Built between 1959 and 1962, the Triumph Italia was the brainchild of, Dr. Salvatore Ruffino, Triumph’s Italian importer during that era. Layering Italian hand-built coachwork over a Triumph TR3 chassis (and priced over $1,000 higher than a new TR3) less than 330 of these cars were produced during its short run. Of these, fewer than 50 were reportedly brought to the US, and this twisted hulk is the remains of one of these. Now in the hands of Ragtops & Roadsters of Perkasie, PA (and possibly for sale, although no price or listing has been published yet), this car was originally spotted on the Triumph Italia 2000 Facebook page (Facebook account required), where all of the photos in this post were sourced. Thanks to by Scott M. for the find!
According to the post, the history of how this car ended up on Facebook almost as haphazard as the history of the nameplate itself. The car was spotted in a field in Minnesota and later purchased by an unnamed buyer along with an odd, customized TR3. The finder/buyer was not familiar with the car, but eventually discovered the Facebook group using only the “Italia 2000” badge as a clue. It was the group who added the captions to these photos.
Originally hand-built without the benefit of a template, buck or jig, it’s unlikely that body panels from one Italia would fit another even in the factory. On one survivor, the driver’s door is ½ inch longer than the passenger door. But in this particular car’s current condition, that degree of variation might almost be a plus — as any restoration would involve serious expert-level metalworking skills. The damage seen above was reportedly the result of striking a pole at high speed shortly after the car was imported in 1962. A half-century of outdoor storage added the rest of the decay.
A bit of silver lining remains, this engine has been confirmed to be the original mill fitted to the car when the chassis was shipped to Italy in late 1959. But it’s not in the Italia now, it’s powering the accompanying TR3 (seen below, which itself sports a bizarre aftermarket nose). It’s written that the engine starts and the TR3 has been driven.
Both cars are now reportedly in the hands of Ragtops & Roadsters (R&R), a veteran and respected British resto shop who have several show-quality Italias under their belt. The posting concludes appropriately with “No sugar-coating it, restoring Italia #55 will be an epic project, but we hope someone will accept the challenge of saving another great car.” Those interested are asked to contact R&R via email at Dave@ragtops.com.
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