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Copyright ©2000-2007
by Eric Kieboom &
Jacob Poortstra
All Rights Reserved
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Front cover of 1970 Mk3 colour sales brochure. It's an almost perfect setting: sunset, happy young couple, Triumph Spitfire Mk3.... but no road in sight. |
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"More fun per £ than anything else on wheels" - similar slogans were used for years by the Triumph marketing department and it's still true today.
The text boasts about the "new wide 4.5J rims" and the "black-for-drama grille and windscreen surround". Trust marketers to come up with such gems. Oh, and don't forget: "the badges are new, neat and attractive". Not quite a worthwhile improvement, but there you go. |
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Now here's a lovely picture: Triumph Spitfire Mk3 in the woods, complete with new wide 4.5J rims, black-for-drama grille and windscreen surround and new, neat and attractive badges, and the happy young couple is off to.... where are they going? Oi!
Youngsters of today, eh? Today? It's 1970! |
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The 1300cc engine isn't really as remarkable as the text wants us to believe. It's an old design, which started out as a humble 800something four-pot and was gradually enlarged, until it became the 1500. And it's not really 'silky smooth', as the blurb wants is to believe. The bit about 'the fantastic 24ft turning circle' is true, though. |
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Oh look, a whole page with just an artsy-fartsy, out of focus, badly composed pic of a Mk3 with a hardtop. How very interesting. |
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The first two incarnations of the Spitfire had build-it-yourself convertible roofs that needed stowing in the boot when not in use. The Mk3 was the first Triumph Spitfire that had a proper folding convertible roof and the marketers made sure it was mentioned in the brochure.
Apparently, 1970 MK3's were the first Spitfires to be equipped with kneepads on the transmission tunnel. And they had an 'adjustable' steering column, which meant it could be extended after some surgery with a spanner. The steering column could also 'collapse on serious impact', but only when it was extended. |
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Yep, definitely nice legs. And doesn't the skimpy little skirt suit her almost as well as the car? Note the absence of integral headrests on Euro-spec Mk3 - I believe US-spec Mk3's already had headrests by 1970. |
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After the heart-racing pictures, we're dropped right into the deadly boring technical specifications. Notable options were the overdrive (Laycock de Normanville type A), heater-demister (still an option in 1970!), tonneau cover, whitewall tyres, sun visors (they are actually missing in all the pictures) and S.P. tyres, which probably denotes a speed rating. |
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