Triumph Spitfire #50 – Spark

1964 Triumph Spitfire 
Pilots: D. Hobbs, R. Slotemaker
Team: Standard Triumph
Race: 21st overall (8th in P class) at Le Mans in 1964
Spark - S1410 (resin)

Published 07/12/17

Triumph introduced the sporty Spitfire in 1962, designed by Italian designer Giovanni Michelotti. The car was largely based upon the Triumph Herald saloon, but with a shortened chassis to improve handling and make the car more responsive. The engine was a Triumph in-house built 1147 cm³ inline-4 with 2 valves per cylinder and fed by twin SU carburetors. The Mark I (also known as Spitfire 4) wasn’t exactly an easy car to drive, being known for violent over-steer if pushed too hard, but at the time was considered a “comfortable” sports car.

Spitfire
That’s what makes Sparks such nice models – look at the plethora of small details. And best of all, everything is a separate part!

The Mark I version was produced from 1962 to 1964, being a relatively popular car. For the 24 Heures du Mans of 1964, Triumph had a factory team, with two Spitfires in the race. Car #49 had to abandon, but this #50 (chassis #X985) managed 21st place overall. Another oddball for my garage, this time from Spark, with the habitual very good level of craftsmanship.

Spitfire
Despite the huge difference in color, both are in “British Racing Green” – yes, BRG is passive of interpretation by the manufacturer.

And this Spitfire, along with the Nash-Healey Sport Coupé, is specially important to me. That’s because both were a birthday gift from my dearest wife. Yep, my wife ROCKS 🥰.

PS: The Nash-Healey looks really weird with bubble cockpit, doesn’t it? At first glance it looks out of scale. But it’s not, the car really has some (very?) weird proportions.

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