RE: One-of-three TVR Wedge 430SE | PH Auction Block
Discussion
433610460_1178269093334046_5837871767585035969_n by James Fawcett, on FlickrShouldn’t like that but really do. That’s how I imagine a Wedge would have looked by the 2000’s if they kept building them! Just getting more extreme and cartoon like.
Some say the 4.3 Rover engine is the best one, more to but kept the rev-iness. The cat one in my Chimaera and pre-cat one in my recent Griff were great.
Those Wedges were quick in their day weighing only 1100kg but less so now by comparison. But it was more about the noise roof down. They look much better roof down and are pretty sheltered on the move as you sit low in the car. They did have a much better roof stowage that the Griffs and Chimaeras being able to put the panel flat in the boot. Rather than needing to empty the boot to stow vertically in the rain or under a bridge!!!
ric p said:
Fully understand the first 2 comments. But don’t agree, having has 5 Wedges! For a certain demographic these were iconic TVRs from the 80’s dragging into the 90’s. They come from an era driven by straight lines not curves, Esprit etc, pop up headlights (instantly make a car cool) and pre-cat so great noise.
They and the S bought the company time to develop the Chimp and Griff for Peter Wheeler. And the final iteration of 400/430 and 450 SE were pretty resolved cars. My first was an ‘86 C reg 350i, which myself and a friend picked up from near Heathrow. Toured round France in it with my now wife in the early 90’s.
The last was the best, a 400SE in mica red, which did multiple Le Mans trips. Used to set off car alarms and sounded like thunder.
Had a few cars since, many of which are better but would love a late Wedge, but not in white, alongside the current garage. Still find myself on the usual sites looking, Amore TVR would be the place to go for a good one or advice.
I agree. A lasting memory of my childhood town in Cheshire was x2 partners of a law firm each with a wedge of Trevor. When parked together, it was a nice sight. It was the late 80's/early 90's and the right demographic. Befitting of the era, less so now, hence why difficult to stomach for some.They and the S bought the company time to develop the Chimp and Griff for Peter Wheeler. And the final iteration of 400/430 and 450 SE were pretty resolved cars. My first was an ‘86 C reg 350i, which myself and a friend picked up from near Heathrow. Toured round France in it with my now wife in the early 90’s.
The last was the best, a 400SE in mica red, which did multiple Le Mans trips. Used to set off car alarms and sounded like thunder.
Had a few cars since, many of which are better but would love a late Wedge, but not in white, alongside the current garage. Still find myself on the usual sites looking, Amore TVR would be the place to go for a good one or advice.
First time I sat in a Wedge was a red TVR 390se not to far from were I lived back then (long time ago) I went for a look at it which was for sale, had to sell my own car first, but because it was not so far, I went to see if it was a car for me.
The owner took me out for a spin in it, so I was a passenger
it made a great sound, loved it, at some point during the drive we came across a big group of harley bikers... you could hear those, but we knew you could hear the TVR even better, so we drove past them with some throttle in, I bet some thought one of there Harley group wanted to go to the front of their group but it was us in the TVR you could see the signs on some of their faces, priceless.
what I also remembered from TVR books, the mighty 420SEAC and later 450SEAC with the ridiculous rear spoiler, but almost a must have, it ment a high powered car lol, ofcourse it was for some downforce, but you seem to could order it also without the big wing, such picture is also in the TVR books, which looked also cool.
can't find such picture online with a 420 or 450 SEAC without the rear spoiler, but I believe it was in one of the books I have.
btw, from one on here, love those Ferrari look way leather seats.
The owner took me out for a spin in it, so I was a passenger
it made a great sound, loved it, at some point during the drive we came across a big group of harley bikers... you could hear those, but we knew you could hear the TVR even better, so we drove past them with some throttle in, I bet some thought one of there Harley group wanted to go to the front of their group but it was us in the TVR you could see the signs on some of their faces, priceless.what I also remembered from TVR books, the mighty 420SEAC and later 450SEAC with the ridiculous rear spoiler, but almost a must have, it ment a high powered car lol, ofcourse it was for some downforce, but you seem to could order it also without the big wing, such picture is also in the TVR books, which looked also cool.
can't find such picture online with a 420 or 450 SEAC without the rear spoiler, but I believe it was in one of the books I have.
btw, from one on here, love those Ferrari look way leather seats.
