1994 TVR GRIFFITH

After 15 years it is time to sell my lovely Griffith 500. This car has been awesome over the time I have had it. This car was previously owned by "Quinny" who was well known on the TVR forums and produced a whole series of videos on this car under the guise of "Big 500". It is currently at 71.8k miles

This car has had a lot of work done to it over the years.

Full fast road engine at 50k miles. Stage 2 Engine with cross bolted block, ARP bottom end, stealth cam with vernier timing gear, v8 development stage 3 heads, solid rockers, ACT trumpet base, ACT inlet pipework, ACT stainless coolant pipes with silicone hoses, Mark Adams Tornado Chip mapped to suit, All cats removed with V8 enhancements Y piece fitted. Manifolds ceramic coated and fitted using ARP bolts, JP sports exhaust.

The car was dynoed by Joolz at kits and classics a few years ago at 317BHP with a lovely flat torque curve. This engine is the best road engine I have ever experienced and is a real monster. As the block is older than 1994 it can be MOT'ed as an age relevant MOT, meaning no emissions check and can be legally run without cats.

The chassis is an early "silver coated" rather than "white powder coated" variant, which are apparently much better protected. Quinny refurbished the chassis in 09-10 with total clean and repaint in POR15. All wishbones removed and fitted with powerflex bushes and polybushed diff mounts and anti-rollbar mounts at the same time. Stainless braided brake hoses and Bilstein shocks and springs were fitted at the same time. Steve Heath Rose jointed drop links. It also has a rare factory fitted, leather clad rollover bar and eyes for harnesses.

Since I have had the car I have maintained myself, always using Race Pro S and Royal Purple oils. I replaced the wheels with original Estorils which were fully refurbished, I have a Leven bikini hood cover and valuable Cambira Cirrus targa roof which is supplied alongside the original factory targa panel. The Cambria Cirrus roof is awesome as it folds to fit behind the seats leaving the boot for luggage. I have done numerous European runs to Le Mans and down to Spain and it makes an awesome sports GT car.

Huge history file including service history, receipts, tax discs, MOTs, fully documented engine build report (about 30k words!) etc. This is a rare model being an early 500 but with T5 gearbox.

Stored in a dehumidified garage and has always been garaged during my ownership.

This car was recorded Cat C a long time ago, I believe c1996 (I have had the car for 16 years and Quinny had it for 10 and it was before then). The story that was passed down, was that the car had front end damage early in its life, but due to the fact the Griffith was a new model it was not possible to get replacement parts to fix it. The then owner who had bought it on finance and was driving around in a Metro hire car was pushing for the car to be fixed or written off. Under this pressure the car was written off and left in a garage till c2000 when parts were available to repair it. I have photos pre, during and post repair. I have not found any evidence of crash damage which was apparently limited to bodywork and front suspension. When I bought the car Quinny had had it 4 wheel aligned by Demon Tweeks and my logic was the chassis cannot be damaged as this would show up with poor alignment which was all green apart from one minor discrepancy for left front camber at 4.4 degree against a target of 4.15 degree, apparently this can be shimmed out, but neither Quinny nor I have ever done this as it is a bit of a faff.

It is a shame to sell but as I am getting older I am after something a little less raw. It is not immaculate but price reflects this and the history.