Discussion
Well I thought every car that left Blackpool was a bit special!!!, but seriously how old do you want to go??
Heres some of the specials:-
TVR No 1 reputeduly crashed and scrapped
TVR No 2 Restored living in Yorkshire
TVR No 3 Dismantled by Trevor Wilkinson to make next car
TVR Sport Saloon disappeared in Newcastle in the 60s
TVR Open Sports - restored lurking around Scotland
Grantura Le Mans Cars/Sebring Racers/Lightweights - several still exist (more than probably raced)
Tina Coupe in UK believe owned by Gerry Marshall
Tina Spider in USA
Tridents (2 x FH in US, 1 x FH + 1 x DH in UK)
Zante - being restored with Factory involvement
3000S Turbo SE only one car originally made for Martin Lilley - probably for sale at the right price
Tasmin Turbo - one x FHC and one x DHC
420 Saloon - cut up by factory
Speed Eight - cut up by factory
ES - S series car with 3.2 Swaymar engine - about somewhere
S Cosworth - buried under a dust sheet at the factory - not for sale
Holden V8 at factory
Then theres cars with no chassis numbers and cars with duplicate chassis numbers, air cars (ones created out of thin air), Vixens/Granturas now Tuscans/Griffiths, the 3000S's without boots, the roadtest 390SE with a 4.2, 5 litre V8S etc etc
Plus factory assisted specials the V8 3000M and the 4wd wide bodied 1969 Tuscan with Boss 302 engine, 4wd and Maxaret anti-lock brakes)
Alternatively you could ask the factory to make a special - they can always say no.
davidy
Heres some of the specials:-
TVR No 1 reputeduly crashed and scrapped
TVR No 2 Restored living in Yorkshire
TVR No 3 Dismantled by Trevor Wilkinson to make next car
TVR Sport Saloon disappeared in Newcastle in the 60s
TVR Open Sports - restored lurking around Scotland
Grantura Le Mans Cars/Sebring Racers/Lightweights - several still exist (more than probably raced)
Tina Coupe in UK believe owned by Gerry Marshall
Tina Spider in USA
Tridents (2 x FH in US, 1 x FH + 1 x DH in UK)
Zante - being restored with Factory involvement
3000S Turbo SE only one car originally made for Martin Lilley - probably for sale at the right price
Tasmin Turbo - one x FHC and one x DHC
420 Saloon - cut up by factory
Speed Eight - cut up by factory
ES - S series car with 3.2 Swaymar engine - about somewhere
S Cosworth - buried under a dust sheet at the factory - not for sale
Holden V8 at factory
Then theres cars with no chassis numbers and cars with duplicate chassis numbers, air cars (ones created out of thin air), Vixens/Granturas now Tuscans/Griffiths, the 3000S's without boots, the roadtest 390SE with a 4.2, 5 litre V8S etc etc
Plus factory assisted specials the V8 3000M and the 4wd wide bodied 1969 Tuscan with Boss 302 engine, 4wd and Maxaret anti-lock brakes)
Alternatively you could ask the factory to make a special - they can always say no.
davidy
To my knowledge there was one Taimar prototype, this had a removable roof panel as well. It was registered around 74/75 with a 1600 Kent engine (ie it was a modified 1600M). It was around a few years ago in white. I expect that Mervyn Larner (TVRCC model registrar may know of its whereabouts). There is a picture in 'Success against the odds' and I've got some photos somewhere.
I don't believe that there were any other Taimar prototypes. Early Taimars did however have a boot lock rather than the solenoid, but that doesn't qualify them as prototypes.
There were other one-off/prototype M's
3000M Convertible XKU3L basically a roofless 3000M built for and used by Martin Lilley, Car resurfaced (????) a few years ago in Hong Kong/Macau as a pre-1975 race car fitted with a Ford 302 engine - original I don't think so.
3000S/Convertible prototype - Featured in various books with plate TVR22, different from other 3000S's in that it had no opening boot and TR6 rear lights.
3000S's The first three cars had no opening boots, including one used for press shots EBV178S (later registered by factory as TYG14W). I believe that all three cars were later converted to boots
3000M Turbo - original developed car OCW140P written off by a journalist
Then there are the SE cars, more cars exist than the factory originally made, but the owners of the originals know who they are.
A few factory built race cars (prodsports) still exist (thinner fibreglass), I looked at an ex-Chris Meeks 1600M a few years ago, but didn't buy it as it was a bag of nails and knackered and we already had a Griff500, Modified Taimar and a Vixen at the time.
Hope this helps (adds more confusion)
davidy
>> Edited by davidy on Tuesday 2nd July 13:27
I don't believe that there were any other Taimar prototypes. Early Taimars did however have a boot lock rather than the solenoid, but that doesn't qualify them as prototypes.
There were other one-off/prototype M's
3000M Convertible XKU3L basically a roofless 3000M built for and used by Martin Lilley, Car resurfaced (????) a few years ago in Hong Kong/Macau as a pre-1975 race car fitted with a Ford 302 engine - original I don't think so.
3000S/Convertible prototype - Featured in various books with plate TVR22, different from other 3000S's in that it had no opening boot and TR6 rear lights.
