Even I spluttered, £129,995!!!
Discussion
Am I the only one slightly disappointed that the ad seems to be 50% made up of what TVR INTENDED to do with the car, rather than actual info on the car?
I have seen a Typhon on the road once, in London (I believe one lived there at the time) and it single handedly made me re-appraise TVRs.
Still, a vast amount of wonga that. I am not entirely sure if I had the money I would go for it... a dilemma I one day wish to have
I might go... http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/a...
I have seen a Typhon on the road once, in London (I believe one lived there at the time) and it single handedly made me re-appraise TVRs.
Still, a vast amount of wonga that. I am not entirely sure if I had the money I would go for it... a dilemma I one day wish to have
I might go... http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/a...
This is the Typhon that was ordered as a Typhon and built as a Typhon under PW. The Goodwood car. The only car to run with the supercharger.
The problem was that TVR couldn't manage the heat. At the same time the gearbox kept locking at speed. And these options were dropped long before any customer cars were delivered.
Now, to continue the semantics, the other two cars are also Typhons. They are Typhons because that is what the owner of the company decided were Typhons. By 2005/6 the race program was over and the need for two homologation models (T440 & Typhon) ended so the T440 name was dropped and the only car was the Typhon. And at that time the list price of the Typhon was £135k.
So, the sequential box was dropped, the SC was dropped, the race fuel tank became standard, the rear seats became standard all before the first customer car was delivered.
This particular car was never delivered to its customer but retained by the factory until I bought it in 2010 and fitted a new engine and gearbox and finally put it on the road.
The problem was that TVR couldn't manage the heat. At the same time the gearbox kept locking at speed. And these options were dropped long before any customer cars were delivered.
Now, to continue the semantics, the other two cars are also Typhons. They are Typhons because that is what the owner of the company decided were Typhons. By 2005/6 the race program was over and the need for two homologation models (T440 & Typhon) ended so the T440 name was dropped and the only car was the Typhon. And at that time the list price of the Typhon was £135k.
So, the sequential box was dropped, the SC was dropped, the race fuel tank became standard, the rear seats became standard all before the first customer car was delivered.
This particular car was never delivered to its customer but retained by the factory until I bought it in 2010 and fitted a new engine and gearbox and finally put it on the road.
A.G. said:
d) the exotic construction methods and materials used.
Pistonheads. Accuracy matters.
There were no exotic construction methods. On that point this is one of the disappoiting things from TVR. They used carbon fibre and honeycomb aluminium but only as additional strengthening, needed for the race car. Given that the Rochdale Olympic and Lotus Elite had used a full structural shell from a composite forty years earlier and TVR had introduced the strong kevlar strand fifteen years earlier a structural central tub if not a full/near full shell might have been expected.Pistonheads. Accuracy matters.
TA14 said:
A.G. said:
d) the exotic construction methods and materials used.
Pistonheads. Accuracy matters.
There were no exotic construction methods. On that point this is one of the disappoiting things from TVR. They used carbon fibre and honeycomb aluminium but only as additional strengthening, needed for the race car. Given that the Rochdale Olympic and Lotus Elite had used a full structural shell from a composite forty years earlier and TVR had introduced the strong kevlar strand fifteen years earlier a structural central tub if not a full/near full shell might have been expected.Pistonheads. Accuracy matters.
I think the most important issue here is that the advert in its current guise is, shall we say, in need of redressing.
TA14 said:
There were no exotic construction methods. On that point this is one of the disappointing things from TVR. They used carbon fibre and honeycomb aluminium but only as additional strengthening, needed for the race car. Given that the Rochdale Olympic and Lotus Elite had used a full structural shell from a composite forty years earlier and TVR had introduced the strong kevlar strand fifteen years earlier a structural central tub if not a full/near full shell might have been expected.
While I agree with DA above about the CF body, I have to agree with TA14 that these cars were a missed opportunity.Chris Runciman, who was the project leader, wanted to build something more in line with the Elise chassis and introduce different materials as well.
Peter Wheeler vetoed the idea and wanted to stick with the antiquated spaceframe as the basis, as it was 'what we know'. The carbon fibre and honeycomb was added in an attempt to achieve the rigidity lost by using the spaceframe. A compromise.
