1989 TVR 450 SE

One of the 35 (ish) 450SEs built and now it's 1 of 1 due to the mods but it's a great 1! OWNED 29 YEARS

1989 Car. Mileage 78K (current engine 17K)

As for the upgrades, probably the most interesting bit for a prospective purchaser is the engine which if you were to spec today would cost you circa £15K for the engine alone

John Eales 4.8 Serpentine.

quad 48 IDF Webers.

Cross-bolted cylinder block

94mm Omega forged pistons

Medium valved polished & ported heads

218 camshaft and hydraulic lifters

Heavy duty bearings

Baffled sump and pick-up pope

Cloyes timing chain

Couple of bits of data

Engine provides 316bhp and >300lbft torgue from 2650rpm through to 5000rpm compared with the original 4.5 engine (showing TVR were somewhat 'fibbing' with their quoted figures) of 265lbft at 4500rpm and 252bhp at 5600rpm

Other mods:

Rollcentre rollcage

Ex-race Tuscan wheels 16" wearing 245/45/16 at rear and 225/45/16 at front with brand new tyres all round. Original wheel covers included

Custom made full exhaust system by Top Cats Racing (2013) with centre box replaced with EMP Performance Exhausts custom made in 2024

Hi-Spec upgrade/enlarged brakes (300mm vented cross drilled) & cooling air ducting.

Twin red-top fuel pumps (one replaced last year) with separate switches on the dashboard

GAZ gold dampers & springs (Top Cats Racing) 2013

Race seat with 5 point harnesses. Original drivers seat included too

Modified bonnet to clear and feed air filters

All relevant engine bay mods for serpentine engine including power-steering, manifolds, cooling, wiring etc

The full MOT history (at least from 2006 but I've got it filed from before that) is online so not much need to repeat here except to say anything causing a fail over the years has been fixed but most failures have been on emissions usually resolved simply by getting car hot by doing a spirited run before being tested!

Good condition all round with some retouching over the years as you'd expect on age of car. Carpets in at least the footwells need refurbing but otherwise interiod good with refurbished dashboard.

Wheels recently refurbished/repolished.

Over the years, most of the money (far too many thousands) has been spent ensuring all the mechanical bits work well and doing the upgrades etc. Chassis is good. Full file of all receipts and work from the near 29 years. Most recent works include recent new swirl pot between fuel tanks plus all new hosing around tanks.

With the exception of a just a few days here and there it's always been garaged in my ownership.

Registration not included but can be discussed. Original plate G reg (1989).

Original OZ wheels (need refurb) available too.

An ideal basis to have as a modified road car or trackday car or with required mods, configure as a race car. The engine and suspension and other mods puts the car well ahead of standard models yet could be put back to near standard as a road car just with the uprated engine.

Those who know the car from the trackdays it's been used for over the years, will know it's a quick car which handles well yet at the same time is pretty forgiving.

Car always starts first time.

Price ONO