RE: TVR moulds & jigs scrapped?

RE: TVR moulds & jigs scrapped?

Thursday 29th November 2012

TVR moulds & jigs scrapped?

Production dream dies as British firm in contact with The Russian tells us they're probably toast



The dream of resurrecting any of the most recent TVR models has all but died with news that the jigs and body moulds for cars like the Tuscan and Sagaris are likely to have been scrapped.

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.

Tuscan one of the models affected
Tuscan one of the models affected
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."

Author
Discussion

phillpot

Original Poster:

17,100 posts

182 months

Thursday 29th November 2012
quotequote all

Are there any "part moulds" for making crash repair panels anywhere?
Or will it be a matter of second hand panels or moulds taken of existing cars?

RTH

1,057 posts

211 months

Thursday 29th November 2012
quotequote all
What a disaster this whole saga has been. If only Peter Wheeler had not sold it out,when and to whom he did , they might have still been making cars in some form today. Sad loss to the British car scene.Bad news.

Rrroro

388 posts

154 months

Thursday 29th November 2012
quotequote all
I don't own a TVR myself, but nevertheless found this quite a sad story. It's like exhuming a body thinking it may in fact be alive, but then re-burying it.

.... Sorry for the morbid thoughts this bright sunny Thursday afternoon!

Ri Orus2

142 posts

161 months

Thursday 29th November 2012
quotequote all
I'm getting tired of reading about this. I'm no petrol head, i'm a TVR head and whilst the marque is very much alive amoungst the clubs etc it genuinely saddens me read reams of bad news. I couldn't care less for any other cars it was only ever TVR for me from a young age; all my mates wanted ferraris and lambo's but for me it was only ever TVR.

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.

Frimley111R

15,490 posts

233 months

Thursday 29th November 2012
quotequote all
£50 million to build a new car? And the bloody rest!!!

DonkeyApple

54,781 posts

168 months

Thursday 29th November 2012
quotequote all
I guess this 'press release' tells us who made up the Vulcan name. rofl

I hope all the jigs and moulds have been scrapped and the marque can rest without risk of some penniless and clueless jub trying to rekindle old models.

sidewayz

2,681 posts

240 months

Thursday 29th November 2012
quotequote all
Tragic end to a sad story. I can't help but think that some of the other potential buyers would have made far more of what was emerging as a Marque with serious potential. I'll look after mine as it's now even more special.

Mr Gear

9,416 posts

189 months

Thursday 29th November 2012
quotequote all
TVR and Rover both seem to have gone the same way.

Instead of giving the sick patients a cup of tea and some paracetamol, they have been cut up for their organs.

Major Fallout

5,278 posts

230 months

Thursday 29th November 2012
quotequote all
I just find this cruel.

Its like finding a Russian teenager kicking a dead dog down the road.

russkyh

12 posts

147 months

Thursday 29th November 2012
quotequote all
I cant help thinking that Mr Smolenksy is an utter bellend (putting it mildly)

Big Fat Fatty

3,303 posts

155 months

Thursday 29th November 2012
quotequote all
It wouldn't take much to make new ones, they were only fibreglass. Some measurements or some second hand panels and in a few weeks you could have new plugs and moulds made, no problem.

Now, who has a Tuscan S they don't mind being taken apart?

lenandsons

1,316 posts

232 months

Thursday 29th November 2012
quotequote all
Genuine question, been looking to bring a Cerb to Canada. But the one thing that is stopping me is what happens if I need a body panel replaced. Are they easy enough to buy for an Indy and ship over?

GTRene

16,314 posts

223 months

Thursday 29th November 2012
quotequote all
maybe with present technology they can print parts of TVR in the near future with 3d printing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3AQ5tYh6kQ

pthelazyjourno

1,848 posts

168 months

Thursday 29th November 2012
quotequote all
Frimley111R said:
£50 million to build a new car? And the bloody rest!!!
Depends how you do it.

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..

Mastodon2

13,818 posts

164 months

Thursday 29th November 2012
quotequote all
Reading these articles about yet more nails in the TVR coffin,, written no doubt, with some faint and distant hope that TVR could be resurrected, really are like walking past the grave of an old, respected member of the local community, only to find a Russian yob cutting a turd loaf on the headstone.

Surely even the most ardent and hopeful TVR fans must accept all hope died long ago.

vixen1700

22,571 posts

269 months

Thursday 29th November 2012
quotequote all
Very sad news, like hearing the very last nail in the coffin. frown

Be glad to get mine back all shiny and new in a few months just in time for its 41st birthday. smile

rdodger

1,088 posts

202 months

Thursday 29th November 2012
quotequote all
I really don't see the problem.

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.


myhandle

1,178 posts

173 months

Thursday 29th November 2012
quotequote all
russkyh said:
I cant help thinking that Mr Smolenksy is an utter bellend (putting it mildly)
He did seem to do an amazing job of running the company into the ground in record time, did he not? I was surprised just how quickly he managed to do it.

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.

GranCab

2,902 posts

145 months

Thursday 29th November 2012
quotequote all
Anything as sophisticated as a TVR could be developed for around £50 given access to an old canoe-building workshop and a supply of simple V8s from across the Pond ... laugh

cydaps

44 posts

244 months

Thursday 29th November 2012
quotequote all
Great shame... I owned two TVRs in the past so it kinda cuts you deep when you hear it's almost certainly sunk without a trace. Put some nobody russian kid in charge with too much money and too little brain power and hey presto, recipe for disaster and now this sounds like it really is all over, with no hope of recovery. Oh well, RIP TVR, the memories live on though!