Production start and VIN numbers
Discussion
Does anyone know the official production start date? I believe mine to be an early one as it is registered at the begining of April 92, searched the forums for info on vin numbers and someone mentioned its the last three numbers that tell you what number the car is, this doesn't make much sense as my last three are 807, and there wasn't that many pre cats made! Thanks in advance, Simon.
well mine has 24/3/92 as inspection date at the TVR Centre at Arkley withh 33 miles on the clock, and is registered 28/3/92..... VIN No ending 794... so that makes mine older 
whoops did not see No 1's
>> Edited by Hoover33 on Saturday 16th April 08:48
>> Edited by Hoover33 on Saturday 16th April 08:49
>> Edited by Hoover33 on Saturday 16th April 08:51
whoops did not see No 1's
>> Edited by Hoover33 on Saturday 16th April 08:48
>> Edited by Hoover33 on Saturday 16th April 08:49
>> Edited by Hoover33 on Saturday 16th April 08:51
I've got 657.
OldNo1 told the story to me that although he is 599 and mine 58 later it didn't mean I was 58 Griffs later as I would of been 58 TVR's later.
I'm hoping at least half of these were S3's etc and mine is a really early one - the only way to tell for sure is call the factory - I think they charge a nominal fee, less than £40 (could be £27ish).
Goodluck!!
OldNo1 told the story to me that although he is 599 and mine 58 later it didn't mean I was 58 Griffs later as I would of been 58 TVR's later.
I'm hoping at least half of these were S3's etc and mine is a really early one - the only way to tell for sure is call the factory - I think they charge a nominal fee, less than £40 (could be £27ish).
Goodluck!!
griffrhysjones said:
Does anyone know the official production start date? I believe mine to be an early one as it is registered at the begining of April 92, searched the forums for info on vin numbers and someone mentioned its the last three numbers that tell you what number the car is, this doesn't make much sense as my last three are 807, and there wasn't that many pre cats made! Thanks in advance, Simon.
Look on the underside of the GRP dash moulding (use a torch from the pass footwell). The builder signed his name and wrote the build date on mine - 17/2/1992 (or thereabouts) - no.738
Northern_Paul said:
I've got 657.
OldNo1 told the story to me that although he is 599 and mine 58 later it didn't mean I was 58 Griffs later as I would of been 58 TVR's later.
I'm hoping at least half of these were S3's etc and mine is a really early one - the only way to tell for sure is call the factory - I think they charge a nominal fee, less than £40 (could be £27ish).
Goodluck!!
The number is the chassis number and doesn't mean the car was built in the same order as the chassis was either. For example all the 93 Griff 4.x had 92 chassis to get round the cat requirement. So there is immediately a big difference that can happen there. The dates on the bodywork usually refer to when that bit was made and as it takes about 12 weeks to make the cars, that date could be very different from the chassis or even the registration date.
I see what your saying Steve, the numbers on my internal moldings are the same 657, I noticed and took pics during the re-trim.
The only way to find out for sure would be to contact the factory.
Oldno1 who had obviously looked into this as he had the first also suggested that mine would of been one that had been sold by Harrogate Horseless Carriage and he was right.
So I assume there would of been limited locations/dealers who sold the 1st batch released.
And I assume there was initially more demand than supply therefore they wouldn't of initially been many hanging around.
Someone should be to offer a build/production list as it is of greater interest to owners/buyers as the early ones reach Classic status.
The only way to find out for sure would be to contact the factory.
Oldno1 who had obviously looked into this as he had the first also suggested that mine would of been one that had been sold by Harrogate Horseless Carriage and he was right.
So I assume there would of been limited locations/dealers who sold the 1st batch released.
And I assume there was initially more demand than supply therefore they wouldn't of initially been many hanging around.
Someone should be to offer a build/production list as it is of greater interest to owners/buyers as the early ones reach Classic status.
tweety said:
Paul, I see you are in West Sussex, I have bought Old No 1's Griff and am in East Sussex, I see our cars are 18 apart on the registrations. I'm also trying to find out as much as possible about the early cars.
Cheers, Al.
Al
All I really know is what Old No 1 has said in the past, but I have just e-mailed Harrogate Horseless Carriage to see if they can outline those early days as Old No 1 suggested.
Mine isn't exactly on the road yet, and for the next 3 or 4 weeks I'm playing BMW (got a late 635 that needs some input) - but I like to think I can given the right conditions take a good picture and looking at your profile you know the right locations!! - so I'm definately up for a meet before the summers over
RE Harrogate Horseless Carriages, I don't know if he is still there but the service manager is diamond, IMHO the guy you should be speaking too. He remembered my car as one of the last V8S's and past on little details that really helped piece together the cars history.
In fact I don't think he could have been more helpful, top chap IMHE shame they are not all like him.
Harry
In fact I don't think he could have been more helpful, top chap IMHE shame they are not all like him.
Harry
Paul it would be great to meet up, let me know anytime. From what I can gather all three cars were pre-production, mine being the only one 'productionised' and sold soon after, making it the first customer car? registered on 9/1/92. HHC had it as their demonstrator until Paul Taylor bought it in May '91. What are your last three digits?
Hoover33 I don't think you've done too bad, yours is probably one of the best condition pre-cats around.
Is the owner of the third Motorshow car on here, and was it grey or green?, as there are conflicting reports. More investigation required methinks.
Cheers, Al.
Hoover33 I don't think you've done too bad, yours is probably one of the best condition pre-cats around.
Is the owner of the third Motorshow car on here, and was it grey or green?, as there are conflicting reports. More investigation required methinks.
Cheers, Al.
FlipFlopGriff said:
My now ex Griff was the first production car and it was 599
I thought mack's was the first production car (the red one used as a test bed throughout its life) and yours was the first customer car!!!
FFG
You're right Paul - mine was the very first productionised version of the car ever built, after the original blue 1990 Motor Show prototype, and was used for type approval of the model.
After appearing at the 1991 Motor Show, it then became the long term factory development car throughout the whole of Griffith production (see my profile for a brief history)
Al's car (old No 1's ex) appeared alongside mine at the motorshow and, after a brief stint as HHC's demonstrator, became the first customer car.
Just out of interest, my last 3 VIN numbers are 105 - although the V5 does give the registration date as 2/3/89!!
It carried the well known company registration mark 'TVR 100' until 1996,when it was re-registered as an 'F' reg (Interestingly, the original 1990 prototype, now destroyed, was also registered as an 'F' reg for some reason!)
mack
Gassing Station | Griffith | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff