Sometimes, we just can’t believe the opportunities that come our way. Exhibit A: Yet another Triumph Italia 2000 ground-up, nuts-and-bolts restoration. This is the third Italia we’ve been fortunate enough to get our hands on. This particular Italia is a 1960, and is car #102. It is a two-owner car that has what we believe to be 26,000 original miles. We found this car sitting in San Jose, California where it had been in storage since the early seventies. This was one of the best Triumph Italias we’d ever seen. The car was very original and looked to be rust and accident free. We knew we had a long road ahead of us, but what an amazing car to start with.
As soon as we dove into the project, our excitement started to build. We were amazed to see the differences between the three Italias we’ve had in our possession. As many of you know, these are extremely rare cars, and were all 100% handmade. Just over 300 cars were produced, and not one was exactly alike. Things would change on the production line depending on what Vignale was producing at the time, as well as who was working on the car. One very noticeable difference between this car and others we have seen is that the bonnet prop rod is on the passenger side.