More from the archives...

[Wedg1e]

I found a list of early Tasmin owners that I tracked down about 12 years ago, wonder how many of these people still have these cars...

Chassis #010 - Graham White (and a lad before him called Dylan)
Chassis #015 - Simon Fletcher, Banbury (formerly worked for Arvin who made the Tasmin exhausts)
Chassis #021 - Stuart Brown
Chassis #033 - Iain Jones (chassis33 on here!)
Chassis #046 - Rick Hey
Chassis #053 - Richard Gummow, Cheltenham
Chassis #054 - Derek Rogers, Ware, Herts.
Chassis #056 - Andy Haas, Bournemouth
Chassis #068 - Mark Laker, Andover
Chassis #074 - Bob Noble, Wallsend (must be an elderly chap if he's still around, he was retired back then)
Chassis #101 - owner unknown but in Cheltenham area
Chassis #133 - Paul Craven, Mansfield (DHC, last seen in bright yellow)
Chassis #134 - Hugh Smart, Guildford?


There was also a David Clark but I don't know where or which car... and my car, #036 went on to become Mick Wilkinson's in the TVR Challenge, a fate which I guess befell a few of them.
Anyone know the whereabouts of any of these cars now?

[Wedg1e]

...and if you're lucky enough to have one of the first 50 or so cars, you probably know that it uses the coaxial hydraulic clutch slave cylinder. You may not know that it looks like this:

[Wedg1e]

The trailing arm cars used a cast-alloy rear hub carrier that looks a bit like this in cross-section:

[Wedg1e]

...and if you fancy getting a bit hands-on with your steering column UJ's, this might be of interest:

[Mr Tank]

Wedg1e said:

I found a list of early Tasmin owners that I tracked down about 12 years ago, wonder how many of these people still have these cars...

Chassis #010 - Graham White (and a lad before him called Dylan)
Chassis #015 - Simon Fletcher, Banbury (formerly worked for Arvin who made the Tasmin exhausts)
Chassis #021 - Stuart Brown
Chassis #033 - Iain Jones (chassis33 on here!)
Chassis #046 - Rick Hey
Chassis #053 - Richard Gummow, Cheltenham
Chassis #054 - Derek Rogers, Ware, Herts.
Chassis #056 - Andy Haas, Bournemouth
Chassis #068 - Mark Laker, Andover
Chassis #074 - Bob Noble, Wallsend (must be an elderly chap if he's still around, he was retired back then)
Chassis #101 - owner unknown but in Cheltenham area
Chassis #133 - Paul Craven, Mansfield (DHC, last seen in bright yellow)
Chassis #134 - Hugh Smart, Guildford?


There was also a David Clark but I don't know where or which car... and my car, #036 went on to become Mick Wilkinson's in the TVR Challenge, a fate which I guess befell a few of them.
Anyone know the whereabouts of any of these cars now?

Hi Ian

Add Chassis #030 - Andy Hutcheson at BBWF this year!

Andy

[grahamw48]

I'm pleased to say that Chassis # 10 is still on the road, as the new owner has been in contact with me during the past year.

.
Pictured below when still in my ownership.
(I bought it as a non-runner and then spent several thousand pounds on it).

[Solitude]

Chassis number 54 is my 350 series 1 DHC.

solitude

[Mr Tank]

grahamw48 said:

I'm pleased to say that Chassis # 10 is still on the road, as the new owner has been in contact with me during the past year.

.
Pictured below when still in my ownership.
(I bought it as a non-runner and then spent several thousand pounds on it).

Graham

Have you got a rear pic of your old car (Chassis #010) you can post up!

Andy

[Mr Tank]

Solitude said:

Chassis number 54 is my 350 series 1 DHC.

solitude

Gavin

I think you chassis num 54 is for the 350i
This post is for the Early Tasmin (280i) different chassis

Edited by Mr Tank on Thursday 21st July 11:46

[Big Daft Lad]

So am I correct in thinking that the last three digits of your chassis number is the build number? i.e. mine is 5359 so is it No.359?

Mine has the alloy rear hub carriers and the steering UJ like that.

Mr Tank - how can you tell an early chassis from a later one?

Edited by Big Daft Lad on Thursday 21st July 12:08

[Mr Tank]

Big Daft Lad said:

So am I correct in thinking that the last three digits of your chassis number is the build number? i.e. mine is 5359 so is it No.357?

Mine has the alloy rear hub carriers and the steering UJ like that.

