EARLY TVR ARTEFACTS and MEMORABILIA .

EARLY TVR ARTEFACTS and MEMORABILIA .

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thegamekeeper

Original Poster:

2,282 posts

282 months

Monday 22nd June 2015
quotequote all
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