The Triumph Vitesse is a Beautiful, Sonorous, '60s Super Saloon 

Spot on! - The Vitesse WAS perceived as classy car for classy middle class (young) professionals in the '60s and early '70s - the comparison with the BMW M3 is a good one

My very first car back in 1970 was a Vitesse convertible. Wonderful! Swapped it out for a GT6. Lucky boy.

When i was a young child my father had a very early Triumph (Standard Triumph before it became BMC) Herald, it was grey with red leather seats and a walnut dashboard, lovely car

As usual Ed, no fuss, no palava, no hyperbole, just well-researched facts engagingly presented. Lovely little cars, these, and I thoroughly enjoyed your video. Many thanks.

I have a restored mk 1 Vitesse convertible 2 litre. Always draws a crowd whenever she is parked up or on a run even from younger folk which is great. Even though it's a genuine factory convertible with correct door locks, on the odd occasion, the drivers door dies swing open ( usually on a roundabout), to the surprise of other road users.

Excellent Ed. The crazy idea of the Vitesse came from chief engineer Harry Webster who wanted to get from Canley to home in Kenilworth and back swiftly at lunchtime. The prototype he used was too powerful for the gearbox and so 1st was blanked off. The car was nicknamed the Kenilworth Dragster! (From Graham Robson, former works competition manager, historian and prolific author)

A gorgeous car and great presentation. These were around in my childhood along with the rare gt6 and more common herald. A teenage dream car. That styling and the straight 6 sound. Thanks Ed

The Vitesse was a superb design - a sports saloon before such a thing existed. I've got one of the 500 Australian built 12/50s - a Spitfire-engined Herald with a Vitesse bonnet and local luxury touches. Fabulous little thing and such a shame they're not better known. There are fewer than 10 left on the road and mine is the only saloon to my knowledge.

My mother owned a BRG Herald 1200 which I was ferried around in between ages 9 and 12. It was the car in my life when I caught the car bug and so Heralds are a part of me. Amazing to hear you praising them to the skies (well, the sportier version) half a century later. You're praising bits of me.

I have a story about a Triumph Vitesse Mk1 for you. I bought one of the first Ford Fiestas new in 1976, the "S" version with slighter wider wheels and more sporting and lowered suspension. It's handling and roadholding was way better than it's power. One damp morning in 76 or 77 on my way to work along the A127 between Leigh-on-Sea and Romford in Essex I was driving along as always in a nose-to-tail queue of two lane rush hour traffic rolling along at about 50mph, there was nothing to be done but accept the conditions, to settle down, relax and to listen to the radio on my morning commute as the thousands of other drivers ahead and after me were doing. But that morning my peace was shattered by the driver of a Vitesse such as this one. He just couldn't accept the realities of driving on the A127 during the morning rush hour. He was behind me and really annoying me with aggressive headlight flashing and dangerous tailgating, wanting to pass me and presumably to tackle the thousand drivers ahead of me in the same way. Futile. I decided to try to teach him a lesson. I knew that his Vitesse had serious shortcomings in it's rear suspension design and that my Fiesta was far superior in that area. His Vitesse had more power than roadholding. A fairly tight roundabout (damp and drizzly remember) was just ahead and I knew that I could negotiate it far faster than his Vitesse was able to. So I slowed slightly approaching the roundabout to create a gap between me and the car in front. This gave me space to attack the roundabout hard before catching up to the car in front again. Mr Vitesse driver thought he could stay with me, glued to my back bumper... But he couldn't. As I accelerated away from the roundabout and up a slight incline I looked in my rear view mirror to see the Vitesse pirouetting across both traffic lanes with both lanes of cars stopped behind him watching and waiting for the driver to finish spinning and sort himself out and then get out of their way. I didn't see that car again, the driver probably went home to change his underpants...

I worked for Ansteymiles of Maidstone for a while, the Kent distributors for Triumph, and so had the pleasure of driving the cars of the mid-late 60's. My personal favourite being the GT6, with the Vitesse Mk2 coming a close second.

Lovely little car, popular when I was a youngster. The bonnet arrangement is a home mechanics dream, making work on the engine a doddle.

Good video, well presented and knowledgeable, most came with a normal four speed gear box, but a few came with an overdrive on 3rd and 4th, once up to motorway speed you didn’t need the gear-lever, also loved the rat scurrying across the background at 3.15.

Thanks mate...took me back a bit..in NZ our family had every single model, starting with the speckled dark grey metal dash, moving to wood (so flash), and ending with the 13/60 which we had when I got my licence and thought was just the beans. But then my older brother bought two Vitesses - a green one with a cream side stripe, and then a white one, which remains one of my family's best cars of all time. And we LOVE our cars!!

