Historically Speaking THE
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historically speaking THE Triumph Fury Prototype (1963) CONNECTION PHoto SOURCE: BRIAN SNELSON ITALIANTHE ACHIEVEMENTS OF MAESTRO MICHELOTTI by Terence McKillen Although the automobile industry has employed countless millions of people and thousands of car models have been optional ‘Surrey’ made over the last century or so, it is inter- or ‘Targa’ top, the esting to contemplate that only a handful latter often assumed as a of people may have had a really significant Porsche invention from influence on the fate of the business. The 1966, but in reality a Mi- single most important attribute in the auto chelotti concept from five business is probably that of design and years earlier. asthetics. At the end of the day, perhaps Almost all of Triumph’s 1960s and 1970s only a few dozen individuals have actually some point offerings can be credited to Michelotti’s shaped the destiny of car design. One such Giovanni ‘Micho’ Michelotti. Webster com- designs, including the Herald introduced individual was Giovanni Michelotti. PHoto SOURCE: WWW.INFLUX.co.UK/WORDPRESS/TAG/MICHElottI mented that they were in 1959, the Vitesse, Spitfire, GT6, TR4, In a December 1978 speech delivered wasting their time so why TR5/250, 2000, 2500, 1300, 1500, Stag, To- in Rome at a conference organized by the Born in Turin in 1921, the son of a coach- ensured that a new didn’t Michelotti just start afresh ledo and Dolomite. The only Triumphs after Italian Order of Architects, Michelotti stat- builder, Michelotti is arguably one of the generation of Triumph with a clean sheet of paper. Michelotti 1960 that were not his work were the TR6 ed, providing my translation of the Italian most important individuals in the history of cars would have signifi- apparently rose to the challenge and and the TR7/8 as well as the Honda-based is correct, that the “designer has a very deli- Italian automobile coach building and yet cantly more flair than their predecessors. in three or four minutes had sketched Acclaim. At the time of the TR5 re-design cate task which is to dress up a car and the is one of the least well known. He remained Michelotti had a reputation for working the Herald coupé and they immediately requirement for the TR6, Michelotti was car is always comprised of four wheels, a independent throughout a prolific career best under tight schedules and could set off transferring everything to scale. It too involved in other projects to cope with steering wheel and an engine. As a design- which took him from the role of apprentice come up with a sketch for a whole new car was almost midnight when Webster final- the short time line required by Triumph, er, you need to know how to move these with Carozzeria Farina (now Pininfarina) in design in as little as half an hour, worked neva motor show in 1957. However, the ly left the studio and returned to his car but in 1979 Micho was responsible for the components around to create a car which 1936, at the age of 15, to a partnership with out on a table napkin or menu card over concept car turned out to be more luxu- where his wife Peggy and their daughter re-design work on the TR7, removing the will be accepted by the public.” Carrozzeria Alfredo Vignale, before open- dinner with Webster, who would often rious and consequently more expensive were huddled asleep. While Webster and roof to create the more successful roadster Michelotti’s name is pretty much syn- ing his own design studio (Studio Technico drive from Coventry to Turin and back in a than Triumph was willing to consider for a his family searched for a hotel, Michelotti model. Following the merger with British onymous with the design of almost all of e Carrozzeria G. Michelotti, Torino) and tak- weekend to confer with the maestro. new production model, but it did provide a worked all night completing sketches of Leyland, Michelotti also undertook a face- the post-World War II Triumph offerings. ing on work for other design houses such From 1957, “Micho”, as Webster affec- platform for the TR’s future. the Herald sedan, estate and convert- lift of the BMC 1100 and designed the Aus- The Italian born Michelotti was unques- as Bertone and Ghia. tionately called him, was responsible for The story of Michelotti’s initial engage- ible. Working together, the pair saved the tralian built Leyland P76, often referred to tionably one of the most prolific sports car One year at the Turin Motor Show, more all new models produced by Standard-Tri- ment as recounted by Webster is pretty Zobo project and assured Triumph’s sur- as Australia’s Edsel, as well as the Leyland designers of the 20th century. Outside