According to the current owner, Gary H, Nr.055 was wrecked in 1965. By all accounts it was
being driven on an icy road late at night by an intoxicated service man and he ran off the
road and hit something, maybe a tree or a telephone pole. I've concluded it was
a partial rollover judging by the damage the car recieved. I was also told the driver was
not injured.
The car sat in a field up until sometime in 2018 where it was spotted by someone that knew
what it was. At some point in its life of sitting in an open field some parts were removed,
like the engine. Fortunately with a bit of research the engine was located and rejoined with
the car.The car is largely complete and with the help of some very kind folks in the Italia
community I have front and rear glass and all the rubber weather stripping to fit it.
There has been lots of discussion about this car on the internet since it largely just appeared out of nowhere. I'd known about the car for a few years but at the time it was priced too high.
Some of the sheet metal straightening is going to get fairly heavy duty, think chaining it down and pulling from various angles to get it close. Fortunately Vignale used really good steel and I've been told it responds to working very well. The passengers side is almost 100% undamaged so I have a pattern to go by. The first round of crash damage repairs to this Italia Nr.055 started in 2021. (Photo: Richard Spiegelman - Oct 2019)
Information: Triumph Experience Forum, August 2022