DonkeyApple said:
I think the most important issue here is that the advert in its current guise is, shall we say, in need of redressing.
I haven't mentioned the ad before but it depends what you want. The ad does it's job at the moment. It's most likely that a buyer will either be a TVR enthusiast or someone who will do some reasearch on the car, not least of all your own threads and contributions.A.G. said:
DonkeyApple said:
By 2005/6 the race program was over and the need for two homologation models (T440 & Typhon) ended so the T440 name was dropped and the only car was the Typhon.
I understood that the original homologation models were called T400 and T440.One of the real problems with this model is that all the road cars were actually built at the same time, the shells that is but then over the course of 5/6 years TVR repeatedly changed their names, their ideas, their intent. In short, they buggered around so much that none of the cars left the factory outside of the grey T440 which was sent to LNT when he was running the 4 race cars an going to Le Mans and when NS took over and halted the race program, shut down the composites team and began his concept of a new car called the Typhoon, he dropped all the previous names and retained 'Typhon' as the sole model name for the three road cars they had in the factory.
A.G. said:
DonkeyApple said:
A.G. said:
DonkeyApple said:
By 2005/6 the race program was over and the need for two homologation models (T440 & Typhon) ended so the T440 name was dropped and the only car was the Typhon.
I understood that the original homologation models were called T400 and T440.One of the real problems with this model is that all the road cars were actually built at the same time, the shells that is but then over the course of 5/6 years TVR repeatedly changed their names, their ideas, their intent. In short, they buggered around so much that none of the cars left the factory outside of the grey T440 which was sent to LNT when he was running the 4 race cars an going to Le Mans and when NS took over and halted the race program, shut down the composites team and began his concept of a new car called the Typhoon, he dropped all the previous names and retained 'Typhon' as the sole model name for the three road cars they had in the factory.
I get that many things were happening simultaneously and that they certainly did indeed bugger around a great deal and this doesn't help matters. As I understood it, the 440 and 550 names, were at the time proposed representations of BHP. This being the case, the 550 would require the supercharger to achieve this and it was this car that was to be renamed the Typhon.
Later down the line possibly Smolensky who, was now looking to offload some very expensive partially built cars took a pure marketing decision to add percieved value by adorning these with the badge from the halo model whilst building the car to its original entry level specifications. Possibly?
The red T400 was shown first in about 2001 with a TuscanR badge then by the motor show in 2002 it was the T400 and then by the motor show in 2003 had been rebadged as a T440. The brown car was always a T440.
It was the German reseller who wanted a supercharged version and the factory originally called it the T550 but when it was first publically announced it was the Typhon.
Shortly after NS took over the whole project was shelved, the T440 badge dropped and the three remaining cars were badged as Typhons. One of the Reflex Charcoal ones was sold and is the only car that went direct to a customer, the other was taken by NS and used by him before being sold. The orange one remained at the factory and some staff continued to try and get the SC and sequential box working. The firm went bust before they did and this car ultimately was part of the Multipart settlement via the administrators.
The key is that by the time cars were being delivered to customers there was no T400 or T440 just the Typhon badge and all the options had been dropped.
A.G. said:
DonkeyApple said:
Yup. The race cars which began life called TuscanR's for a short time until changing to T400 and were always called T400s thereafter.
The red T400 was shown first in about 2001 with a TuscanR badge then by the motor show in 2002 it was the T400 and then by the motor show in 2003 had been rebadged as a T440. The brown car was always a T440.
It was the German reseller who wanted a supercharged version and the factory originally called it the T550 but when it was first publically announced it was the Typhon.
Shortly after NS took over the whole project was shelved, the T440 badge dropped and the three remaining cars were badged as Typhons. One of the Reflex Charcoal ones was sold and is the only car that went direct to a customer, the other was taken by NS and used by him before being sold. The orange one remained at the factory and some staff continued to try and get the SC and sequential box working. The firm went bust before they did and this car ultimately was part of the Multipart settlement via the administrators.
The key is that by the time cars were being delivered to customers there was no T400 or T440 just the Typhon badge and all the options had been dropped.
