Italia’s Triumph

The Triumph Italia is one of the best looking Anglo-Italian creations ever, and they are extremely rare. If you’d like to see them in person, the 50th Anniversary celebration will be held at the Shelton Vineyard, Dobson, North Carolina, April 17-19. Contact L. Tyrone Stoner at tstoner@mac.com. Below, three time owner Stoner tells all about this fascinating beauty. For Italia Literature, click here.

Triumph Italia/Italia 2000 GT

By L. Tyrone Stoner
All photos courtesy Tyrone Stoner

What “Wacky” Arnott and Bertone did for Bristol and MG, and what Zagato would do for Aston Martin, Italian entrepreneur Salvatore Ruffino figured he could do for the Triumph TR3; modernize and Italianize.

By 1958, the aging TR3, introduced in 1953 as the TR2, was in need of something. It was almost a traditional British upright, with cut down doors, no windows, and a top which defied raising particularly in the rain. But at its heart was a sturdy, truck-like 2.0 liter four capable of accelerating away from many of its contemporaries. The improved TR3 came in 1956 with a smiley face grille replacing the square inlet of the earlier model.

Ruffino envisioned an Italia-styled body with dependable mechanicals, thus came the expression used later for advertising, “Italian artistry and British craftsmanship have come together and produced this new superlative Italia 2000 Coupe”.

After a verbal agreement with Standard-Triumph to supply TR3 chassis and mechanical components, and the agreement to place one Triumph Italia in each of the established 720 Triumph dealerships world-wide, it was thought 1,000 cars were to be built right from the start. Dealers could sell from the display model. This sounded like a smart move and Ruffino cast about for an Italian coachbuilder.

Ruffino spoke with a number of reputable coachbuilders at that time, even people like Zagato, but came up empty. A friend suggested Giovanni Michelotti, a superb stylist who had opened his own studio in 1947. Michelotti submitted sketches and Ruffino was pleased. Michelotti suggested using Vignale as a possible builder. It seems they have been working together on previous projects. Alfredo Vignale had the time, and space and the cost must have been in the ballpark. A deal was struck between the three to start making the Italia.

Vignale started production mid-year, 1959, making only a few changes to the prototypes. The biggest change was no longer using the “sloop-nose” front end with the covered headlights from the first prototype. A more conventional design, borrowed from the Maserati 3500 GT, was to be adopted – a car that Vignale was already in production with. Most coach-built cars at that time were made from aluminum, but the Italias were to be made of steel. The prototypes have aluminum panels in places. At one point in time Ruffino, unhappy with the final assembly quality control, used his own employees to do the work in the final stages of assembling the Italias. His men worked on the cars inside the Vignale plant. It was at this time that the front fender lights started appearing on the Italias.

The Triumph Italia 2000 Gran Turismo Coupe – by complete description, is more commonly referred to as the Triumph Italia or the Italia 2000 GT. The first cars wore Triumph Italia scripts and the latter wore Italia 2000 scripts. Many trim parts and a few mechanicals were borrowed from various parts bins of other manufacturers, such as: Triumph, Ferrari, Lancia, Maserati, Lamborghini, Fiat, Alfa Romeo. Some pieces were made in house at Vignale, one example being the exterior door handles.

Shortly after Leyland Motor took over the operations at Standard-Triumph, Triumph support was pulled. Competition for their up-coming model, the TR4, to be introduced in 1962 as the replacement for the TR3, was at risk. The TR4 was designed by the very same designer that designed the Italia, Giovanni Michelotti, who financially would no doubt be better served by aligning with the larger company. And to be sure, the TR4 has design areas borrowed right from the Italia: bulge in the hood, the step-up at rear of door skins, roll-up windows and similar tail light housings.

This was no doubt very un-settling to Ruffino. His dream was quickly disappearing. With the Leyland Motor support gone, and the TR4 selling for a lower price compared to the $5000 dollar pricing of the Italia, things soon came to an end. Standard-Triumph continued supplying a few chassis that finished off the 329 Italias that were built– way short of the 1,000 plus. These chassis were of the first batch of the TR3B cars, with the prefix TSF. Only TSF chassis, ( no TCF chassis ) were sent at the end of the Italia run. In fact, the last thirty TSF chassis, TSF 501-TSF 530, were all shipped to Italy, where they were turned into Italia 2000s.

Today, there are many examples of this unique and beautiful car. The exact number keeps changing, as they become more publicized and more are located.

My Three Sons

I own three Triumph Italias, #195, #322 and # 326. The #195 car is a frame off restoration that, only has 400 plus miles on the speedometer since the restoration was
finished. The other two Italias are works in progress–which means we are still looking for additional parts.

Italia number one: TSF 530 / #326.

An Italia was being displayed at a local show some twenty years ago and I immediately fell in love with those sleek lines. I was later told of an Italia for sale in Virginia by a fellow that was known to be “lucky” in the art of locating these cars. He had found an Italia abandoned in a salvage yard and bought it. I almost lost the car, because it was more profitable for the owner to part the car out, than to sell as a whole. After some major parts were sold off I received a call. He had decided to sell what was left of the car to me. We negotiated a new deal and I now owned an Italia.

The interesting thing about this car is that it was sitting on the last known TR3B chassis to have been sent to Italy to be bodied as an Italia, TSF 530 LCOO. Bodies and chassis were not kept in any order and this is why my TSF 530 chassis has the 326 body
instead of the last body #329. This is a picture of the car, located in the salvage yard. It is still pretty much the same condition, except for many parts that I have found over the years to assist in the rebuild. Note: When seeing the LCOO at the end of the commission numbers of an Italia, it means Left-hand drive, Chassis only and overdrive gearbox.

Italia number two: 322

A good friend of mine, Jamie Palmer who owes the first Italia I ever saw, was also the owner of the #322 car. This car came from Florida and had been listed “for sale” in Hemmings News, when Jamie ran across the ad. The Italia was in Henderson, NC and soon found itself in a new storage facility in Mooresville, NC. Since this purchase the #322 and #326 Italias are in a building and both are waiting for enough parts to begin restoration.

Italia number three: 195

Arriving at the Vintage Triumph Registry’s Jeckel Island Show a few years ago, I was surprised to see the nicest Italia I’ve ever seen. It was a just finished, frame-up restoration of a dark blue example. I have to admit, I spent all my time next to this car, studying every part on it. The owner and his two friends had just finished the car in time to get it to its first show. The “Three Musketeers,” as their close friends called them , were ever so eager to talk about their new car. They had worked on many projects in the past ( restoring each other’s cars), but the Italia was now complete and it walked away with the top award “Best of Show.” Everyone was happy.

Months later – I was on a shuttle bus headed for the “Amelia Island Concours” show area I happened to strike up a conversation with two gentlemen on board. My Italia t-shirt caught their attention and the talks began. Their long-time friend had recently passed on and his wife had an Italia for sale. We soon realized we all knew each other from the Fall past, at the Jeckel Island Show. After a period of roughly a year, I bought the Italia of my dreams, # 195.

The car to date has clocked less than 500 miles since the Florida restoration. The car was only missing a few obtainable parts and is looking even nicer today.