Best of British | PH Footnote
So Jensen and Bristol are back - who could (or should) follow them?
It’s all too easy to be despondent about the state of the British car industry. From security hacks to job losses, Chinese takeovers to factory closures, it can seem pretty glum. But if these factors constitute the stormy clouds, we must also consider the silver lining: Morgan’s recent collaboration with Pininfarina sold out (so they collaborated again), Minis are still leaving Oxford by the truckload, Caterham has a shiny new factory making as many Sevens as they can, 60 years of the Toyota Corolla owes quite a bit to Burnaston, and after a quarter of a century Ariel has made the greatest Atom yet. There are, in other words, reasons to be cheerful. Even Zenos is making a comeback.
And that was all before the shock return of the Bristol Fighter, and the more gradual reveal of a new Jensen Interceptor. Different approaches, though remarkably both emerged in the same week. With those, the resurrection of Marcos, a newly rejuvenated AC and the Nichols N1A, it’s started to feel almost like PH should be a broadsheet automotive periodical. Or at least Great British Sports Cars Weekly. Old school in approach but resolutely contemporary in their execution, all promise a great deal.
Not that profit-making success will come easily, of course, with a seemingly endless array of new exotic cars out there also competing for enthusiast cash. On top of the various geopolitical, economic and environmental concerns voiced by virtually every firm manufacturing anything. But what optimism there is appears to be infectious - and with any luck, the hard lessons of the past have been learned by those tasked with imagining the future.
For those of us tasked with writing about the best laid plans of others, there are only so many resurgences you can witness before the daydreams kick in. After all, there are plenty of other ancient names still six foot under - or owned by someone doing precious little with the IP - and if there’s anything Britain loves more than an underdog, it’s a redemptive return to past glories. Just look at the response Oasis got.
Like the nation’s most fractious band, not everything the cottage industry touched turned to gold. Take TVR. Not officially gone as yet, with a fresh tie-up announced last year, though we’re approaching 10 years since that Griffith was seen at Goodwood. Its travails have undoubtedly dented confidence in the brand - yet its back catalogue is too well stocked with blockbusters for the public’s goodwill to have been completely drained. We would humbly argue that if there is a market today for a modernised equivalent of the AC Cobra, there is one for TVR.
Given the Ford Coyote V8 destined for the TVR can also be found in everything from the Mignatta Rina to Bronco restomods, it’s hard not to think of it like a modern-day Rover-Buick V8 - i.e. suitable for all manner of applications. Obviously it’s only Ford making them, but as we’re talking about tiny numbers anyway (rather than licensed for production as the Buick motor was) that shouldn’t matter. It just seems like an engine crying out for something sportier (or lighter anyway) than a Mustang, however good it is. If not a Griffith then maybe a new Triumph TR8, or scaring everyone silly in a reworked Westfield SEIGHT.
Obviously conjuring up ideas for cars is an awful lot simpler than actually developing them - and lightyears from the painstaking business of actually building them at scale. The examples of this quagmire are myriad, though perhaps TVR is the perfect example of how a promising idea can self-destruct on contact with reality. But it’s Sunday and we’re blue-skying: how about a new-age Austin Healey, using the BMW B58 3.0-litre for a redone 3000 (with a manual to differentiate from the Morgan Supersport) and - here’s the best bit - the 1.5-litre B38 three-cylinder for a new Sprite? A small, light, simple sports car with a Mini engine once more - perfect. And who couldn’t fail to be won over by something that looked like a Frogeye?
A nice dream perhaps, though with the brand now owned by SAIC Motor and even the MX-5 struggling in Europe, unlikely to happen anytime soon. Probably Ascari is gone for good, too, and even in Imagination Land, it would require some heavy lifting to see a Caparo back on the road. But before the gloom descends again, you’d do well to remember the other things world-beating British expertise is good at: i.e. restoration, and, er, restomodification. There isn’t going to be another MG B, but Frontline will build you the best MG-shaped thing that’s ever existed; Str8Six will make a TVR better than it ever left Blackpool; ditto Eagle with an E-Type or MST with an Escort. What Analogue is doing with Lotus Elises must be seen to be believed. And that’s just the tip of the big-money iceberg.
And those of us with more modest budgets? Well, who needs restomods or chancy brand reinventions when you can buy the real thing at a fraction of the cost? An MG TF is still around for little more than £10,000 with just 10,000 miles; the £15k Jaguar F-Type is becoming a more regular occurrence; and there are great-looking Elises still at less than £20k. There’s a Westfield already under the PH hammer that would blow your socks off. Not as glamorous as a new Bristol, perhaps, though all still brimming with the right stuff. All very much flying the flag. And on any given Sunday, floating your boat, too.
Driven to distraction | PH Footnote
Extra time after the ‘90 | PH Footnote
Sadly, the window has closed.
But it's 50% heavier than the new TVR (even more than older ones), and that matters.
love the Mustang and even considering one. Mainly because enthusiast choices are becoming limited, so I'll take the nasp V8 in an average car.
Way back in 1976 I remember my dad appearing with a MK2 Triumph 2500pi estate in bright red...it was a missile compared to most cars of the time easily cruising at 100mph...I loved that car, sadly he got rid of it just as I was about to start learning how to drive.
But I did get to drive it most Sunday's off road for a bit on our local forest roads...I will never forget that.
d..........But when it works it gives me something no modern car can get close to ( at least for my budget ).
It's 25 years old next year as well, so not expensive to buy or run in comparison to a lot of stuff either. Happy days.
But it's 50% heavier than the new TVR (even more than older ones), and that matters.
love the Mustang and even considering one. Mainly because enthusiast choices are becoming limited, so I'll take the nasp V8 in an average car.
I just cant see a car being created these days that comes close to the feeling of the 90s and 00s TVRs- regulations and consumer expectations would prevent it, regardless of the engine used. Interestingly we also have a Healey 3000 in the family and the Tuscan feels considerably closer to that than it does to the Mustang, despite the age differences being much closer between the latter.
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