Unfortunately I didn't own a Vitesse. but did own a Spitfire powered Bond Equipe. I installed a webber carb 42DCOE; and wow did it respond !. Simple and fun to work on too !. :)

I had a 2litre Vitesse in ‘67. Surprisingly few people thought they were anything special. Could burn off an MGB up to about 80 mph when aerodynamics would let the B pull ahead. The “interesting” oversteer taught you to get your braking done before you turn in. The engine was a beauty. So much torque made for effortless overtaking but, yes, she was a handful and could bite. The steering and brakes (servo, optional extra) were good. She was a long legged, cross-country car, well able to average between 50 and 60 mph (no open road speed limit) on traffic-free A roads. I went on to a 2.5PI Mark 1. That was a sweet handling car with no obvious vices and even longer legs than the Vitesse, plus being a more spacious and luxurious car with a better ride and quieter, too. Then they ruined it when they brought out the Mk2.

Things could get really scary with those swing axles if my experiences with a Mk3 Spitfire were anything to go by!

Indeed a Lovely little Car from yesteryear . VERY Pretty and a Great performer in their time .

Being born in the mid 60's, seeing this car brings back a lot of memories from my childhood days. I very well remember seeing these on the roads, with those slanted twin headlights making them stand out. It is great seeing these old classics being presented on your channel, and your style of presentation really does these old classics some real justice. Very enjoyable viewing.

The last Vitesse the 2 Litre Mk II had, as noted, fully independent rear suspension with a rubber doughnut universal joint to accommodate both change in length as well as change in angle. The transverse rear leaf spring was bolted at its centre to the top of the differential. Top of the rear wheel bearing hubs were located in the leaf spring eyes. Bottoms were located by lower swing arms curved downwards to clear the doughnuts. Front to back location was by link arms going forward to the rear chassis outrigger members. This design eliminated the tuck under of the half shafts under heavy cornering which occurred with the previous swing axle design of both Herald and earlier Vitesses. With the rubber doughnuts care was needed with the the clutch in enthusiastic take offs in first gear, or else you would reach 30mph in three bounds before changing into second. Fitment of the Laycock de Normanville overdrive to the Mk II was pretty well mandatory otherwise it was possible to over rev. it in top. Bigger valves were fitted to the Mk II's and I am pretty sure the exhaust valves were made from Nimonic 80 to be able to handle the additional heat. The engine was developed around the twin Stromberg carburettors and one could sit on the driver's side wheel while adjusting the balance of the carbs. using a length of rubber tubing to one ear, listening to each carb. in turn. Fastest I got out of my Mk II was 115 mph down a long hill in overdrive top. Being mistaken for the sedate Heralds meant Vitesses didn't attract excessive attention - so long as they weren't signal red.

I always loved the Triumph Vitesse. Especially the soft top version.

Ed that was another wonderful episode, featuring one of the most beautiful and amazing saloons of the sixties. I was still at junior school when these first came out but got to ride in one of my big sister’s friend’s convertible Herald one day! It’s these experiences that got me hooked as a devoted petrol head and if you could have seen all of my school exercise books, every one of them had performance cars sketched all over them 😊- I’m 68 now but I’m still the same! Bless you lad.

I owned a Mk2, with the improved rear suspension. It was a wonderful car, with a beautiful “wooomph!” when starting. I had a gearbox mainshaft shear, so I rebuilt it, then the cylinder head cracked, so, with my mates, rebuilt that and the carbs. Working on the engine was a breeze, sitting on the front wheel.

My brother raced a Vittesse in rallies late 1960s. Crazy car.

I owned a 1965 Herald 12/50 and still think it was my favourite car ever.

One of the nicest sounding six cylinder engines ever produced in 🇬🇧

Fantastic report of a iconic car.

I have a herald 13/60 that was my dads at uni. I love the car so easy to work on and a great way to learn basic mechanics.

Brilliant video, so well detailed. I really hope that you get snapped up for a TV show Ed, you deserve it mate 👍

Lovely little car. We had the Heralds and Gazels here in India. Favoured rally cars they were, in the 1960’s and 1970’s here….they were made by Standard Motors Madras, India.

Very well written review. Worthy of autocar, carfection, etc.

Chinese eyes really suit Vitesse! And with the opening of the hood it was a great idea!

Such a stunning design, that front end is just gorgeous

Dad had one of these. I was only a kid, but I really loved it, all the woodgrain inside, the gauges...