Mr Tank - how can you tell an early chassis from a later one?

Hi by the Number simple example!

I am certain you know what the prefixes are!

The Tasmin numbers started at FH5001-F1 so Chassis num FH5030-F1 is num 30 (Built in mid 80)
Now my no 1 The first production 350i chassis num is. DH5524-R1 (Built in early 83)
Now by the time the wife's 280i was made in mid 87 the Chassis num had changed to Vin numbers (BO19239) and my SEAC num is BO19334 made in late 89 They changed to the 17 number Vin system in May 85.

Andy

Edited by Mr Tank on Thursday 21st July 11:43

[gralin69]

2.8 FHC
Chassis number 2FH5222F1 as reg doc reg date 26/01/1982 at Chatsworth & Wedge Fest



graham

[Wedg1e]

Mr Tank said:

The Tasmin numbers started at FH5001-F1...

It was FI, not F1. Stood for Fuel Injection. When the V8 came along they changed it to RI (Rover Injection), at which point FI became Ford Injection.
Tasmin 200's, one presumes, did not have FI at the end as they were carburetted.

[Big Daft Lad]

The 200's have 2L at the end of the chassis number.

Grahams car confuses me though. He has an earlier build number than mine yet has a Series 2 body. Maybe mine sat around the factory for a couple of years?

[grahamw48]

Mr Tank said:

grahamw48 said:

I'm pleased to say that Chassis # 10 is still on the road, as the new owner has been in contact with me during the past year.

.
Pictured below when still in my ownership.
(I bought it as a non-runner and then spent several thousand pounds on it).

Graham

Have you got a rear pic of your old car (Chassis #010) you can post up!

Andy

Here you are Andy:

(In case of any confusion over the reg', this car was supposedly a factory demonstrator, not registered til 1983).

.

[Wedg1e]

Big Daft Lad said:

The 200's have 2L at the end of the chassis number.

Grahams car confuses me though. He has an earlier build number than mine yet has a Series 2 body. Maybe mine sat around the factory for a couple of years?

There's a story there

I was in the pub and my mate said "I flashed you the other day but you ignored me".
"I wasn't out the other day", I replied.

A few days later I was driving through town when I spotted an identical red Tasmin parked on a driveway. I spun round, the owner saw me and came out for a chat. This was a young guy called Dylan who had moved to TVR from owning MR2s and he wasn't impressed with the Tasmin at all.
I noted the Series 1 shell, early chassis number and 'A' plate and he showed me the V5 which confirmed that the date of first registration would put it on an 'A' plate.
Anyway, I never saw him again but GrahamW turned up on PH with the car, asking the same question. I can't remember how it came about, perhaps I wrote in to 'Sprint' about it, but I ended up talking to one of the factory guys (maybe John Mlecek?) and he said that Chassis 10 was one of the first demonstrators. It lay around the factory being robbed for spares until one day Peter Wheeler ordered it finished and sold. By this time the interior was in a bit of a state as it had been left outside with no tailgate, so it was recarpeted and given a new set of wheels (which is why it had/has the cross-spokes rather than the almost-solid Telcast wheels).
GrahamW can fill in the rest, but I think Dylan flogged it to someone else and it was laid-up for a while before Graham got it.

[Wedg1e]

Big Daft Lad said:

The 200's have 2L at the end of the chassis number.

For 2-Litre, no doubt

Big Daft Lad said:

Grahams car confuses me though. He has an earlier build number than mine yet has a Series 2 body. Maybe mine sat around the factory for a couple of years?

Nope, Graham's car wears a Series 1 shell.

[gralin69]

Sorry for the 1 instead of i but wrong glasses when checking reg doc does this from reading your replies give BTJ 285X a chassis number of 222 from paperwork was registered to person by name of S Hall 1st then Swinton Insurance for next 3 years learning a little more about car as we go
graham

[Big Daft Lad]

Wedg1e said:

Nope, Graham's car wears a Series 1 shell.

Sorry I was talking about gralin69's AKA Grahams car. Interesting story about Grahamw48's car though.

[Wedg1e]

gralin69 said:

Sorry for the 1 instead of i but wrong glasses when checking reg doc does this from reading your replies give BTJ 285X a chassis number of 222 from paperwork was registered to person by name of S Hall 1st then Swinton Insurance for next 3 years learning a little more about car as we go
graham

Well Stuart Hall (presenter of It's a Knockout for those old enough to remember!) certainly did own a Tasmin at one stage...