Conceived in the late 50's and early 60's under the codename Bomb, the Triumph Spitfire was designed in Italy by the coachbuilder Michelotti. Hence the mysterious "M" symbol on the bonnet catches (and steering wheels of early cars). Michelotti crafted an elegant, but inexpensive 2-seater sports car body  onto the existing Triumph Herald chassis and Triumph put Bomb into production as the Spitfire in 1962. Vastly underrated in the 70's and into the 80's as a poor-relation to it's TR brothers, the Spitfire has to be of the most pleasing sportscars to look at and can be just as much fun to drive. Consistently outselling it's main rival, the Midget/Sprite during it's 18-year lifespan (except for 1969, when a strike affected production). 

Spitfires even raced at Le Mans, winning their class in 1965, finishing 13th overall. Can you imagine finishing 13th at Le Mans in a Spitfire. These were no ordinary Spitfires, built with lightweight bodies (that was the inspiration for the GT6) and top speeds of in excess of 130 MPH! This is the '65 Sebring line-up. (okay, so No.25 is an E-type).  Most of the works cars' registrations began with ADU... If you have one of these, it is worth a bit. I believe one has been found in France and is being restored. If anyone has any info on this, please let me know. There were also rallying versions of the Spitfire, bought by Stirling Moss for his Rally school and they raced quite successfully. Today they are still raced and anyone interested in trying this kind of sport should get in contact with John Wolfe at his website. Check out also the Sporting Spitfires' page.