Brilliant video Ed! Always loved the Herald / Vitesses looks.

An excellent presentation, I learn a lot from your videos. Great picture quality too.

Excellent presenting style and very knowledgeable about the subject. Really good video.

Had two Mk2 2litre Vitesse the second of which suffered diff failure! Stylish and loved the straight six engines .

Thanks for another great video! Your enthusiasm is infectious, and car selection always interesting. Stunning example here, red with the black alloys that match the interior.

I love the look of this, never heard of it before. Thanks.

In 1972 one of my colleagues had a 2000. He said it could be over-revved in top gear just by keeping his foot down. He said it needed overdrive - an option which his car didn't have. A little faster than MGB roadster.

Thanks Ed. One of my favourite classic cars. The triumph Vitesse. I would absolutely love one.

Another excellent video. Your delivery of car reviews is superb. A pleasure to watch.

Very informative and well presented. Thoroughly enjoyed it.

How do you not have a primetime BBC spot yet?

One of my friends had a Vitesse, what road-holding,, accelleration, handling and comfort.

I really enjoy learning about cars like this. I have to say though, when you keep saying things like "fire breathing monster" and "big straight 6" all I can think is that's adorable! Of course it was a different time and place, I get that. Still though...

Excellent summary and presentation of this lovely little car. I was 'around' when these cars were current models. Always lusted after a Vitesse, but it never happened. The Heralds were very popular with the driving schools, incidentally.

Back in the 70s I owned a 2 litre Vitesse MK II convertible (along with 2 GT6s and a TR4). Due to a diff failure I fitted a recon Herald diff and modified prop, which transformed the torque so that you could pull away from standing in 4th gear! I clocked it from 0 - 60 in 8 seconds just using 2nd & 4th gear. It was a brilliant car to drive. I eventually swapped it for my first GT6, which came with sunroof & overdrive.

Great information, great narration = a great video. Thanks Ed for your time and hard work... "Hmmmmmm I seen that car somewhere else before."

Not a car I've ever really much desired to be honest - but I now know a lot more about them than I did before watching this. Thanks!

I was on my Moto Morini 350 in around 1980. I got burnt off by a Vitesse, up hill on a short dual carriageway. Couldn't believe it! They were rapid.

Great cars! Always pined for a Vitesse 2 litre. Brilliant presentation Twin-Cam!

When I had my TR6, our Triumph club had a few quick Vitesses, with both triple webers and/or the 2.5 litre version of the engine; but man, did those guys go thru those rear diff stub-axles! We leadfoots (leadfeet?) proved that even the bigger TR6 items were quite weak.

A much more positive review of it than your last one some years ago...nicely done 😁

Back in the day I proudly ran a minor traveller, but always aspired to the Herald, owned by our librarian, then I moved companies and our store keeper had a mk3 Spit. It pulled well, and I admired his success . I finally got my Spit some fifteen years later, Eventually to whisk my bride away, such are the dreams of youth!

fascinating story, and quite a great looking car. And you camera work and editing are excellent....very well done!

A great very enjoyable video well presented. I had 2 Spitfire's a 1300 MK4 and then the 1500.

Beautiful car and equally great review! Great job. Subscribed.

Great video - thansk you- just wanted to hear teh old gilrl though. Oh and that rear suspension, like driving on a skid pan even in the dry. The '67 2 Litre Convertible was my first car as an apprentice mechanic in 1986. I love that car and still fancy another, but an MGB turned up and stole my heart within two weeks of moving back to Blighty.

Just subscribed, love this chaps presentation, knowledge and passion ........ and of course the cars ain't bad either ; )

I love how the headlights lean down like that.

Excellent research. Had two of them

Nice Review but did anyone notice the Rat scuttling by in the background at 3.12

Lovely descriptive passages. That Smiths heater is in my 1956 Standard Ten. Coventry rocked after WW2

I owned three, the impending arrival of our first child made me sell our Lotus Elan SE and buy LDU 222F an early 2 litre which I spun whilst running in. 2 sacks of sand into the boot produced a good amount of negative camber and solved that problem! Later I had an overdrive version and finally a Mk 2 with the modified rear suspension. This one went like a rocket and would pull 6,500 rpm in top with the speedo on its stop. Great "Q" cars of that time

Ed: I always thought the Vitesse was a pretty car, but you waxed so lyrical between 2:20 and 4:50 that I thought you’d joined a bards' society! Sheer poetry! Loved your use of varied descriptors, where some car RU-vidrs get stuck in a one-adjective rut (from their limited lexicon of the usually unhelpful ‘fabulous’, ‘awesome’, ‘cool’ … ). In AU, unfortunately, Heralds didn't last well: the body rattled off the chassis on our goat-track roads (as did those of its predecessor, the Mayflower). :-( PS: The wheel-tuck from the swing axles was also a feature - sometimes deadly! - of pre-'60s Benzes, most notably the 'widow-maker' 300 SL Gullwing.

