We are now deep into the restoration of Triumph Italia #312. This 1962 Italia arrived as an amazingly untouched and very complete car, but unfortunately has suffered a great deal of rust damage. For the body restoration, we turned to our good friend Alex at Hot Rod Avenue in Atascadero, CA. Alex is a very talented metal craftsman and hand built every body panel that needed repair in-house. We are very fortunate to have someone as talented here locally, and even more fortunate that he was willing to tackle this challenging project. I’m pretty sure at times he had wished he hadn’t, as the project got more and more complex as the repairs were made. The body is now better than it was when it left Vignale. Bravo, Alex!

The car is now at Ken’s Body Shop where a concours paint job is being completed. A paint job of this level is not an easy task, but Ken’s has been doing all of our paint and body for over twenty years, and we know it is in capable hands. The car will be painted in its original color of red, and everything will be test-fitted prior to the final paint being applied. We will also be using the correct original texture coat that will be applied under the bonnet, underside of the car, and inner workings.

We now also have the chassis restoration completed; we were fortunate in that the chassis was not rusted like the body was. The chassis has been restored to concours standards, and the correct original finishes have been applied to all parts. We even took the extra step of restoring and plating all the original nuts and bolts this chassis left England with when it was first built. We were very lucky that everything was original and intact when starting the chassis restoration. The engine and transmission are also fully rebuilt and now installed in the chassis.

You can check out our first project progress post here. It gives you a good picture of how we far we’ve come.

Comments and questions are always welcome, and be sure to check back soon as we continue to return this classic to all its former glory. You can also hop on over and like us on Facebook where we announce new posts on all ongoing restoration projects.

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