Triumph Spitfire Vehicle InformationProduction DataWhen the very first Spitfire was produced in October 1962 it was called (and badged) the 'Spitfire 4'. In December 1964 it was superseded by the 'Spitfire 4 Mk2'.In January 1967 a new model, the Mk3 was announced. The Mk3 was produced until Nov/Dec 1970 when it was eventually replaced by the MkIV, which in turn was replaced by the 'Spitfire 1500' in November 1974.All Spitfire models were produced at the factory in Canley.To minimise any possible confusion between the 'Spitfire 4', 'Spitfire 4 Mk2' and the MkIV, and to help ensure you order/receive the correct parts, we have used the following model identification system throughout.
1967 BSA Spitfire Mark IIIClaimed power: 55hp @ 6,800rpmTop speed: 117mph (period test)Engine: 654cc air-cooled OHV parallel twin, 75mm x 74mm bore and stroke, 10.0:1 compression ratioWeight (dry): 382lb (174kg)Fuel capacity/MPG: 2gal (7.5ltr)/40-60mpgPrice then/now: $1,466/$4,000-$13,000In the 1960s, BSA was known for flashy bikes with brightcolors and lots of chrome. But there was more to the English import than justshine. Under all that makeup was a reliable motorcycle that handled well, ranfast and stopped when asked.Birmingham Small Arms Company’s first motorcycles in 1903were single-cylinder machines, with a line of V-twins following in the 1920s.The first, the A7 designed by Val Page, Herbert Perkins andDavid Munro in 1939, was put on hiatus when World War II started and finallyappeared in 1946.BSA weathered the war well, and by the 1950s it had thelargest range of any motorcycle manufacturer in the world.
Most of the bikesBSA sold were the smaller, single-cylinder commuter cycles heavily in demand byBritish workers. And while the company had a firm policy against factory roadrace involvement, BSA built single-cylinder Gold Stars for clubman racers in England and flat track competition in the United States. BSA’s better twinBy this time, BSA’s parallel twin had morphed into twoversions, the 497cc A7 and the 646cc A10.
In order to raise money to pay itswar debt, the British government pushed English companies to export. As aresult, a lot of BSA twins were sent to the United States, where the market forsport motorcycles was booming. Indian motorcycle distributor Hap Alzina wasimporting BSAs to the West Coast while Rich Child, the former head of Harley-Davidson’sJapanese subsidiary, was in charge of distribution east of the Mississippi.
Thereliability and economy that drew British consumers did not draw U.S. Riders,who were more interested in speed. American motorcyclists generally had littleuse for BSA’s lightweights, but were enthusiastic about BSA twins. An obvious way to prove performance is on the race track.BSA didn’t like to sanction racing, but the company had little choice if itwanted to sell bikes in the UnitedStates. American racers found that BSA twinsresponded well to tuning, and with the right setup were competitive in flattrack and offroad events.
In 1954, BSA lent assistance to a team led by AMANational Champion Bobby Hill for that year’s Daytona beach race, and the BSA WreckingCrew, as it became known, swept the first five places. Other National winnerson BSA singles and twins included Jody Nicholas, George Everett and Dick Mann. One of the most consistent BSA flat track stars was AlGunter. He moved to BSA in the early Fifties and racked up seven career wins innational racing events.
His home track was AscotPark in SouthernCalifornia, where he won regularly. Other BSA riding masters at Ascot were Sammy Tanner, Blackie Bruce, Jack O’Brien andNeil Keen. Together, they were known as the Ascot Wrecking Crew.BSA continued to develop its parallel twin, and in January1962 introduced a major revamp of both the A7 and A10 twins. The new engineswere based on a common platform, with the major difference between them beingthe 75mm bore of the A65, which with the 74mm stroke common to both enginesgave 654cc cubic capacity. The smaller A50’s bore of 65.5mm gave 499cc.The A65 engine used vertically split aluminum alloycrankcases with a one-piece crankshaft resting on ball bearings on the driveside and a plain bushing on the timing side. The cylinder was still cast iron,while the head was aluminum alloy.