It always make me laugh how the Wikipedia junkies like to re-write history when they tell you that the Griff killed off the wedge series cars.
In reality it was the wedge series cars that nearly killed off TVR.
It was the "S" series that saved TVR not the Griff (something that not even Peter Wheeler could ever bring himself to publicly acknowledge) - which arrived six years later.
The Winterbottom wedges where always out of place amongst TVR's design lineage.
It was loud, it was leary, it was a brutish Brit TVR!
It was never a good looking car. The most complementary thing you could say about it beyond the 350i, was that it was aggressive.Some colours are better than others for TVR's, white isn't one of them.
I guess this will appeal to the niche audience who owned one back in the day and want one again to relive their youth rather than someone buying one because it is a good looking design like the Griff.
Poor tyre choice back in the day (non-RE71) made them snappy and unpredictable. The same poor tyre choice today will result in the same.
All that being said, I still liked them for being what they were: fun,fast (for their day), loud and relatively cheap. ...Ah (re)member berries!??
In reality it was the wedge series cars that nearly killed off TVR.
It was the "S" series that saved TVR not the Griff (something that not even Peter Wheeler could ever bring himself to publicly acknowledge) - which arrived six years later.
The Winterbottom wedges where always out of place amongst TVR's design lineage.
It was loud, it was leary, it was a brutish Brit TVR!
It was never a good looking car. The most complementary thing you could say about it beyond the 350i, was that it was aggressive.Some colours are better than others for TVR's, white isn't one of them.
I guess this will appeal to the niche audience who owned one back in the day and want one again to relive their youth rather than someone buying one because it is a good looking design like the Griff.
Poor tyre choice back in the day (non-RE71) made them snappy and unpredictable. The same poor tyre choice today will result in the same.
All that being said, I still liked them for being what they were: fun,fast (for their day), loud and relatively cheap. ...Ah (re)member berries!??
Edited by Jazzybaby on Tuesday 23 April 12:52
Edited by Jazzybaby on Tuesday 23 April 12:54
Edited by Jazzybaby on Tuesday 23 April 12:55
I think it's arguable whether the Tasmin and it's successors were completely outside of TVR's design language. Although there's a clear design thread that runs from Grantura onwards to the Lilley cars, then skips to the 80's S and (maybe) onward to Chimaera and Cerbera, there's also some more linear design heritage from the Tina and Trident. I appreciate those are quite niche references though.
What the wedges did do was maintain the approach to chassis and body construction and it's obvious that the styling was very much of its era: the Winterbottom design echoes the work he did at Lotus and to my (probably uncultured) eye there's more than a whiff of Lamborghini Espada to the rear design of the Tasmin FHC.
White as a colour doesn't really work on TVRs for me except for wedges where it strikes me as absolutely bang on the zeitgeist- perhaps I'm biased as my father's is white.
What the wedges did do was maintain the approach to chassis and body construction and it's obvious that the styling was very much of its era: the Winterbottom design echoes the work he did at Lotus and to my (probably uncultured) eye there's more than a whiff of Lamborghini Espada to the rear design of the Tasmin FHC.
White as a colour doesn't really work on TVRs for me except for wedges where it strikes me as absolutely bang on the zeitgeist- perhaps I'm biased as my father's is white.
J4CKO said:
I wrote to TVR during the wedge era as was at college and wanted to do a project on TVR, sort of business studies thing, really just wanted to gawp at some fancy cars and they sent a load of press stuff and a chap called Ben who wrote back, invited me to go to Blackpool, day arrives and I was too ill to go, had Flu, absolutely gutted.
The press pics ended up stuck up around my desk, there with my commodore Amiga and stuff.
I know time has passed, but need to remember these in the context of their time, yes they look a little less impressive these days but these are from the eighties, made by a small British manufacturer, still think they look good in their own way but they are from over 40 years ago, built using methods that probably werent especially advanced even for the time, pretty good effort I think and still would be a fun car (even more so ? nowadays) seems kind of mean to call them kit cars and whatever even though they sort of were better finished factory kit cars in essence.
I bet that was Ben Samuelson? The press pics ended up stuck up around my desk, there with my commodore Amiga and stuff.
I know time has passed, but need to remember these in the context of their time, yes they look a little less impressive these days but these are from the eighties, made by a small British manufacturer, still think they look good in their own way but they are from over 40 years ago, built using methods that probably werent especially advanced even for the time, pretty good effort I think and still would be a fun car (even more so ? nowadays) seems kind of mean to call them kit cars and whatever even though they sort of were better finished factory kit cars in essence.
