The name Vitesse has had a few goes at getting started. It loitered around the Austin, Triumph and subsequent BMC/Leyland group for knocking on half a century.
Austin had it first, for its big six-cylinder 20hp tourer, but in the 1930s its rival and later British Motor Corporation housemate Triumph claimed it for its own uprated to twin-carburettor, and sometimes six-cylinder, variant of the Gloria.
Rover assumed it for its quicker SD1 and later models, but it’s the Triumph stint that is most relevant to the Scramble’s central Reboots & Restomods display on Sunday 5 October because in 1962 the name returned to the bootlid of a Triumph.
In keeping with its history to that point, here was a six-cylinder variant of an existing humble Triumph, the Herald. More angular, suggesting what was to come in the following decade’s fashion for car design, it was more sporting and rorty. Fitting for the Vitesse name, fittingly rebooted for 10 years or so.
The car representing the original run of the Triumph Vitesse is one of just seven saloons, available from Bicester’s The Motor Shed and one of the few six-cylinder models.
Unlike on the Reboots around it, you'll not notice any retro design cues from one to the other; the 1960s car market was still new but also too saturated to hark backwards. The 1960s were the future. And what could be more futuristic than a reboot, four decades before they were cool?