Valves were operated by pushrods, andlubrication was dry sump.The 4-speed transmission was in unit instead of a separate boxbolted to the engine as on the A10, and an alternator handled the 6-voltelectrics. Two sets of points were mounted on a single plate with an automaticadvance mechanism.The frame was similar in design to the one used on the lastA10s, a dual downtube cradle with a single backbone tube under the seat.Telescopic forks in the front and Girling shocks in the rear absorbed thebumps, and the single-leading-shoe brakes were 8 inches diameter in front and 7inches in the rear. Going fasterIn 1964 BSA started hot rodding the A65. The Rocket A65R hadthe compression upped to 9.0:1 from the standard 7.5:1, with a hotter cam andsiamesed exhaust pipes. British riders still wanted easy maintenance and fueleconomy, but American riders wanted higher bars, smaller tanks and morehorsepower, so the American importers convinced BSA to build four specialU.S.-only models.The result was the 499cc offroad competition Cyclone with nolights and open pipes, and the 654cc Thunderbolt with high bars, a small tank andthe hot engine.
A twin-carb version of the Thunderbolt was named the Lightning.The last of the four U.S.-only models was the 654cc BSASpitfire Hornet. Like the Cyclone, it was produced in response to Americandemand for a hot offroad/desert racer. Equipped with the twin-carb head fed bya pair of 1-1/8-inch Amal Monobloc carburetors and available with either 9:1 or10.5:1 compression, it had a 2-gallon fiberglass gas tank, a high performancecam and straight-through pipes. In line with BSA’s East/West Coast distributorships wereseparate East Coast and West Coast models. The East Coast version had highpipes and the West Coast model had low pipes. If riders wanted to hit thestreet, BSA’s ET (energy transfer) ignition system could be easily adapted toadd lights.By this time, BSA was experiencing cracks in the corporatewall. Better wages for English workers meant many of BSA’s get-to-workcustomers were buying inexpensive automobiles coming on the market, andJapanese motorcycles were being imported to Englandand Americain record numbers.Making matters worse, the British manufacturers weren’treinvesting their profits into developing their products.
In the 1960s, BSA wasbuilding motorcycles on machine tooling from before World War II. The Japanesemanufacturers, however, were making major investments in tooling and design,enabling them to offer oil-tight cases, overhead cams and electric starting atprices competitive to the much more primitive English machinery.
Certainly theBrit bikes handled better, but that was a priority for a minority.BSA management, who had continued to believe that itscustomers were forever loyal, was discovering that the get-to-work rider whodidn’t buy a car was likely to buy a Honda over a BSA. New bikesThe company tried to cope by fielding state of the artadvertising campaigns and building stylish motorcycles targeted to the sportrider. For 1965, BSA dropped the single carburetor A65R for the Americanmarket. There were now 11 versions of the twin, but the 499cc versions had tocompete against the new Honda CB450, which had double overhead camshafts,constant velocity carburetors, an electric start and twin-leading-shoe frontbrake.For 1966 there were only six versions of the twin, two 499ccmodels and four 654cc. To counter problems with the drive-side ball mainbearing, it was changed to a lipped roller race. This turned out to be a badmove, as at high speeds the crankshaft could pull to one side and occasionallycut off the oil supply, resulting in a rod through the cases. Although BSAnever acknowledged the problem, ingenious privateer mechanics developed a morereliable bearing.The intake valves were enlarged, the transmission wasimproved, a timing notch was added to the flywheel and a balance pipe was addedto twin carb models.
The frame was revised, and two-way damping was added tothe forks. A 12-volt system replaced the now outmoded 6-volt lights.The BSA Spitfire was introduced, replacing the limitedproduction Lightning Clubman. Amal GP 1-5/32-inch carburetors replacedMonoblocs and the 190mm front brake from the defunct Gold Star was standard.The Hornet (with the Spitfire half of the name dropped) continued in productionas a desert racer. Actor Steve McQueen, a dedicated offroad competitor, testedthe Hornet in 1966 and wrote up the test himself for Popular Science.
Hepraised the BSA’s powerful engine and the excellent air cleaner, but downgradedthe machine for excess weight.“The Hornet also had a tendency to want to go its own way. Ialways had to stay on top of it.
