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Identifying the First-Gen Ford MustangTriumph Spitfire vs. Fiat 1200
It’s England and Italy in this classic comparison of the Mark I Triumph Spitfire vs. Fiat 1200 Cabriolet. Which of these two all-time roadster greats will win?
Golden Age of Sports Cars
It was something of a European sports car Golden Age in the 1950s and 1960s. All manner of small, spritely roadsters were available from automakers like Porsche, Austin Healey, Lotus, and Jaguar. But in this England against Italy classic comparison, we’re going to zero in on a Triumph Spitfire vs. Fiat 1200 matchup to determine which fun little sports car is best.
After World War II, European car manufacturers realized the financial opportunity awaiting them in America where a postwar economic boom created strong demand for cars of all types. In Southern California in particular, the year-round warm weather was the perfect place to sell open-top sports cars. In the interest of doing so without breaking the bank, it became something of a theme to retrofit an existing sedan with slinkier sheet metal and a more robust powertrain.
Jaguar was an early adopter of this approach when it stuffed a 6-cylinder engine in the XK120 that was based on the Mark V sedan. As Italy’s main car manufacturer, Fiat was no stranger to this idea of spinning off multiple vehicles from a single platform. One such example was the 1957 Fiat 1200 which included a Spider, or convertible, variant. Based on the Fiat 1100, the Spider would become the 1200 Cabriolet in 1959 with new styling penned by legendary Italian design house Pininfarina.
La Dolce Vita
Produced between 1959 and 1963, the Fiat 1200 Cabriolet featured unibody construction and simple, elegant lines that bore a striking resemblance to the Peugeot 404 – which also happened to be designed by Pininfarina. Power came from a 1,221-cc overhead valve inline-4 with a 2-barrel Weber carburetor. Output was rated at 55 horsepower and 60 lb-ft of torque, which was routed to the rear wheels via a 4-speed manual transmission.
Those figures sound puny today, but considering these Fiats weighed in at just about 2,050 pounds, it was enough. Period ads claim a 90-mph top speed, which would feel awfully fast in a car this small – just 159 inches long and 60 inches wide – and close to the ground. Fortunately, the suspension was up to the task with wishbones and coil springs up front paired with a leaf-sprung solid axle out back.
Due to its similarity with the Fiat 1100, the mechanicals of these 1200 Cabriolets – manifolds, oil pans, valve covers, etc. – can be interchanged. Only around 15,000 of the Cabriolets were built, so for those on the hunt for vintage parts, this platform-sharing may ease the burden. That low production figure means these old Fiats are rare today, but they’re worth looking at to see what the “dolce vita” is all about.
A Tiny Spitfire
Of course, the British option in this Triumph Spitfire vs. Fiat 1200 classic comparison is no slouch. Produced for 18 years across 5 generations, all Spitfires have their charms, but we’re going to focus on the first generation, or Mark I, models built from 1962 to 1964. As with Fiat and so many others at the time, Triumph looked at its main sedan platform, the Herald, and decided to modify it for sports car duty.
During the prototype phase of the project, this new car was called “The Bomb.” For a whole host of reasons, it’s fortunate that the nameplate was ultimately axed in favor of Spitfire. As in the famed Supermarine Spitfire World War II fighter plane that actually spit fire from its giant supercharged Rolls-Royce V12 and battery of machine guns. Granted, the Triumph version would come with one-third the cylinder count and flames limited to the occasional backfire, but there’s no denying it’s a memorable name.
Designed with the Austin-Healey Sprite in mind as its main competition, the Spitfire was a 2-door roadster with a manually-operated fabric top just like the Fiat 1200 Cabriolet. Also like the Fiat, this Triumph sported an inline-4 cylinder engine and a 4-speed manual transmission powering the rear wheels. It was a slightly smaller displacement unit at 1,147-cc, but was a bit more powerful with 63 hp and 67 torques on tap.
And though the Fiat is small, these early Triumph Spitfires are positively tiny, measuring 14 inches shorter. Given its sporting intentions, this helped keep the curb weight to less than 1,600 pounds or more than 400 pounds under the Fiat 1200 Cabriolet. There’s nothing better than low weight when it comes to racing as the Triumph Spitfire displayed so successfully.
Sporting Intentions
Highlights include SCCA National Championship wins, a class win at the 1964 Tour de France Rally, a second-place overall position at the 1964 Geneva Rally, and a class win at the 1965 Alpine Rally. This rally-racing legacy gives the Spitfire a leg up over the Fiat 1200 whether you race or not as it’s just plain cool history.
Unlike the Fiat 1200, the Triumph Spitfire was a body-on-frame vehicle and featured a swing-axle rear suspension that was infamous – especially with the Chevy Corvair – for causing big and unexpected camber changes under hard cornering that often led to overwhelming oversteer. But the Spitfire also had disc brakes up front versus 4-corner drums on the Fiat, which were superior when it came to performance.
On that note, Triumph dealers had a deep catalog of high-performance bits for the Spitfire including heavier-breathing carburetors, high-compression cylinder heads, high-lift camshafts, and beefier engine internals. All of which served to reinforce the sport aspect of its sports car mantra.
Neither car in this Triumph Spitfire vs. Fiat 1200 matchup would be considered fancy by today’s standards as amenities were limited to wind-up windows, maybe some rubber floor mats, and basic gauges. But that wasn’t the point of these precursors to the long-running Mazda Miata. The point was simple, low-cost fun behind the wheel, which both cars excelled at.
Only One Can Win
Which one did it best? We have to give the nod to the Triumph Spitfire Mark I. Like the Fiat 1200 Cabriolet, it boasted Italian design – courtesy of Giovanni Michelotti – with clean, elegant lines and a just-right combination of power and tossable low weight.
Though the Spitfire was produced in larger numbers than the Fiat 1200, it’s not necessarily easier to find one today and in both cases, these 60-ish-year-old cars will require a careful process when it’s time to take one out of storage. But the Triumph Spitfire arguably offers more fun behind the wheel once that process is complete, which helps it earn the win in this classic comparison.
