 By most accounts, only 330 (2 prototypes and 328 numbered production cars) of these hand-crafted bodies on TR3 chassis were ever built – known as the Triumph "Italia 2000 Coupé".Designed by Giovanni Michelotti and built by Alfredo Vignale in Turin, under contract to Ruffino S.p.A. Industria Construzione Automobile of Naples – it was thought that these cars would appeal to people willing to spend more for the dependability and ease of obtaining stock mechanical parts of a Triumph, but who wanted a better looking car than the standard Triumph - ""Italian bodywork at its best, British tradition in sports car engineering at its finest.”"

At the time, Salvatore Ruffino was the owner of CESAC, the Italian company that distributed Standard-Triumph in Italy.He approached Standard-Triumph to supply chassis and mechanical components to build 1,000 cars.