Great video. I had a GT6 back in the late 1980s. Essentially a Vitesse with much less room inside! Luckily it was a mark 3 with the uprated rear suspension, so it stayed on the road. It also had overdrive, which was very useful in traffic. It did tend to overheat, so I needed the heater full on in hot weather! I installed an electric fan. .

a very smart car, and always one of my dream cars back in the early seventies. Yet again a marvellous presentation. Far better than the mainstream programmes with their huge budgets we see on TV

Excellent video, w/impeccable presentation, as always. One of the reasons for the success of the Herald, IMO, was that it was offered in a range of body styles, coupe, convertible, estate, etc. Likewise, the Vitesse was offered as a convertible which was consistent w/its sportier image, perhaps more so than the coupe. The reason I mention it is that the last Vitesse I observed 'in the wild' was a convertible, parked on the street in Havana, Cuba, about 5 years ago.

Good stuff Ed. I had a 1600 version in the 60's and even managed my sole mechanical intervention on a car by completing a roadside decarb. It was comfy and the overdrive was a boon but it never had the oomph one might expect.

Know this post is late but I love your channel for introducing Americans to what are quite exotic cars to us. Growing up in the 60s US I saw lots of Spitfires and TR6 but the only time I ever saw something like this was when we went to see moms Canadian cousins. In 72 when we graduated high school my friend Tim was given a Triumph Stag I think it was called that I'm guessing was a descendant of this model. Very unusual and thus cool car in those days.

Agree with all the other positive comments. A wonderfully and professional review. Many thanks.

Great review of one of my all time favourite cars. Well done, Ed. I've often thought that the Vitesse was sort of a fixed head TR-5, and I guess it really is in a way. The good thing about a saloon sharing engineering with a sports car is that it becomes very easy for owners to upgrade the saloon and surprise folks. The Q-ship made automotive, as it were. That is what I love. A car that flies under the radar until the big guns are revealed by the performance and handling.

Great video, what helps in my native New Zealand is my London born late Uncle whom bought a 13/60 in 1969 when I use to live in Auckland. Both he & his son ( my cousin ) owned it for 30 years, so always a familiar site. During the 80's, an acquaintance of mine, also in New Zealand whom was a travelling musician had a Convertible Vitesse, his was modified with the 2500cc inline 6, What Beast, I think it was from the larger Triumph car 🚗, thanks for sharing your passion for the car, my first two cars were Vauxhalls, a 67 HB, and a 77 Magnum, years later I bought a second HB 4 door deluxe 90 which bought a flood of memories from yesteryear 😄👍👌💚

Another great video! Especially found it good as I have a 1972 GT6

Well presented informative video-thanks-I had a relative that worked at the factory building heralds and always used to say that he couldn't believe that the were making such an old fashioned car( with separate chassis/ transverse leaf rear suspension etc)He used to call it a truck.This vitesse looks really nice -pity we didn't get to hear it.

The Herald/Vitesse modular panel body was seen as quite a thing in its day - Triumph's make-do turned out admirably advantageous.

Very enjoyable review Ed as always 🙂

Brilliant video, found the socio-economic part very interesting. My last Herald was a 13/60 with coilovers on the front, adjustable shocks all round, banded wheels and lowered approx 1.5". These mods transformed how it drove; it had such lovely communicative steering and not a lot of back end twitchiness!

My late father had a 65 Vitesse 6 with the 1600 engine. The 70bhp was enough with the rear swing axle was enough, my dad reckoned that wet roads were err interesting. It did sound lovely though. The later 2 litres had a double wishbone rear end which apparently much better.

another excellent presentation. the Triumph Vitesse is from an era when British car manufacturers were shoving big engines in small cars, for example: the Sunbeam Alpine became the Sunbeam Tiger, the MGB became the MGC, the AC Ace became the AC Cobra and of course the Triumph Herald became the Triumph Vitesse. wild days indeed. back in the 80s when I was your age, the easiest way to make a Vitesse/GT6 go faster was to swap the engine from a Triumph 2.5 TC saloon or if you wanted even more power and work use the PI variant and thats before you start tuning it!!!

