Who Designed the Triumph Spitfire?

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How Michelotti came to Standard-Triumph is told two ways. Harry Webster's obituary in The Daily Telegraph says that Webster "discovered" him in 1957. Graham Robson writes that he was found that year through the entrepreneur Raymond Flower and taken on at Webster's recommendation, with the approval of the managing director, Alick Dick. TRaction, a club magazine, dates his first Triumph work, a TR3 Speciale shown at Geneva, to the same year. That year is sometimes given, wrongly, for the Spitfire's styling; the Spitfire's history explains why.

He styled the Herald of 1959, whose separate chassis made the Spitfire possible, and the TR4. Webster often drove to Turin and back in a weekend to work with him, and the two became close friends. Robson tells of a holiday in 1957, in the Herald's time, when Webster went into the studio while his family waited in the car. His wife, Peggy, remembered how it ended:

When he came down at midnight, nine hours later, we were still in the car, fast asleep

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The Spitfire began as Webster's wish for a "Herald sports car" to take on the Austin-Healey Sprite. TRaction dates the start of the prototype's construction to September 1960, and it was code-named Bomb. Standard-Triumph was running out of money, and the car was stored under a dust sheet until Leyland Motors, the company's new owner, approved it.

Michelotti made the prototype in 1960; two years later Triumph found the funds to produce it.

The car went on sale late in 1962 as the Spitfire 4. No source read links Michelotti to the competition cars that followed: the Le Mans fastbacks were built in Triumph's experimental department at Canley, and a Triumph draughtsman, David Lloyd, drew the special parts of the Macau Spitfire.⁠source 5​source 31​source 30​source 6​source 7​source 32​source 33​source 34​source 35

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1. 1960

   Stylist

   Built the single "Herald sports car" prototype, code-named "Bomb", to Harry Webster's idea; it was stored under a dust sheet during Standard-Triumph's 1960–61 financial crisis and approved after Leyland's takeover

   Graham Robson, "Harry Webster – My Technical Mentor", Moss Motoring (Moss Motors), 12 Jun 2019⁠source 5; Malcolm McKay, "Triumph Spitfire buyer's guide: what to pay and what to look for", Classic & Sports Car, 10 May 2019⁠source 6; Graham Robson, "One Design, Many Derivatives", Moss Motoring, 26 Oct 2022⁠source 7

2. 1970

   Stylist

   "Michelotti's clever MkIV restyle for the '70s" (Classic & Sports Car)

   Malcolm McKay, "Triumph Spitfire buyer's guide: what to pay and what to look for", Classic & Sports Car, 10 May 2019⁠source 6

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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
• Uncheckedencyclopaedias and enthusiast sites: cited beside a good source, named in the sentence, or marked Unchecked

