Created in 15 days - Michelotti's Triumph TR 5 from 1968
12/12/2011
In 1968, Giovanni Michelotti wanted to exhibit the Triumph Stag on his stand at the Geneva Motor Show. However, the people from Standard Triumph decided at short notice to present the Stag on their own stand. Of course, Michelotti could not and did not want to show an empty stand, so he and his employees and a few other helpers spent around 15 days (and nights) building a new sports car based on the TR5.
For this purpose, they used the TR5 chassis in combination with a prototype version of the TR5 engine with two liters of displacement and Lucas injection, supplemented by the standard four-speed gearbox with Laycock-de-Normanville overdrive. The new bodywork, which could have anticipated the future TR6, showed Stag borrowings mixed with English and Italian style elements. The drivable study was completed just in time.
As the Automobil Revue put it: "...as well as a Spider Triumph TR 5 with very harmonious, albeit always typically English lines. The soft top protrudes beyond the body of the car."
However, the car did not become the forerunner to the TR6; this order was then placed with Karmann in Germany.
Unlike many other studies, the "TR5 Ginevra" did not disappear into a museum, but was driven on the road like a utility car and also changed hands several times.
In 1977, the car passed through the hands of Rob de la Rive Box as the Michelotti TR 5 and found a new owner for CHF 4,000.
In 1983, the advertisement shown appeared in Automobil Revue. Here, however, the car was described as a TR 6, but technically the two standard models TR 5 and TR 6 didn't have much in common anyway.
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The car is still in use and can be seen at one or other classic car meeting, such as the British Car Meeting in Morges in 2007.
Further information
- AR-Zeitung No. 14 / 1968 from March 20, 1968 - page 33: Shapes and curves - the special bodies at the Geneva Motor Show (including the Triumph TR5 by Michelotti) http://www.zwischengas.com
