TVR moulds & jigs scrapped?
Production dream dies as British firm in contact with The Russian tells us they're probably toast
These essential items for production were shipped out to Dresden, Germany, after Russian businessman Nikolay Smolensky bought TVR back in 2004, but we've been told they're likely to have gone the way of TVR itself.
They were offered to UK specialists Powers Performance (formerly TVR Power) but the sheer cost of transporting them back to the UK was too much for boss Dominic Trickett. "Now he says he's sold them to a businessman in Dresden, which tells me he's scrapped them," Trickett told us.
Trickett, who used to be a development engineer for TVR, is doubtful anyone UK based would have had the stomach to bring them all back. "No-one in the UK is going to hire 40 lorries, only to find the body moulds have all been distorted," he said.
The company has kept in contact with Smolenksy and was involved in The Russian's plan to install Corvette LS engines into rebodied TVRs.
However that plan came to nothing. "We put the LS and the Borg Warner 6-speed in it," Trickett said. "We were trying to homologate for Europe and the US, but we realised there wasn't a cost-effective market for the car."
Earlier this year Smolensky officially declared TVR dead and said he was going to use the name on wind farms, although nothing seems to have emerged from that.
"You can't build a mark III Tuscan and call it a Vulcan, it's not a new model," Trickett told us. "To bring back TVR you need £50 million to build a new car."
However he said that UK specialists are now sophisticated enough to build an entire TVR from scratch if anyone was prepared to pay. "There's more facility now to buy parts and have them made than there ever was when TVR was in business."
It was pretty obvious with the wind turbine idea and smolenskis statement that he'd given up was the final nail in the coffin but it doesn't seem enough to let that memory rest.
Fair play to Dom for looking in to getting the jigs back however most indy's over here have replica jigs anyway... presumably just not the number of them to begin any sort of consistent production line.
I have plenty of very strong opinionated views on TVRs previous problems and the retention of the marque in its deceased form which won't sit well in this forum. However, the one thing I will say is support your local indy, keep as many running as we can and just let the TVR of old rest peacefully. Heart Breaking.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3AQ5tYh6kQ
TVRs have never been sophisticated. If they go SVA and skirt various laws, avoid ABS, traction control and anything else complicated, it's doable.
S1 Elise was rumoured to be developed for £8m, which is staggering really. Engines aside, I don't see anything that's vastly more complicated on most TVRs. Obviously they spunk a lot on bespoke controls, mind you..
Surely even the most ardent and hopeful TVR fans must accept all hope died long ago.
It would be miles cheaper to make new molds from a set of panels and make jigs from an existing chassis than transporting the stuff in 40 lorries!
Less than 10k would see professional body molds made to a high standard and a chassis jig a lot less.
I think the trouble will always be making a low volume car to a high enough standard that appeals to enough people at a price they are prepared to pay.
I would not have been that surprised if TVR were here, in late 2012, getting close to the end through changing tastes / legislation / fuel prices / increasingly competent competition and so on, but I would have thought the brand could have carried on for at least another 5 years had a different buyer bought the company instead of Smolenski.
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