I would've been absolutely gutted like you were to fall ill when that opportunity arose too.
cerb4.5lee said:
Nomme de Plum said:
I really enjoyed the ownership of my 400SE. Mechanically very simple, not particularly fast but relatively easy to drive provided I kept off the throttle anywhere near a bend.
That looks clean, and I really like the colour of it too. 
I have a Concours Trophy somewhere. I think I came 3rd out of 15 or so wedges . It was my first visit to Blackpool and a real eye opener, which had nothing to do with cars.
The factory tour should have convinced me never to get another but I still ended up buying the Cerbera a few years later.
The 400SE was completely reliable and never let me down. I used it as my daily in summer and even kept it when I did the expat thing in the USA for a few years.
TVR tried a follow-up for the Tasmin/wedge series, see link to prototypes on TVR Car Club website: www.tvr-car-club.co.uk/tvr-prototypes.html
Look for Speed 8 (second try by them...).
This was killed by the Griffith. The dash of the prototype sort of ended up in the Griffith.
Still enjoying hooning around on the Continent in my 'standard' 350i: noise
Tunnels are addictive
Rob
Look for Speed 8 (second try by them...).
This was killed by the Griffith. The dash of the prototype sort of ended up in the Griffith.
Still enjoying hooning around on the Continent in my 'standard' 350i: noise
Tunnels are addictive
Rob
GTRene said:
First time I sat in a Wedge was a red TVR 390se not to far from were I lived back then (long time ago) I went for a look at it which was for sale, had to sell my own car first, but because it was not so far, I went to see if it was a car for me.
The owner took me out for a spin in it, so I was a passenger it made a great sound, loved it, at some point during the drive we came across a big group of harley bikers... you could hear those, but we knew you could hear the TVR even better, so we drove past them with some throttle in, I bet some thought one of there Harley group wanted to go to the front of their group but it was us in the TVR you could see the signs on some of their faces, priceless.
what I also remembered from TVR books, the mighty 420SEAC and later 450SEAC with the ridiculous rear spoiler, but almost a must have, it ment a high powered car lol, ofcourse it was for some downforce, but you seem to could order it also without the big wing, such picture is also in the TVR books, which looked also cool.
can't find such picture online with a 420 or 450 SEAC without the rear spoiler, but I believe it was in one of the books I have.
btw, from one on here, love those Ferrari look way leather seats.
Well spotted the re-trim of the interior was Daytona inspired.The owner took me out for a spin in it, so I was a passenger
it made a great sound, loved it, at some point during the drive we came across a big group of harley bikers... you could hear those, but we knew you could hear the TVR even better, so we drove past them with some throttle in, I bet some thought one of there Harley group wanted to go to the front of their group but it was us in the TVR you could see the signs on some of their faces, priceless.what I also remembered from TVR books, the mighty 420SEAC and later 450SEAC with the ridiculous rear spoiler, but almost a must have, it ment a high powered car lol, ofcourse it was for some downforce, but you seem to could order it also without the big wing, such picture is also in the TVR books, which looked also cool.
can't find such picture online with a 420 or 450 SEAC without the rear spoiler, but I believe it was in one of the books I have.
btw, from one on here, love those Ferrari look way leather seats.
I'd say white suits a wedge very well. My old 450se...............................
46AF7EF4-FBC8-4322-B413-4871B9E96C62 by James Fawcett, on Flickralright the styling isn't to everyone's taste but badly assembled kit car isn't accurate
these are great cars anyone who has a gram of petrol in their veins who has actually driven one will tell you that
like all TVR's they aren't finished , the last 10% of development is up to the owner but they reward like little else
I admit I'd go for the cheaper 450 in the classifieds over this but I'm sure it will greatly please its new owner
these are great cars anyone who has a gram of petrol in their veins who has actually driven one will tell you that
like all TVR's they aren't finished , the last 10% of development is up to the owner but they reward like little else
I admit I'd go for the cheaper 450 in the classifieds over this but I'm sure it will greatly please its new owner
Geoffcapes said:
I love a Wedge, but for me it would have to be a 450SEAC.
I remember seeing one as a youth near where I lived. Being a Performance Car magazine buyer I knew what it was instantly, but was not prepared for the thunder when it started up.
