LEFT Midget 1500 is surprisingly fun to drive on track. RIGHT Spitfire 1500 is still an elegant beast today.
BELOW Simple interior treatment is part of the Spit’s appeal. BELOW Rugged four-pot has its origins in the Standard Eight.
‘The Spitfire’s tail squats encouragingly as power is applied’ MEET THE OWNER Chris and Jane Smart: ‘It came to us about a year ago. We’d had a 1500 before we were married, then the children arrived. We didn’t really want a green one, but the last owners had cherished it and it hadn’t been restored.’
all production Midgets. But while it might have strayed from the original concept it’s still good open-air fun, with a low, racy driving position and an aura of carefree escapism. The Midget wouldn’t see which way a Golf GTI went but, 40 years on, why should it even look?
Triumph Spitfire 1500 From bright red to bright green: BL had some cheerful colours in the Seventies. This 1978 Spitfire has much the same engine as the Midget and similar amounts of mechanical thrash, not drowned by a rorty, sporty exhaust because tailpipe notes were being reigned in during the Seventies. The separate-chassis Spit also reminds us of a key difference from the Midget: the MG’s structure feels stiff and all of a piece, the Spitfire
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is a bit shaky. Despite that, it handles neatly on Rockingham’s bends, its tail squatting encouragingly as the power is applied out of a corner, its steering precise and progressive. There’s no Midget-like precariousness here, nor any of the unwelcome swing-axle antics of earlier Spitfires. The independent rear suspension might still be simple, but by the Seventies it was working well. Another Spitfire advantage is that it’s a surprisingly relaxed cruiser, thanks to the overdrive controlled by a switch on top of the comically long gear lever. Like the MG it has evolved beyond being a proper sports car and into a gentler plaything, but unlike the MG the Spitfire has kept its aesthetic dignity intact with normal, slim bumpers at either end of a body still crisp and pretty as the Seventies drew to a close. There’s a surprising amount of space inside, too, and this unrestored example on its steel wheels is really rather charming. ¾ PRACTICAL CLASSICS // FEBRUARY 2018 45