2138cc Inline 4 Cylinder
4 Speed Manual with Electric Overdrive
Front Engined Rear Wheel Drive
Front Discs, Rear Drum Brakes
105 bhp 127 lb-ft
Exterior Almond Green Interior Tan
The Triumph Italia 2000 GT is a coachbuilt coupe variant of the Triumph TR3 with the body designed by Giovanni Michelotti while he was at Vignale and premiered in 1959 with the final examples being built in 1962. The underlying frame and mechanicals were essentially unchanged from the factory TR3, which feature a torquey wet-liner inline 4 cylinder engine, but fitted with a particularly elegant body of much more modern and clean design than the TR3’s original. The design was originally ordered by Standard-Triumph’s Italian distributor with the intention of building 1000 cars. It was never an official Triumph model and Triumph opted to not distribute the car itself, leading to somewhere between 327 and 330 total being built. Although not an official Triumph model, the design of the Italia is reported to have impressed the higher-ups at Triumph enough that Giovanni Michelotti was contracted to design the majority of following models of Triumph car, including the TR4, Later Spitfires and GT6s, the Triumph 2000, and Triumph Stag. This Triumph Italia is #215 and was imported by the previous owner from Europe. It is a well known and documented low mileage example. By 2013, it only had 4130 kilometers on the odometer and was still in the hands
of its original owner. That number has increased substantially over the last few years, though still quite a bit less than 20,000 kilometers, and the car continues to be driven regularly. The previous owner also regularly drove his cars and bought the car intending it to be driven on rallies. When the car was shipped to the US, it was sent to a local shop to me to sort out any needs and prepare it for regular use. It’s through this shop that I met the owner and later arranged to buy the car from him. During that work, a correct TR3 overdrive and output shaft, which I provided to the previous owner, was fitted to the original gearbox and the car was made to be reliable in preparation for a 1000 mile tour. Although not originally on this car, the overdrive was an option in period for the Italia. Otherwise, this is still a largely original, unmodified car. This car drives absolutely perfectly and is a very comfortable car to drive. The car revs very freely and the engine pulls strongly and with the same suspension of the TR3, it handles much like other sports cars of the 1950s and early 1960s. Fit and finish on these cars is better than I’ve seen on original TR3s with many Italian-sourced components, and they’re incredibly well built for the time making this an ideal rare car to own and drive.
