Gonna see more TVRs on the road soon....

[jamieheasman]

I went through the same list in my head that you've just produced Ben and came to most of the same conclusions. I was trying to be brutal and only look at it from a styling point of view and whilst I love AE86s (Levin/Corolla) they're hardly a ground-breaking design are they? I never liked the roof line on S2000s either and always felt short-changed compared to the original concept car. And yes, as much as I love MX5s and admire Mazda for building it, it is basically a rip-off of the Elan.

Oh, here's another one, what about the original Mazda Cosmo? Maybe this should be on a different thread!

All IMHO of course!

[GravelBen]

As far as not liking the S2k roofline goes, I'm yet to see a convertible that genuinely looks good with the roof up. Removable hard-tops are generally nice enough but soft-tops up tend to mess up the lines of the car.

How about the S15 Silvia/200SX?

[Esprit]

For me, here's the only jap cars that do it for me stylistically:

Mazda RX7 FD3s
Datsun 240Z
Toyota 2000GT

There are a few others that I love for what they represent (first of their kind, technologically brilliant etc.

GTR R32
Honda NSX
Toyota AW11 MR2
Mazda MX5

These are the only jap cars I'd desire to own with any great gusto.

I could perhaps include the GTR R32 in the first category as well, although it's more brutal than pretty.

TBH I've never really seen the appeal of the original KGP-C10 GTR... it doesn't look bad, but other than the Manga/Boso hype that it's become caught up in recent years, elevating its popularity, I'm not sure it's anything that's all that great.

[GravelBen]

I've never really liked the looks of the Toyota 2000GT personally, they just look a bit misproportioned IMO and I guess, well droopy in the middle is the best way I can think of to describe it. Almost like one of those sausage-dogs (but certainly not that bad).

[izza]

GravelBen said:

As far as not liking the S2k roofline goes, I'm yet to see a convertible that genuinely looks good with the roof up. Removable hard-tops are generally nice enough but soft-tops up tend to mess up the lines of the car.

How about the S15 Silvia/200SX?

Hello!

Lotus Elise!

[GravelBen]

Looks much much better with the roof off IMO. (Less said about the occupant the better I think).

[Bull1t]

Im not sure its fair to say an MX5 isnt a classic design because its a copy of an Elan. In the same way is an AW11 MR2 not a classic design because its a copy of an X1/9? An MX5 has alot of deliberate similarities to an Elan but they are still distinctly different vehicles...and alot of european cars would probably not exist today if not for it.

I agree with most things that have been said though. Despite the hype around them I dont see anything fantastic about an AE86. 4AGE was a reasonable motor for its time but theres plenty of examples of that through history and it was never groundbreaking. And Live rear axle is hardly state of the art.

FD3S would definately be on my list. 240Z (Or even more so Z432R or 240ZG). S2000 is questionable, I really like the styling and the motor but whether it has that x factor I guess time will tell.

[kjl996]

GravelBen said:

To save me the trouble of searching, how much could I pick one of these up for ?

[Bull1t]

Theres none in New Zealand.

You could import one from Japan for maybe 60k for an L series one, maybe double that for an S20 (2 litre 6 cylinder twin cam) powered one.

[jamieheasman]

I know I'm biased but TVR Griffith and Chimaera both look fantastic with their hoods up.

Whilst I don't think it looks better with it's hood up the Ferrari Mondial Cabrio did a very good job of mimicking the coupe version - I particularly liked the inclusion of buttresses in the hood.

http://adrenalin-autohaus.ebizautos.com/detail-1987-ferrari-mondial-cabriolet-2402667.html 

Also, the S2000 came with a hard top didn't it, or at least the option of one? Anyway, they're quite bland and hardly a timeless design like the GTR/240Z etc.

[Omerta]

Not forgetting this one Jamie:

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?f=13&...

There we go, now this thread's back on track....

Edited by Omerta on Thursday 24th April 03:00

[v8sag]

Omerta said:

Not forgetting this one Jamie:

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?f=13&...

There we go, now this thread's back on track....

Edited by Omerta on Thursday 24th April 03:00

I know of annother,soon to have a whole lot of puff...

[CRM]

Sporting a saggy shell?

[v8sag]

Unfortunately not,the black beast,formerly the yellow Chim should be the up in the 600hp soon,it was already cracking 59 sec dead with 450.

A forty foot container load of Tiv parts may be seeing trademe soon.

[jamieheasman]

Only a 120bhp shy of the Rover V8 in Hansen's Tuscan then!

[v8sag]

jamieheasman said:

Only a 120bhp shy of the Rover V8 in Hansen's Tuscan then!

And a 10th of the cost,plus we can still pop down to repco for parts.

[Whitey]

so will TVR's that have been hibernating in garages after being forced off the road now be allowing to legally burn some rubber? (without unnecessary acceleration of course)

It's nice to know I should be allowed to one day bring a modern TVR home, they are the only modern cars that put a grin on my face like a decent hotrod/muscle car does.