Italian Bodywork at its best . . .
Ruffino produced full-color brochures in Italian, English, and French. I've heard there was also a German language version although I have never seen one. The early Italian brochures featured a Michelotti drawing of the Italia. The next iteration had a photo of one of the show cars and on the final version the cover photo was of a production Italia.
Before the advent of digital printing, printing in full color was very expensive. Especially so if you want small runs in different languages. The solution was to print all the brochures in color without the text. This would be 'imprinted' later by running the full-color sheets through the printing press a second time but using just one or two inks. One of the brochures in my collection is one that never went through the press for that second printing.
Stutz Plaisted, the American distributor, also produced two-color brochures of his own. These were printed in black with a second color of red added to some elements. He also had postcards and envelopes printed to help advertise his new venture. Mr. Plaisted also used the full color brochure. The ones that passed through his establishment have his contact information rubber stamped on the front and back covers. A very common method to personalize printed material at the time.
The Italian brochure
This brochure came with either a illustrated red or blue Italia. Also, the back cover shows the expected distribution through official Triumph dealers, "Standard-Triumph Italiana."
The English brochure
This brochure was first produced with a red "show" car on the cover, possibly the car from the Vignale stand at the 1959 Turin show as opposed to the white #3 on the Triumph stand. Later, the image was changed to show the Italia in production specification. This is easily identified by the marker lights on the front fender.
The "Production" brochure
This brochure shows the Italia in production specification. This is easily identified by the marker light on the front fender. The inside photos still show one of the show cars. This meant only having to change the art and printing plates for the cover.
A "Blank" brochure
Here is an early full color brochure prior to the text being imprinted in various languages. As you can see, all the color elements have been printed.
The Stutz Plaisted Brochure
This is the two-color brochure Stutz Plaisted produced to promote his involvement in the Italia.
The Stutz Plaisted Promotional Package
The brochure and a postcard were mailed in a separate envelope.
The French brochure
This is the cover for the French language version of what became the final brochure. The car on the cover is one of the production models.
Those wonderful color illustrations . . .
Here is the Triumph TR3 brochure where the illustrations of the chassis, engine and disc brakes appeared prior to their use in the Italia brochure.
Click on any of the photos to start a slide show. Once the slide show starts, click on the right of the large photo to move ahead and on the left side to see the previous photo. Click the "X" or click outside the image to close the slide show.