"The Triumph marque is deeply embedded in British motoring history. Through changes of name and ownership, good times and bad, from the globe to the laurel wreath, it put its name to a series of vehicles that have left tracks "
Triumph Fury Prototype
Michelotti's monocoque, with pop-ups, for Triumph
Giovanni Michelotti was a fascinating designer.
And in his years drawing designs for the Triumph four-wheel department, he came up with a huge number of one-offs, test-beds, concepts and prototypes. And despite our being boringly obsessive about rare motors, Michelotti always seems able to surprise us.
His Fury prototype, which emerged in 1965 and was apparently the first Triumph issue to come with a monocoque chassis, is one such surprise. Looking at the rear lines, you can of course see Spitfire and the TR range, but with that sloping nose with pop-up lamps, there’s more than a hint of Corvette there too.
The one-off prototype, which still exists and was for sale recently, came with the two-litre, six-cylinder, twin-cam engine that went in the Triumph 2000 – but you can’t help but wonder what it would have felt like rocking the three-litre V8.
It’s a beautiful creation, but one that was ultimately eclipsed by the production simplicities of the TR series.
Shame. But at least we got some great production cars out of the Italian maestro.
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The Truimph 2000 cc was a great smooth engine but the chassis and body work of the Truimph 2000 was just a rust bucket.