You provide good info clearly. And thanks for not adding background music

The earliest car that I can remember being a passenger in was my late dad's MK1 Herald in coffee and white, that memory was that journey would be a family holiday to the south west in the summer sharing the rear seat (I got the middle seat being the youngest). The facelifted Herald and Vitesse were something else, modern and powerful but has similar under chassis of my old dad's car. My memory may be foggy from over 5 decades ago was that turning circle that could rival the London Taxi. Brilliant compact family cars and a lot more practical than the Spitfire or GT6.

Usually, Your shows about genuine british cars are so tastefully as well as excitingly compiled that makes the viewer wanting to own them immediately. This one is exactly one of them. Greetings from HU.

I had a string of Vitesses back in the early 80s when I first started earning, including a couple of mk2 saloons and a late mk1 convertible. To this day they are the classic I aspire to, the engine noise was soooo nice! They were easy to work on, and very tuneable. One of the mk2s ended up as a 2.5 (just a simple rods & piston swap) which made it even more lively. That mk1 rear suspension was great fun - totally predictable oversteer; I lived on an estate with tight bends and used to take them sideways while still only being at 20mph 😂

I don't remember seeing any of these as a little boy in Australia but I certainly remember lots of Triumph Heralds! Aussies would have loved a six cylinder engine like the one in the Vitesse.

Ah brings back lots of memories of my 1964 Triumph Herald 1200E (1147cc) as my first car (second hand) here in New Zealand years ago. What a car. I could get it up to 78 to 80mph on a good straight. As a young bloke, I did do some modifications which made for some really good performance gains. The original car had a single solex carburettor and I put a twin choke down draft weber carburettor onto a custom made extractor exhaust system going to a single cooper muffler. I also put a 50lb weight in the boot to make it more stable on the rear when pushing it on metal roads. Back in the early 70's, the performance increase was outstanding. From doing around 80mph (130kph) flat out, I was able to get up to 95mph (150kph+ speedo indication) and around 6,200-6300rpm on the tacho. And the acceleration was outstanding compared to the original. I remember having a race with a Herald 13/60 on a long straight. I was behind and he maxed out at aroung 88mph and I just pulled out and cruised past. He was a bit shocked. Wow, just imagine if I had have had a 13/60. It would have gone even better! What a great little car and thanks so much for the video.

Another excellent video, ta! 👍👍

You are on top form here Ed with a knowledgeable and entertaining review. Doesn't this one look fantastic in it's glorious red paintwork! Right, I'm off to check the classifieds to see if any good ones are for sale!

I had a Vitesse in the eighties, the handling was very tricky. Without a warning the back stepted out. Engine was very good, just like road holding, but that back you had to take care. Mine was a drophead and of course leaked, noise was OK, I was young so you took it in your stride. THe two chassis rails on the side where rotten but I replaced them with rails made myself. Car was killed off by a drunk that went thru the red light in my right side, bent the car beyond repair. The same engine was in our Triumph sedans, never any problem, I liked them. A six in a smal car Opel did it with the Manta and BMW with the first 3 series. Citroën with the Legerè, which my father always found one of the best cars. It was a good idea but it needed a bit more engenering.

What a peach of a car, I almost bought one in the middle 70s but after getting insurance quotes I had to turn it down as they were too prohibitive for a teenager, even back then, great video.

Used to work on them,did my apprenticeship on standard/triumph 👍

Thanks for another great video and an interesting car. My father had a Triumph 2000 and liked it enough to swap it for a Mk2 when that arrived. A good friend had a Herald convertible. Always liked Triumph and they should have been our 'BMW' but the dead hand of Stokes and Edwards put paid to all that!

1st time watcher of your channel great video Thank you

Is it a little embarrassing for old me to learn something about a car of my youth, from a young man who's father was maybe a baby in that era? I remember the original strait 6 Vitesse n always mistaakenly believed the 2000 wa derived from the 1600 not the other way round it took almost 60 years n a young lad to tell me the truth about a car of my youth, many thanks mate n keep going we love your videos well spoken clear n honest presentation, cheers

Great review 👍

Great vid about a car that seemed to be everywhere in my early seventies childhood...although more likely there were just two in my neighbourhood that I saw all the time! Also enjoyed the cameo by the rat at 3:12!

Thanks Ed great video I always loved the Vitesse such a pretty car I would think they are hard to find now its one of those cars that just slipped away ., my son has a very beautiful 1978 Spitfire so easy to work on the clamshell bonnet is such a good way to go .

An excellent review as usual.