1959 Italia 2000 Coupé
Owner: Marc Gordon Hosted by: Gieves & Hawkes
Described as Italian bodywork at its finest and British tradition in sports car engineering at its finest, underneath this car’s flowing aluminium lines is the mechanical set-up of a Triumph TR3A.
Styled by Giovanni Michelotti and built by Vignale under contract to Ruffino SpA Industria Costruzione Automobile of Naples, it was originally supposed to be a proper Triumph-backed project – but new owner Leyland wanted to focus on the TR4, and thus refused to distribute the car. Ruffino took the Triumph badges off and sold the models independently.
Out of 1000 planned for production, just 329 of these hand-crafted models were built, and today a mere 80 remain around the world.
This particular example is one of the very earliest produced – number eight. It includes such factory options as overdrive, twin Weber carburettors, a leather interior and a rarely seen Nardi steering wheel. The car was restored over several years in Switzerland, but despite being maintained in concours condition it remains in regular use – it’s clocked up 3000 miles over the past two years.
Power: 101bhp Top speed: 124mph 0-60mph: N/A