TriumphSpitfire

Triumph Spitfire ADU 7B

A works rally car of 1964 that went to France in 1966 and was re-registered there as 166RF62. The car that later took the number was built from leftover works parts, and has gone to Japan.

About the pictureA Spitfire 4 Mk II of the works team's era, not ADU 7B.

A white Spitfire 4 Mk II sliding across loose gravel, throwing up a cloud of dust.
Stand-in A white Spitfire 4 Mk II sliding on loose gravel, in a photograph published in 2006: a car of the works team's era, not one of its rally cars.jimmyroq, CC BY-SA 2.0

In 1966 Fred Nicklin, a Triumph test driver, delivered one of the works rally Spitfires to France, where it was officially re-registered as 166RF62. It had been ADU 7B. No source read follows it further or says whether it survives, and the registration it left behind went to another car.⁠1​2

On the works team

Sources for ADU 7B

Canley Classics, "Spitfire ADU 7B Rally"⁠1; Chic Doig and John Kipping, "Survivors, replicas, fakes, and other funny business", Canley Classics⁠2

A pale blue Spitfire 4 with a hardtop, four extra lamps and door numbers, parked under a shelter.
A Spitfire 4 prepared for historic rallying, pale blue with a hardtop and extra lamps in its bonnet, at the Classic Motor Days in Hohenlockstedt, Germany, in June 2013: a car in the works team's manner, not ADU 7B.Nightflyer, CC BY 3.0

ADU 7B was one of the rally cars that Triumph's competition department prepared in 1964: a steel production Spitfire on an FC commission number, FC22991, with the engine number FC23200 as built (later FC32752). Like the rest of the team it was powder blue, with aluminium panels, a long nose and a four-headlamp aluminium bonnet (hood).

Canley Classics has photographs of it on the 1964 Alpine Rally in June and the 1964 Tour de France in September, but no source read says who drove it. On the Alpine, Motor Sport reported, Jean-Jacques Thuner retired after a collision with a car that was not in the rally, Roy Fidler retired with a burnt piston, and Terry Hunter finished 7th in the GT category.

A blog credits ADU 7B with two of the team's best results of 1964: the win in the GT class for cars up to 1,300 cc on the Tour de France, for Rob Slotemaker and Hunter as No. 131, 15th overall; and 2nd overall on the Geneva Rally, for Hunter. racingsportscars and Motor Sport confirm the results, but no source read ties them to this car. The racing page has the events.⁠1​3​2​4​5​6​7​8

The other ADU 7B

The registration stayed in Britain, on a car with a history of its own:

Known universally as the Fred Nicklin 'Bitza'. Fred built this car himself from genuine 'works' components left over in the factory when the factory team was wound up in the late 60's.

Canley Classics, on survivors and replicas

It took the spare ADU 7B identity after the real car went to France, and was seen at a Triumph show in Britain in the 1980s. It was later sold through a classic-car dealer to a private owner in Japan, together with an F4 Vixen single-seater fitted with a 70X Le Mans Spitfire engine, and it has been seen at events there.

Two cars have answered to ADU 7B: the works car, whose trail in the sources ends at a French registration in 1966, and Nicklin's, built from what the team left behind and now in Japan.⁠2​1​6​3​9

Where it has been

  1. 1964

    Photographed on the 1964 Alpine Rally

    June 1964. One of the 1964 works rally cars: a steel production Spitfire on an FC commission number, prepared by the competition department in powder blue with aluminium panels and the long nose, given a glass-fibre fastback hardtop in 1965 like most of the team. Its crew on the event is not recorded

    Canley Classics, "Spitfire ADU 7B Rally"⁠1

  2. 1964

    Photographed on the 1964 Tour de France Automobile

    September 1964. A blog credits it with the win in the GT class for cars up to 1,300 cc (No. 131) and with 2nd overall on the 1964 Geneva Rally; no source read ties those results to this car

    Canley Classics, "Spitfire ADU 7B Rally"⁠1; psychoontyres.co.uk, "White Yellow Red – Triumph Spitfire #ADU1B" (22 Jun 2014); "'64 TdF Class Winner – Triumph Spitfire" (21 Mar 2015), 2014⁠6

  3. 1966

    Re-registered in France as 166RF62

    Delivered by Triumph test driver Fred Nicklin. Its later history in France is not documented. The ADU 7B registration passed to a car Nicklin built from works parts left when the team was wound up, which has since gone to Japan

    Canley Classics, "Spitfire ADU 7B Rally"⁠1; Chic Doig and John Kipping, "Survivors, replicas, fakes, and other funny business", Canley Classics⁠2

Sources

Sources are given as plain text; their addresses are on the sources page.

  • Primarymade at the time, by the maker or by people who were there
  • Referenceserious later work: clubs, specialists, magazines, books
  • Databaseresults and listings, entry by entry
  • Uncheckedencyclopaedias and enthusiast sites: cited beside a good source, named in the sentence, or marked Unchecked
  1. Canley Classics, "Spitfire ADU 7B Rally", para. 2; para. 1; photo captions. Reference
  2. Chic Doig and John Kipping, "Survivors, replicas, fakes, and other funny business", Canley Classics, four-headlamp bonnets. Reference
  3. Canley Classics, "Spitfire ADU 5B Rally", paras 1–2; para. 4. Reference
  4. Graham Robson, "One Design, Many Derivatives", Moss Motoring, 26 Oct 2022. Reference
  5. Motor Sport, "A Touch of the Midnight Sun" (1964 Alpine Rally), Aug 1964, p. 62. Primary
  6. psychoontyres.co.uk, "White Yellow Red – Triumph Spitfire #ADU1B" (22 Jun 2014); "'64 TdF Class Winner – Triumph Spitfire" (21 Mar 2015), 2014, "'64 TdF Class Winner". Unchecked
  7. racingsportscars.com, Tour de France Automobile 1964, results, results, 15th. Database
  8. John Davenport, "Geneva Rally", Motor Sport, Dec 1964, p. 45. Primary
  9. Canley Classics, "Spitfire ADU 6B Rally". Reference