At that point I fell in love.
Would love to know if the stories of the torque twisting the chassis were true!
The 450SEAC from Performance Car magazine is burned in to my brain (I actually think I still have that magazine buried in a storage unit somewhere!). But there was also something else, equally as memorable as that monster of a car........ the registration number: if you remember that issue of PC Mag with that 450SEAC on the cover, you HAVE to remember what the reg was! I remember seeing one as a youth near where I lived. Being a Performance Car magazine buyer I knew what it was instantly, but was not prepared for the thunder when it started up.
At that point I fell in love.
Would love to know if the stories of the torque twisting the chassis were true!
Arsecati said:
Geoffcapes said:
I love a Wedge, but for me it would have to be a 450SEAC.
I remember seeing one as a youth near where I lived. Being a Performance Car magazine buyer I knew what it was instantly, but was not prepared for the thunder when it started up.
At that point I fell in love.
Would love to know if the stories of the torque twisting the chassis were true!
The 450SEAC from Performance Car magazine is burned in to my brain (I actually think I still have that magazine buried in a storage unit somewhere!). But there was also something else, equally as memorable as that monster of a car........ the registration number: if you remember that issue of PC Mag with that 450SEAC on the cover, you HAVE to remember what the reg was! I remember seeing one as a youth near where I lived. Being a Performance Car magazine buyer I knew what it was instantly, but was not prepared for the thunder when it started up.
At that point I fell in love.
Would love to know if the stories of the torque twisting the chassis were true!
The cars weighed little so even the basic 400 had enough torque to put the back end out if a tiny bit over enthusiastic. I only span mine once (early 90s) coming out of a roundabout on the old A414, so embarrassing going backwards along that dual carriageway.
Being biased I obviously like the design even I can accept they're never going to be in the "best designs ever" category. However, if wedge shaped things (Excel, Esprit, Eclat) were never popular, people wouldn't idolize some of the others....
Of course mine is neither concours or original but to clarify things, that have been commented on elsewhere here:
- mine's still the original chassis and is still fine. Cerbera's rotted, not many decent wedges!
- they don't just snap if set up properly. I've driven many less powerful rear wheel drive cars that I'd trust far less than the wedge
- white in my mind does suit the 400/430/450. It was the white one outside Team Central in their ads in the 80s that got me into TVRs in the first place
Of course mine is neither concours or original but to clarify things, that have been commented on elsewhere here:
- mine's still the original chassis and is still fine. Cerbera's rotted, not many decent wedges!
- they don't just snap if set up properly. I've driven many less powerful rear wheel drive cars that I'd trust far less than the wedge
- white in my mind does suit the 400/430/450. It was the white one outside Team Central in their ads in the 80s that got me into TVRs in the first place
cirks said:
Being biased I obviously like the design even I can accept they're never going to be in the "best designs ever" category. However, if wedge shaped things (Excel, Esprit, Eclat) were never popular, people wouldn't idolize some of the others....
Of course mine is neither concours or original but to clarify things, that have been commented on elsewhere here:
- mine's still the original chassis and is still fine. Cerbera's rotted, not many decent wedges!
- they don't just snap if set up properly. I've driven many less powerful rear wheel drive cars that I'd trust far less than the wedge
- white in my mind does suit the 400/430/450. It was the white one outside Team Central in their ads in the 80s that got me into TVRs in the first place
Ooh tell me more about this engine please!Of course mine is neither concours or original but to clarify things, that have been commented on elsewhere here:
- mine's still the original chassis and is still fine. Cerbera's rotted, not many decent wedges!
- they don't just snap if set up properly. I've driven many less powerful rear wheel drive cars that I'd trust far less than the wedge
- white in my mind does suit the 400/430/450. It was the white one outside Team Central in their ads in the 80s that got me into TVRs in the first place
J4CKO said:
I wrote to TVR during the wedge era as was at college and wanted to do a project on TVR, sort of business studies thing, really just wanted to gawp at some fancy cars and they sent a load of press stuff and a chap called Ben who wrote back, invited me to go to Blackpool, day arrives and I was too ill to go, had Flu, absolutely gutted.
Probably would have been Ben Samuelson who was running TVR PR at the time - brother of Emma Samm's of Dynasty TV Show fame at around the same timeBen and the Speed 12 - https://youtu.be/25KqD1Z3cK4
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