EARLY TVR ARTEFACTS and MEMORABILIA .

EARLY TVR ARTEFACTS and MEMORABILIA .

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thegamekeeper

Original Poster:

2,282 posts

281 months

Monday 22nd June 2015
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I have been having a tidy up in the " MUSEUM" and came across some bits and pieces that got me thinking of a new thread on here about things that interest me and many things that I treasure find interesting and hopefully some of you will find of interest too.

Be great if you have anything in your cave that's interesting please share it but try to avoid cut and paste Googley stuff.

After the fire at Blackpool in 1975 I was up at the factory ( what a heartbreaking sight) and amongh many things ready for throwing out were some original drawings. I managed to rescue a working drawing for the Grantura Mk3 chassis complete with singe marks from the heat,


I managed to rescue a few other drawings most of which were considerably more damaged. The Grantura drawing is very useful with all the precise dimensions shown and makes you wonder how some of the Granturas that are racing have significantly different chassis.

Several years before the fire, probably late 60,s I was at the factory collecting parts and chatting to Stan Kilcoyne ( parts manager and one of the first 3 founder members of TVR ). We were chatting about the possibility of TVR ever racing again at Sebring or Le Mans. During the conversation he came out of his office with a wood rim steering wheel which he gave to me and said I might like it. He said it was from the Grantura that Mark Donohue had raced at Sebring. It was a bit careworn but I accepted it with many thanks. It's been hanging on the wall in my cave for many years and has become even tattier but much loved.






I am not sure it's possible to prove it was the Sebring wheel but there is no reason why Stan would have lied. I have seen quite a few photos of the original Griffith 200 steering wheels and it is certainly exactly the same. 6 hole fixing, no hole for horn push ( horn push was on the indicator switch on column. 2 tone wood rim with finger grips on back ans 3 identical length spokes with teardrop slots rather than holes.

I think the 2 items above are a bit special, they are at least to me.

Sorting through my literature and found all the pre Sprint A4 Xeroxed news letters, starting April 1965.


These carried on monthly till late 1971 getting thicker and thicker each month as membership and enthusiasm increased.

Next were the pre sequentially numbered "Sprint " magazines in the much loved A5 format although some of these had numbers.


Then came "Sprint" with the numbering sequence which is continued to current issues.



During the production run of Sprint there was a period where the TVRCC published "Super Sprint".



That's enough of literature for now, a taster of episode 2 to follow. BADGES




RFC1

1,107 posts

196 months

Monday 22nd June 2015
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Excellent stuff Steve, and potentially a very interesting thread indeed. clap

Sandy

alphaone

1,019 posts

172 months

Monday 22nd June 2015
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I have been collecting sprints for ages so its very interesting to see the pre sprint newletters.

Some great bits of history there, thanks for sharing them.

plasticpig72

1,647 posts

148 months

Monday 22nd June 2015
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great subject and talking about badges there are also TVR badges from the dealers such as John Britten
Alan

alphaone

1,019 posts

172 months

Monday 22nd June 2015
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I have some issues of TVRCC North West, how many issues came out? Think I have about 6 but havent seen them for awhile as they are in storage.

VixenS2

15 posts

146 months

Monday 22nd June 2015
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TVR dealer sign in the living room

Adrian@

4,289 posts

281 months

Monday 22nd June 2015
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For Richard to edit

Edited by Adrian@ on Monday 22 June 21:03

luckycarter

158 posts

275 months

Monday 22nd June 2015
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Heres a few scans of originals that Adrian has put up for me, the white and green one is from june 1969 and the blue one is from november 1969. The other is a scan of one of the newsletters(fullscap) from the old original club, newsletter No14 from 1963. Also a colour scan of the first newsletter from the club as we know it from march 1965

RobMk2a

432 posts

130 months

Tuesday 23rd June 2015
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This is a photo of 1886 UE the Oakes Richards Research garages Mk2 (with revised bonnet) raced by Chris Summer, Peter Simpson and Stu Hemley - anyone know where it is now.

Rich - do the early Pre Sprint newsletters contain any race reports from the early 60's.


Rob

Early photo at Mallory Park.

timelord

316 posts

282 months

Tuesday 23rd June 2015
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Met Oakes Richards' widow a few years back, she was living in SE Cornwall then, had some interesting history from early days of TVRCC before it became The Sportscar Club including a club tie with the winged TVR logo.

luckycarter

158 posts

275 months

Wednesday 24th June 2015
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Yes i think she was the secretary for the original club

Monkeythree

511 posts

228 months

Thursday 25th June 2015
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Quotation for spare from the factory dated 1974 and a period aftermarket modification to Vixen steering.