Harry Webster the engineer behind the TR2, Spitfire, Stag, 2000 and others has died at 89. Link to obit
I know we have a bunch of Spitfire owners here on the board, plus some other LBC* owners. While I have cursed his designs from time to time, I have also admired them. Who else built a car with a 22 foot turning circle?
I think that all of us need to raise a pint to Harry for his design work.
Rest in Peace Harry, you done good.
*Little British Cars for those of you that are not familar with the term.
I’m an MGB guy, but I’ve always liked the Spitfire. I almost bought one, but I ended up getting the Herald instead. The Herald, of course, was the direct ancestor of the Spitfire.
So he wasn’t responsible for the TR-7 debacle!
One thing I like about those old cars (and I’m including Italian and other cars as well) is that they made the most of their tiny engines. Back then people seemed to appreciate handling more than they do now. The Mk.I through Mk.III Spitfires topped out around 90, IIRC. But they were nimble! Sure, people wanted fast cars. But if they couldn’t afford a ‘supercar’, they could have a nimble car that was fun to drive and sipped fuel – and that looked good too. Good on Webster and his team for making the most of the small engines they had available to them!
They don’t make (many) cars like the classic roadsters anymore. But people notice the classic ones when they see them on the road, and ISTM that more and more are being restored. Harry Webster left a good legacy.
All due respect, but these cars 9Spitfire, TR-4. TR-6) were pretty damn primative, even for the 1960’s. They may have been fun do drive-when they were running-but none of them had modern engines or ventilation systems-and those engines; right out of a 1925 Farmall tractor! I don’t mean to be bitter, but these cars were designed by oranutans, and built by chimpanzees-I remember the day the TR-4A gearshift lever came off in my hand!
Actually, I think the tractor in question was the Massey Ferguson – and the tractor’s engine was originally designed for a sedan; but I don’t have my references handy. Anyway I think it’s a little unfair to call the engines ‘primitive’. By today’s standards, they were. Perhaps they weren’t exactly innovative in the late-'50s or early-'60s, but I think there was a different philosophy regarding engines and such things between British carmakers and American ones. In America they seemed not to be able to leave engines alone (a little exaggeration). but in England, look how many cars the A-series and B-series engines wound up in. No surprise Triumph-Standard would take a tractor engine (or a car cum tractor engine) and stick it in a roadster.
What do you mean ‘no ventillation’? There was an enormous vent just above the seats!
Now, I’ve only had one Triumph; and I didn’t buy it new. But I’ve heard a lot of people who would know, say that Triumphs were not well-made. I’ve heard that the TR-6 had especially shoddy workmanship. But a Triumph person will need to speak to that. The designs, however, were brilliant. Here’s an engineer and his team, having to pick parts off the shelf and with design money grudgingly handed out, creating cars with a 25-foot turning radius that handled like a cat and had great performance for its displacement.
Owner of a Spitfire and a MGB-GT, since sold as I’m back in school. One can curse the cars in one breath and bless them in the next, and both sentiments will be true. I think that they will always be inhabitants of the 50’s and 60’s, and to enjoy them now is to revel in their age, not count their shortcomings compared to modern designs. To each his own - it’s like trying to argue blond vs. brunette.
I just remember all of the bad things; like the 1920-design bendix stsrter drive, which froze up on cold evenings…thankfully, you could get underneath with a spanner wrench and free the damn things. Or the ancient SU carburators 9a 1918 design0-which also acted up in the cold. or the anemic heater 9luckily, the TR6 had a light on the dash-so’s you would know the heater was on-otherwise, you wouldn’t know the heater was on. or the dorr hands-which would conveniently break off. maybee i’m being unkind-these cars were designed by gorillas, and built by chimpanzees. oh-and the lovely LUCAS (Prince of Darkness) electrics- you knew it was Lucas, when your wipers started slowing down in a rainstorm! yeak, remeber the good times-they were far and few!