3000S's The first three cars had no opening boots, including one used for press shots EBV178S (later registered by factory as TYG14W). I believe that all three cars were later converted to boots
3000M Turbo - original developed car OCW140P written off by a journalist
Then there are the SE cars, more cars exist than the factory originally made, but the owners of the originals know who they are.
A few factory built race cars (prodsports) still exist (thinner fibreglass), I looked at an ex-Chris Meeks 1600M a few years ago, but didn't buy it as it was a bag of nails and knackered and we already had a Griff500, Modified Taimar and a Vixen at the time.
Hope this helps (adds more confusion)
davidy
>> Edited by davidy on Tuesday 2nd July 13:27
This is how it looked in 1971. 
I did some digging on prototypes a while back...
There was a 420 Sports saloon - a 4 seat, 2 door coupe with a 4.2 V8...
The Speed 8 - based on the 420 Sports Saloon, only a drop top 2+2, with a 3.9 or 4.3. Rumour has it this was recently disposed of at the factory.
The Griffith Speed 6 - as seen at the '97 Motorshow - one in yellow and one in pale green (or was it the same one re-painted?)
A Tasmin 660 Special - made for a Swede back in March '87. Based on a SEAC, but featured a race tuned Donovan 6.6 V8
..and a Tasmin Turbo built for a Mr P. Wheeler, featuring a 5 litre powerplant.
There was a 420 Sports saloon - a 4 seat, 2 door coupe with a 4.2 V8...
The Speed 8 - based on the 420 Sports Saloon, only a drop top 2+2, with a 3.9 or 4.3. Rumour has it this was recently disposed of at the factory.
The Griffith Speed 6 - as seen at the '97 Motorshow - one in yellow and one in pale green (or was it the same one re-painted?)
A Tasmin 660 Special - made for a Swede back in March '87. Based on a SEAC, but featured a race tuned Donovan 6.6 V8
..and a Tasmin Turbo built for a Mr P. Wheeler, featuring a 5 litre powerplant.
Didn't the Griffith Speed Six become the Motorshow Tamora???
Thats the first I've heard of a Tasmin Turbo with 5 litre Powerplant. Mr Wheeler was the main instigator of the V8 Tasmins and the development of the 350i was done instead of further developing the Tasmin Turbos (which were started during Martin Lilley's Reign). Maybe you're getting confused with the White Elephant (the Holden Engined Car)
Back to the Taimar prototype, I belive that this was an in-house effort. TVR have put out very few cars to outside design houses and non I believe during the Wheeler era. The cars put out were the Tina anmd Trident (to Fissore) and the Zante and Tasmin to William Towns.
In my view William Towns did quite well out of it as he first designed the Zante, then took the back end of the Zante and put a new front end on it and sold it to Lotus as the Elite, then redesigned the rear of the Zante and sold it to TVR as the Tasmin. Got 3 cars out of one and one customer bought two of the designs!!!!
There was a design house style competition in the late 80s run by Fast Lane magazine to design a TVR for the 90s in which they got several design houses to do sketches and then got Mr. Wheeler to review/pass comment - from memory one looked a bit like a 90s Griffith!!
Back to M series prototypes, you could of course buy the very rare one off 3000M convertible (alias the pram) developed by the very estwhile Terminator, I assume its still for sale Colin???
davidy
Thats the first I've heard of a Tasmin Turbo with 5 litre Powerplant. Mr Wheeler was the main instigator of the V8 Tasmins and the development of the 350i was done instead of further developing the Tasmin Turbos (which were started during Martin Lilley's Reign). Maybe you're getting confused with the White Elephant (the Holden Engined Car)
Back to the Taimar prototype, I belive that this was an in-house effort. TVR have put out very few cars to outside design houses and non I believe during the Wheeler era. The cars put out were the Tina anmd Trident (to Fissore) and the Zante and Tasmin to William Towns.
In my view William Towns did quite well out of it as he first designed the Zante, then took the back end of the Zante and put a new front end on it and sold it to Lotus as the Elite, then redesigned the rear of the Zante and sold it to TVR as the Tasmin. Got 3 cars out of one and one customer bought two of the designs!!!!
There was a design house style competition in the late 80s run by Fast Lane magazine to design a TVR for the 90s in which they got several design houses to do sketches and then got Mr. Wheeler to review/pass comment - from memory one looked a bit like a 90s Griffith!!
Back to M series prototypes, you could of course buy the very rare one off 3000M convertible (alias the pram) developed by the very estwhile Terminator, I assume its still for sale Colin???
davidy
I was told by 'a factory source' that the chassis and front end of this car was the basis for the White Elephant. The Tasmin Turbo is the picture that Ted posted... is this the one that's also known as the white elephant?
All the info seems to be here... www.b-link.co.uk/talkingtvr/prototypes.htm - appears that we're going round in circles!
Also, I read something a while back about a "Blackpool B340" - anyone know about this, or was it just another designation given to some Griffith's for a foreign market?
All the info seems to be here... www.b-link.co.uk/talkingtvr/prototypes.htm - appears that we're going round in circles!
Also, I read something a while back about a "Blackpool B340" - anyone know about this, or was it just another designation given to some Griffith's for a foreign market?
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