You can now book a one-to-one appointment (up to one hour) to view this lot at our central location between 16th and 30th July. Please contact Lionel on 07831 574381 / [email protected] to secure your appointment or to discuss the car in more detail. The health and safety of both our customers and team remains the utmost priority, we are therefore operating to strict COVID-19 guidelines and full instructions for arrival and inspection protocols will be given when making your appointment. Beautiful restoration of a Giovanni Michelotti designLusty Triumph reliability and performanceClassic Italian design with styling cues fromMaserati and FerrariHeritage Certificate and intact original Vignale built plate.The 157th Vignale built Triumph Italia 2000 GTOffered from The Anthony Hamilton Collection, himself a Triumph sports car enthusiast, is perhaps the most stylish coupe to displaythe Triumph name, theItalia 2000 GT which wasdesigned by Michelotti and built by Vignale on a Triumph TR3 rolling chassis.The project was the brainchild of Signore Salvatore Ruffino, the managing director of CESAC, the company that distributed Standard and Triumph cars in Italy. He approached Standard-Triumph about supplying TR3 chassis and other components, which the British firm was happy to do. Giovanni Michelotti, who had done work for S-T since the update of the Standard Vanguard, penned a handsome notchback coupe, which was built by Carrozzeria Alfredo Vignale under contract to Ruffino S.p.A. Industria Construzione Automobile of Naples.The new cardebuted at the 1958 Turin Motor Show to a more than positive press acclaim.Production began in July 1959, the finished car owing much to Michelotti's design for the Maserati 3500. The bodies were built in steel and the car's appeal was enhanced by deep, melodious Ascari silencers. The Leyland takeover of Standard-Triumph in 1961 ultimately squelched the deal as the new management apparently didn't like it, and perhaps viewed it as competition for the soon to be launched, TR4, to which it bore a suspicious resemblance.Added to the collection in 2018 after a long search when a visit to the German owner resulted in a deal and the car came to the UK. The Heritage Certificate confirms a rolling chassis left the UK to be completed by Vignale Coachworks in Turin and,once completed, it was despatched on 4thMay 1960 to Cesac Spa c/o Zust Ambrosetti Italy and delivered to its first Italian owner. It seems that it found its way to Germany in 2004 where it was restored to very high standard possibly by Peter Schaaf. The Vignale build plate confirms it as the 157thItalia 2000 GT.These stunning Coups offered the best of lusty British reliability and performance wrapped in the most stylish of early sixties designwith styling clues that carried over into Maserati and Ferrari designs.You can now book a one-to-one appointment (up to one hour) to view this lot at our central location between 16thand 30thJuly. Please contact Lionelon 07831574381/[email protected] to secure your appointment or to discuss the car in more detail.The health and safety of both our customers and team remains the utmost priority, we are therefore operating to strict COVID-19 guidelines and full instructions for arrival and inspection protocols will be given when making your appointment.