1. British Motor Museum, "Spitfire 1500 (last of line), 1980", accession 1980-1-190, accession 1980-1-190. Primary
2. Canley Classics, "Production Figures", Spitfire 1500 row. Reference
3. Vintage Triumph Register, "Spitfire" (production history, production dates and numbers, buyer's guide tabs), production history. Reference
4. carrozzieri-italiani.com, "Giovanni Michelotti"; "The Partnership Between Michelotti and Triumph", designer page; designer page; the partnership with Triumph. Unchecked
5. Graham Robson, "Harry Webster – My Technical Mentor", Moss Motoring (Moss Motors), 12 Jun 2019, the Herald sports car; John Lloyd; the 1957 holiday; the Herald sports car; the dust sheet; Michelotti and the Herald sports car. Reference
6. Malcolm McKay, "Triumph Spitfire buyer's guide: what to pay and what to look for", Classic & Sports Car, 10 May 2019, Michelotti passage. Reference
7. Graham Robson, "One Design, Many Derivatives", Moss Motoring, 26 Oct 2022. Reference
8. Bill Boddy ("W.B."), "Sports cars under £700: the £641 Triumph Spitfire 4", with data panel "The Triumph Spitfire 4", Motor Sport, Apr 1963. Primary
9. The Daily Telegraph, "Harry Webster" (obituary), 9 Feb 2007. Reference
10. Graham Robson, "Alick Dick: Triumph's Managing Director 1954–1961", Moss Motoring, 18 Jan 2021. Reference
11. Giles Chapman, "Harry Webster" (obituary), The Independent, 17 Feb 2007. Reference
12. Aaron Severson, "Grandfather's Ax: The Many Evolutions of the Triumph TR4, Part 1: TR4 and TR4A", Ate Up With Motor, 22 Oct 2012. Reference
13. G. William Krause, The Illustrated History of Triumph Sports and Racing Cars, CarTech, 2017, pp. 42–55. Reference
14. Dennis May, "Technical Report" on the TR-4 (cover story), Car and Driver, Oct 1961, pp. 19–23. Primary
15. Triumph Sports Owners Association, Triumph Sports Owners Association Newsletter, February 1966, Feb 1966 (vol. 12 no. 2). Primary
16. Revington TR, "ZOOM Prototype" (TR Derivatives and Prototypes). Reference
17. Brian Ridley-Jones ("The Italia") and Mike Napoli ("The F Type Devin") and Steve Dival ("The Swallow Doretti"), Articles (group): "The Italia", "The F Type Devin", "The Swallow Doretti", TR Drivers Club. Reference
18. Frédéric Reydellet (racing history), tr5passion.com (group): "En bref / Summary", "Identification", "Lucas injection", "Options", "Technical spec", "Colours", "TR5 Ginevra", "Racing history", TR5 Passion. Reference
19. carrozzieri-italiani.com, "Triumph TR5 Ginevra" (listing), 7 Nov 2024. Unchecked
20. "Johnny Oversteer", "Almost Famous – Triumph TR5 Ginevra", Moss Motoring, 25 Mar 2015. Reference
21. Bruno Dwinger, "Geschichte, Typenkunde und Kaufberatung: British Leyland Triumph TR 6PI und TR 6 (Vergaser) – Die Karmann Autos", TR-Register Deutschland, c. 2010, 13 pp. (PDF). Reference
22. Revington TR, "Technical Specification Change Points" (TR6). Reference
23. Aaron Severson, "Grandfather's Ax: The Many Evolutions of the Triumph TR4, Part 2: TR5, TR250, and TR6", Ate Up With Motor, 7 Nov 2012. Reference
24. Aaron Severson, "Way of the Wedge: The Triumph TR7 and TR8", Ate Up With Motor, 5 Feb 2012, pp. 1–5. Reference
25. Keith Adams, "Concepts and Prototypes: Triumph Broadside (1979–1981)", AROnline, 2 Feb 2024. Reference
26. Edgardo Michelotti, "Giovanni Michelotti. L'uomo e il designer" (Monografia AISA 134), AISA – Associazione Italiana per la Storia dell'Automobile (Società Editrice Il Cammello, Turin), Turin, 25 Nov 2023; web edition, pp. 3, 6; p. 3. Reference
27. BMW Group Classic (BMW Classic blog), "60 Years of Pure Temptation", 2015. Primary
28. Martin Buckley, "Out for the Count: Michelotti's BMW 507", Classic & Sports Car. Reference
29. Jackie Jouret and Helmut Werb, "507s star at Pebble Beach", Bimmer, No. 119, 25 Oct 2013, p. 9. Reference
30. Fran Madigan (ed.), "Giovanni Michelotti", TRaction (Triumph Sports Owners Association Victoria), Apr–May 2023, pp. 24–26; the TR3 Speciale; p. 26. Reference
31. Lancaster Insurance, "The Triumph Spitfire: a celebration", 29 Dec 2021. Reference
32. Canley Classics, "Spitfire ADU 4B Le Mans", para. 1. Reference
33. Canley Classics, "Spitfire ADU ~B Le Mans". Reference
34. Canley Classics, "Macau Spitfire", the build. Reference
35. Canley Classics, "Macau Spitfire progress" (blog), 19 Jun 2013. Reference
36. Bill Boddy ("W.B."), "Road test: The Triumph Spitfire Mk. IV", Motor Sport, Jan 1971, p. 59. Primary
37. Triumph Sports Six Club, Model pages: Spitfire 4/Mark II (model_ID=24), Mark III (23), Mark IV (25), 1500 (26), Mark IV page. Reference

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