks more like a Triumph Stag. It has a "chopped-off" rear with large tailights and the bonnet was flattened out. The roof line was altered, a higher windscreen was fitted and the door handles and petrol cap were streamlined to produce a sleeker look. Inside, the dashboard was changed again and looked more modern, but unfortunately US emission requirements strangled the power to only 98BHP, resulting in performance more like the GT6 Mark1. The last of the Mark 3 models were fitted with an ingenious "swing-spring" rear suspension which was cheaper than the do-nut system but still fixed the handling problems.
By 1970, Standard-Triumph had merged several times into British Leyland which was producing a wide range of sports cars. There were:-
Triumph Spitfire,
Triumph GT6,
Triumph TR6,
Austin-Healey Sprite/ MG Midget,
And MG B.
Also, there were several more sports cars under development:-
Triumph Stag,
Triumph Dolomite Sprint,
Triumph TR7 and TR8,
And MG C
Worries about likely US laws on safety and emissions forced British Leyland to prune their model range and so, the last Spitfire was produced in 1972 and the last GT6 in 1973. In total, 41,000 GT6s were built.
|
 
Next Issue - Whatever I can lay my hands on...
|
|
|