But it sure had a good-functioningpowertrain,” McQueen said. “I also think the front forks should be raked on amore forward angle. With this adjustment, the BSA Spitfire would have a more stable ridein the rough and would be generally a smoother performer,” he continued.Cycle World tested a Mark II Spitfire on thedragstrip and notched quarter mile results of 14.9 seconds, with a terminalvelocity of 89mph. Unfortunately, the once-excellent BSA quality control wasbecoming spotty, and a run of defective ignition points cams resulted inoverheating and bad performance.The problem was corrected the next year with the SpitfireMark III. New for 1967 was a new rocker box cover with fins and an inspectionhole (with cover) for checking ignition timing with a strobe.
Compression wasreduced a little to 10:1 from 10.5:1, and the GP Amals were swapped for easierto tune (and cheaper) 932 Amal Concentrics. The dual seat grew a hump in therear, and the tires were mounted on aluminum Borrani rims.The Spitfire was continued for another year (as the Mark IV)before it was dropped to make room for the Rocket 3 triple. BSA managed to keepgoing until 1972, when mismanagement, an aging product line and competitionfrom Japanese motorcycle manufacturers drove the company into bankruptcy. Don’s BSA SpitfireDon Johnson is a little too young to remember the glory daysof BSA flat track racing, but he likes BSA sporting motorcycles. “There’s avisceral quality to Brit bikes as opposed to the industrial quality of Japanesemotorcycles,” he says.Don is a collector who rides his bikes. When he happenedacross this Spitfire, he found it interesting and bought it.
1967 Bsa Spitfire
It was all thereand only “slightly restored,” Don says. “I ripped it apart, examined everythingand put it back together.
It was all original and within spec.”All sorts of things can go wrong during the restoration of a40-year-old motorcycle, but Don lucked out. Pretty majorly, actually, as theissues that arose were limited to three items: sticking carburetor slides, acrumbling wiring harness and a leaky fiberglass gas tank. The popularity of oldBritish motorcycles has given a boost to cottage industries that manufacturemost parts, often with better quality control than the originals, and you canstill buy new Amal carburetors and parts for most Amal models produced sinceWorld War II.A new wiring harness was easy to find, and Don says thatmost of the criticism aimed at Lucas “Prince of Darkness” electrical partsshould actually be directed at the wiring harness.
“Some stuff was not up tothe task, but most Lucas components are reliable if you keep them clean andadjusted,” Don says. “Most parts got no attention until they quit. But Lucasdoes have one advantage — you can fix most things at the side of the road.”The part that was hardest to repair was the gas tank. Oldfiberglass tanks tend to weep and seep. As purchased, the Spitfire had a metalBSA Lightning gas tank bolted on, with the correct fiberglass tank in a box.Don discovered a new-old-stock tank in the shop of an acquaintance, and decidedto buy it and use it instead of the compromised original.Modern gas is hard on old fiberglass tanks, and a partialremedy is to carefully coat the inside with clear epoxy sealer from outfitslike Caswell.
But as experienced users will tell you, coating the inside of atank is an art. Don pours in the compound and waits until it looks like it isstarting to harden, then turns the tank so that the excess epoxy settles wherehe thinks the leak is. Since the filler neck is proud of the tank, gettingexcess epoxy out is very difficult, so Don just turns the tank so the last fewspoonfuls settle at the bottom.Don says that properly tuned and prepped, the Spitfire isn’ttoo hard to kickstart. “It was the hot rod of BSA’s line of twins after theydiscontinued the Rocket Gold Star,” Don says. “It’s as fast as a Triumph ifit’s tuned right, and it stops a lot better than Triumphs of the era.
Nowadays,I just like to putt along and enjoy the scenery. It handles very nicely forwhat I like to do. The lights are adequate, and the suspension is not bad. Ifyou do it up right the Spitfire is reliable.
It sure is eye-catching. It’s sored.” MC. Motorcycle Classics is America's premier magazine for collectors and enthusiasts, dreamers and restorers, newcomers and life long motorheads who love the sound and the beauty of classic bikes. Every issue delivers exciting and evocative articles and photographs of the most brilliant, unusual and popular motorcycles ever made!Save Even More Money with our RALLY-RATE plan!Pay now with a credit card and take advantage of our RALLY-RATE automatic renewal savings plan. You save an additional $5.00 and get 6 issues of Motorcycle Classics for only $29.95 (USA only).Or, Bill Me Later and I'll pay just $34.95 for a one year subscription!