of than thirty of the cars on display were of umph, starting with a facelift of the Stan- impressive. He was asked to help correct vival and credibility. National single-deck bus. He also pro- the Triumph group, Michelotti was associ- his design creation, spread over several dard Vanguard and designing the Triumph and finalise the Zobo prototype developed In due course, the TR4 emerged and al- duced a proposal for the Triumph Puma- ated with other European marques such marques. During his career he designed Italia 2000 Coupé, the latter based on the by the team of Arthur Ballard for the new though the chassis came from the TR3, han- Rover P10 project which subsequently was as BMW, Ferrari, Lancia, Maserati, Renault, more than 1,200 cars. When asked whether TR3 chassis and mechanical components small, economical sedan (four seats, two dling for the new roadster was improved renamed RT1 (denoting Rover-Triumph), to DAF and Volvo. He was also associated with he had ever designed anything other than although the car was manufactured by Vi- doors) subsequently to become the Her- by a three-inch wider track and a switch signify that this was a car that integrated truck and bus designs for Leyland Motors cars, Michelotti admitted to having once gnale in Italy. This was followed by several ald. Webster stopped off in Turin on the from cam-and-lever to the more precise both Triumph and Rover engineering and and British Leyland. Although dominantly designed a coffee making machine. attempts to create a successor for the TR3 return journey from a holiday in Sorrento. rack-and-pinion steering, but the pressed- which eventually led to production of the focussed on European marques, Miche- It was Harry Webster, then Director of while at the same time rescuing Triumph’s As it happened, Michelotti had not come steel body used by Michelotti was the car’s Rover SD1 model. lotti was also a pioneer in design work for Engineering, who through a chance meet- new saloon car – project Zobo or the Tri- up with any inspiration, so Webster parked most important feature. It had a stylish Michelotti also created a number of Japanese automakers as they geared up to ing was introduced to the mercurial little umph Herald as it became known. These his car at Michelotti’s studio at three in the full-width shape and broke new ground Triumph prototypes which did not go attack European and North American mar- Italian and signed him up as a consultant efforts included the famed TR3 Dream car afternoon, leaving his wife and daughter in for a sports Triumph with wind-up door into production, such as the Fury, the kets in the early 1960s. to Standard-Triumph in 1957 and thereby prototype which was presented at the Ge- the car and started to monitor progress. At windows and a novel hardtop as well as an Lynx, the Zest and the Zoom, as well as 32 www.TorontoTriumph.com RAGTOP I WINTER I 2012/13 RAGTOP I WINTER I 2012/13 www.TorontoTriumph.com 33 BACK THEN WE WERE THE EXPERTS AT INSURING ‘57 CHEVYS the BLMC ADO70 and ADO74 prototypes, 1975 takeover of DAF both Mini-based designs and the P82 in- by Volvo, culminated tended to replace the Morris Marina for in the Volvo 66. He was Leyland Australia. The Triumph Fury was a also responsible for the very interesting two-door roadster design absolutely gorgeous exercise carried out in 1963. It was based DAF 55 Siluro coupé on a monocoque body using components prototype revealed at from the Triumph 2000 saloon including the 1968 Geneva Mo- the 2.0L 6-cylinder engine, although the tor Show. use of the 2.5L 6-cylinder was possibly in- He worked on de- tended, had the car gone into production. signs for other Euro- Unfortunately, the Fury lost out to the pean marques such TR5/250 and TR6 series which continued as Ferrari, Fiat, Lancia, with the separate body on chassis con- Maserati, Renault’s Al- struction. It appears that the main consid- pine, and even the oc- eration for Triumph in sticking with sepa- casional contract for rate chassis construction was to facilitate Jaguar and Ford, as the complete knockdown format (CKD) well as for Japanese for assembly in overseas markets and the manufacturers Nis- ability to quickly interchange body styles san-Prince, Hino and on the same rolling frame. Daihatsu. The Reliant Michelotti’s favourite car design, the Triumph Spitfire. Not long afterwards, Michelotti went on Scimitar SS1 was his last design to reach to construct the Stag prototype following production, although posthumously four ciation with Triumph resulted in the cre- AND WE STILL ARE. the same basic design inputs considered years after his untimely death from can- ation of almost all of the models that we for the Fury.