Superb, one-owner Griffith 500 for sale
PH25 got you in the mood for a TVR? Look no further...
You might have noticed PistonHeads is celebrating 25 years this year. And while nothing from Blackpool won our best sports car vote, there’s no way that the PH25 year could pass without a fair few TVR mentions. This website doesn’t exist without TVR and, although it hasn’t been the best few years for the brand, we all still hold it very close to our hearts. PH is always going to want TVR to do well; we live in hope now more than expectation, but the faith remains.
Everybody is going to have their favourite TVR from days gone by - that we’re never going to agree on, and shouldn’t. It'd be boring if we just lusted after Wedges. But there probably would be consensus around ‘Griffith’ being the most loved TVR nameplate. It’s the one we should see back on the reborn TVR, and it’s a badge first seen on a TVR as far back as the 1960s. It’s one of the first (if not the first) car that comes to mind when TVR is mentioned, and the middle Griffith - the 1990s car - is the reason for it.
First revealed back in 1990 at the British motor show, with an order apparently received every eight minutes on the stand, the Griffith came to define all that was so loved about the V8 TVRs. If the late Speed Six models were more serious sports cars, the Griffith’s combination of stunning good looks, the sound of that engine and the performance that comes with a huge engine and tiny kerbweight made for a British muscle car icon at just the right time. To this day, it still looks superb, sounds brilliant and goes very fast - it must have been a riot 30 years ago.
All Griffiths are special, and they’re becoming more and more coveted with production having ended at the start of the 21st century, but we’ve found a real gem here. As seems appropriate for a PH25 celebration, this TVR also entered the world in 1998, and has been with the same owner ever since. It’s covered barely more than a thousand miles a year, and looks absolutely fantastic.
There’s a little more to this China Blue Griffith than meets the eye, however. That first and only owner, having owned a pair of pre-cat 4.5s prior to this one, decided the 5.0-litre Griffith 500 wasn’t quite brisk enough. Of course. So off it went to TVR Power, returning with more power and torque from the V8, Nitron dampers and Wilwood brakes. In case it wasn’t cool enough already. Clearly the upgrades worked as intended, as it served the owner well for a quarter of a century.
Now it looks about as good as a Griffith can get, still with fewer than 30,000 miles and with not a blemish to be seen. It’s being sold with a fresh service (to add to the full history), an advisory-free MOT and what’s said to be a chassis in tip-top condition. If you want a Griffith - and, quite frankly, who doesn’t - then this looks a very, very good one. There can’t be many, if any, one-owner cars left, especially those in such a desirable spec and with the mileage as it is. That means this is one of the more expensive Griffiths out there, but it’s still only new hot hatch money. And the best never did come cheap. If ever there was a time to fulfil that TVR promise to yourself, the PH25 year - this car’s 25th birthday year - seems like the ideal moment.
I bought a 500 years ago over a 911 , granted the Porsche wouldn’t have leaked in and the fuel gauge would have worked properly , but I loved it .
The long intake hose ( air cleaner to MAF ) also needs changing for an ACT one. The original collapses with age and the power drops dramatically
Dark metalic blue is my go to choice for one of these.
The only negative i can see, is that its a non PAS car, the manual rack is woefully slow and heavy @ low speeds
I have had 3 Griffs ( a 96 500, a 98 500 and one of the first 400s to be built, plus a lovely low miles Chimp 500 ) had many more through my hands and have racked up a lot of miles in them, inc 2 amazing trips to Germany, in my current one.
I bought my first one a 46,000 mile 96 500HC model, in August 07 via Autotrader. One Saturday morning, in August 07, i went to view an average and non PAS N reg cooper green one ( the first Griff i had looked @ ) and had put 100 quid deposit on it. But on my way home, my then g/f called and said that she had seen a blue one in Braintree, that looked nice. So, i rang the seller and shot up to Braintree to meet Ian. As soon as he reversed it out of his garage, i knew it was mine ! He delivered it that evening and i can still hear it coming up the road before it came into view ! Like many of these cars, it had been through a few owners who did nothing to it and had sat around and was in need of a fair bit of tlc. A week later and that ex and i are en route to the Black Forest for one of the best road trips ive ever had. Everyone said "you are mad,you wont get to Dover in that thing "....
Well, that Griff never missed a beat apart from the drivers window sticking just before the heavens opened up near Rheims. I went right through that car, inc shocks, brakes, tires, etc etc, it drove superbly and i lost count of how many smiles i wiped off of Impretsa drivers faces. I stupidly sold it in April 08, to a lovely German buyer called Dennis, to buy a 3.2 Carrera ( which was a disaster ) I then bought another 98 500 in May 10. But, i wanted that first Griff back. After about 5 years of searching, i finally made contact with Dennis. He had only driven the car for about 3 months before parking it in his dry garage in summer 08 and there it sat until April last year, when i finally got it back!
Bin the Toyos as someone before said, tyres have improved a lot since. Also make sure there is a brake balancer somewhere as the brake balance will be definitely rear biased. The std 5L caliper is good with just upgraded pads.
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