Styled for Standard-Triumph in 1957 by Italian designer Giovanni Michelotti, the Spitfire was introduced at the London Motor Show in 1962.

The design used body-on-frame construction, augmented by structural components within the bodywork and rear trailing arms attached to the body rather than the chassis.

A manually deployable convertible top, substantially improved on later models, provided weather protection and a bespoke hard-top was available as a factory option.

Where the Austin A30 used unitary construction, the Herald used a separate backbone chassis — which Triumph was able to downsize, saving the cost of developing a completely new chassis-body unit.

Giovanni Michelotti, who had designed the Herald, styled the bodywork, which featured wind-down windows (in contrast to the Sprite and Midget, which used side curtains) and a cowl composed of the bonnet and wings that opened forward for engine access.

The Spitfire's introduction was delayed by its company's financial troubles in the early 1960's and was subsequently announced shortly after Standard Triumph was taken over by Leyland Motors.

While taking stock of their new acquisition, Leyland officials found Michelotti's prototype under a dust sheet in a factory corner, and quickly approved it for production.

[8] The production design changed little from the prototype: the full-width rear bumper was replaced by two part-bumpers curving around each corner, with overriders.

The Herald's rack and pinion steering and coil-and-wishbone front suspension carried over, having derived from systems used by the former Alford & Alder company that had been acquired by Standard-Triumph in 1959.

The Spitfire was an inexpensive small sports car and as such received rather basic trim by today's standards, including rubber mats and a large plastic steering wheel.

It was nonetheless considered fairly comfortable at the time, as it had wind-down windows and exterior door locks, as well as relatively full instrumentation.

[citation needed] Options included wire wheels, factory hard top and a Laycock de Normanville overdrive.

[1] On 8 February 1968, Standard-Triumph general manager George Turnbull drove the 100,000th Triumph Spitfire off the Canley production line.

Cosmetically, the wood dash was replaced with a matte black finished assembly intended to imitate an aircraft cockpit.

Full wheel covers of two styles were used including the 1969 introduced model with "SPITFIRE" circumscribing the hub and a unique derivative without the branding.

(The less powerful North American version continued to use a single Zenith Stromberg carburettor and an 8.5:1 compression ratio) due to the German DIN system; the output was the same for the early Mark IV.

Performance was slower than the Mark III due to its weight increase and taller 3.89:1 final drive as opposed to the earlier 4.11:1.

[1] With the addition of a catalytic converter and exhaust gas recirculating system, the engine only delivered 53 bhp (40 kW) (DIN) with a slower 0–60 mph time of 16.3 seconds.

Further improvements to the suspension followed with the 1500 included longer swing axles and a lowered spring mounting point for more negative camber and a wider rear track.

Detail improvements continued to be made throughout the 1500's production run, including reclining seats with "chequered brushed nylon centre panels" and head restraints, introduced for domestic market cars early in 1977 along with a new set of column stalk operated minor controls (as fitted already in the TR7) replacing the old dashboard mounted knobs and switches.

[15] Also added for the model's final years were a wood dash, hazard flashers and an electric screen washer, in place of the previous manual pump operated ones.

[15] Options such as the hard top, tonneau cover, map light and overdrive continued to be popular, but wire wheels ceased to be available.