I absolutley agree with everything said in the first 4 paragraphs although I don't remember the T440 being present at the 03 show. I just remember a huge backdrop depicting the car. That said, it was a long time ago, my memory is somewhat vague and I would not like to have to bet money on it. It was certainly conspicuous by its absence the following year.The red T400 was shown first in about 2001 with a TuscanR badge then by the motor show in 2002 it was the T400 and then by the motor show in 2003 had been rebadged as a T440. The brown car was always a T440.
It was the German reseller who wanted a supercharged version and the factory originally called it the T550 but when it was first publically announced it was the Typhon.
Shortly after NS took over the whole project was shelved, the T440 badge dropped and the three remaining cars were badged as Typhons. One of the Reflex Charcoal ones was sold and is the only car that went direct to a customer, the other was taken by NS and used by him before being sold. The orange one remained at the factory and some staff continued to try and get the SC and sequential box working. The firm went bust before they did and this car ultimately was part of the Multipart settlement via the administrators.
The key is that by the time cars were being delivered to customers there was no T400 or T440 just the Typhon badge and all the options had been dropped.
DonkeyApple earlier said:
The problem was that TVR couldn't manage the heat. At the same time the gearbox kept locking at speed. And these options were dropped long before any customer cars were delivered.
I think where I was coming from is that the 550 or latterly the Typhon had been presented as a separate model, not as a T440 with options that could be chosen or dropped. This was certainly the case until 05 when I lost contact with TVR. I admit that any discussions which may have taken place after this time are unknown to me.Just to play Devil's advocate and with reference to my earlier comment alluding to an opinion that NS may have latterly used the Typhon badge to add value, then if we agree that the original names of 440 and 550 were intended to relate to power output and if for the sake of argument PW had not come up with the name Typhon, would NS then have sold the lower powered, normally aspirated cars as T550Rs?
I don't think so. Cynical, moi?One thing is for sure, there are few more complicated subjects than an analysis of TVRs production activities, whichever era you choose to investigate. Intrigue was seemingly an integral part of their history right to the end.
Edited by A.G. on Monday 14th April 13:39
In the end none of this happened and the Typhon was no different from the T440 and there were no options. The orange one did have the legacy of the SC and sequential option but the latter was scrapped by the factory and the former never worked. When I came to recommissioning the car it was for fast road use and I did not want the hassle of getting the sc to work for a power output I had no need of.
When NS took over he had a defunct composite project and race project which were wound up and left with three cars. He chose to ditch the T440 badge over Typhon (although several workers allude to it being PW who in fact rebadged all the cars as Typhons). It's most certainly as you suggest but don't forget the T550 as a brand never existed, it was just the initial name given to the project when the company thought that after the T350 they would designate the hard top T cars by power output. When the decided to call the Sagaris the Sagaris this went out the window so when it came to naming the super charged car they continued in the Greek format rather than numerical so in reality if you were left with a brand to ditch you'd probably do similar anyway.
Edited by DonkeyApple on Monday 14th April 15:57
TA14 said:
DonkeyApple said:
When they decided to call the Sagaris the Sagaris this went out the window so when it came to naming the super charged car they continued in the Greek format
except that Sagaris is PersianWhether the word is from the river or the nymph or was a Trojan it is Greek in its origin.
Youtube clip of PN02 ZNG on top gear, Clarkson called it a Tuscan R http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4sRqlWZek5c
dobbie said:
Youtube clip of PN02 ZNG on top gear, Clarkson called it a Tuscan R http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4sRqlWZek5c
And it was. A year later the same car was a T400
Then a year after that it was a T440.
If it had still been on the shop floor in 2006 it would have then had a Typhon badge on it.
But the shell was painted up in De Walt 91 racing colours and it was used to promote the race series and Le Mans.
The car is still in that livery, owned by the same person and with no running gear.
http://www.thehedgegroup.co.uk.gridhosted.co.uk/de...
This is fascinating stuff and what PH (and TVR) is all about!
However, back on thread; having seen and heard (followed) this car at TiTT, if I had the money I would have it in a heartbeat. That would be the case whatever it was named or badged as. A stunning and fairly unique piece of TVR history that DA brought back to our roads.
However, back on thread; having seen and heard (followed) this car at TiTT, if I had the money I would have it in a heartbeat. That would be the case whatever it was named or badged as. A stunning and fairly unique piece of TVR history that DA brought back to our roads.
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