Awful arse end of newest Griffith

[MikeyT]

If it ain't broke, don't fix it!



Was there a reason why they had to do this, was it to do with the backlit no. plate. Sure they could have done it better than this if that was the case ...

Rest of the car looks great, just that awful no. plate pointing to the sky ...

>> Edited by MikeyT on Tuesday 17th January 21:48

>> Edited by MikeyT on Wednesday 18th January 21:47

[tweety]

I think its the lights that spoil it, much prefer the old Cavalier ones. Yes you are correct about the plate, they were no longer allowed to be backlit. At least they didn't just stick some plate lights to the body, like you see on some kits.

Al.

[nsparey]

Where did you see the car ? my old SE was resprayed that colour, was for sale at Racing Green recently, for the record, I preffer the new lights.

[rfisher]

Ooooooooooooooooo no - that ain't right.

[jamer]

Well I thought it was nice and its the very last ever shape of the Griffith.

You can't please everybody - but if you saw this car in the flesh you would understand.

Wheeler made some great cars and this was one of them, even with a angled rear plate.

It's certainly a better dashboard on the LE's (control wise - which really they should have done in 1998 as with the Chimaera) and the headlamps are far better on these later models



Unfortunatly even TVR occassionally have to conform to rules and regs.

Either way these Limited Editions are tomorrows classics and with only possibly 70 plus of these still in existance (some 30 max with the rear angled number plate) - these are something we should treasure and not wince about.

Have some of that ...





>> Edited by jamer on Wednesday 18th January 00:21

[Ballistic Banana]

I like it apart from the plate at stupid angle but hey it may be good against gatso and the like. Its like that due to not be able to be back lite.

Its in the classifieds and is the one Mr Agger has and is selling

Looks a spiting image of Johnos which I think looks the Biz, apart from it should be yellow

BB

[Phil Dicky]

Consdiering that rear light mod for mine....not sure yet though

[barreti]

Without wishing to offend any of the LE owners out there, I can't quite get my head around those rear lights. I'd prefer them to be blended in but even then, the colours are out of balance. There was one at the Griff Growl last year that really did look the biz.
BIG SOO if I remember the number plate correctly. Although I am sure he told me he did the work himself.
Ah, good old BB, found a pic here ..
www.ballisticbanana.co.uk/gallery/The-Griffith-Growl-2005/120_2025_Small

[jamer]

barreti said:

Without wishing to offend any of the LE owners out there, I can't quite get my head around those rear lights. I'd prefer them to be blended in but even then, the colours are out of balance. There was one at the Griff Growl last year that really did look the biz. BIG SOO if I remember the number plate correctly. Although I am sure he told me he did the work himself. Ah, good old BB, found a pic here .. www.ballisticbanana.co.uk/gallery/The-Griffith-Growl-2005/120_2025_Small

you causing trouble again

[Ballistic Banana]

At least they arent Cavalier cast offs I umed and ared about the blended ones and in the end didnt go for them as I wanted the easy option if i every wanted to put the Old Chav lights aka original back on.

James, spray it yellow ( that one thats have on YPs Sagaris( thats the first time I havent wrote saggyarse ) )drop it £6k and I 'll swap you

BB

[mrmaggit]

jamer said:

barreti said: Without wishing to offend any of the LE owners out there, I can't quite get my head around those rear lights. I'd prefer them to be blended in but even then, the colours are out of balance. There was one at the Griff Growl last year that really did look the biz. BIG SOO if I remember the number plate correctly. Although I am sure he told me he did the work himself. Ah, good old BB, found a pic here .. www.ballisticbanana.co.uk/gallery/The-Griffith-Growl-2005/120_2025_Small you causing trouble again

Oi! You watch it. I haven't started yet!

[tj500]

Guess this just shows there's 'no accounting for tastes'...personally I think both the LE rear lights & angled plate are improvements (although blended rear lights even better than unblended). Aesthetically, the one aspect of the Griff that never convinced me 100% (although 200% in all other depts) was the lighting arrangements, front & rear. I reckon the twin headlamp upgrade now available combined with blended LE-style rear light conversion perfects the otherwise un-perfectable.

Shouldn't this be on the Griff forum? Can of worms now opened...

tj

[nsparey]

No its not my old car, Moonraker Black, looked dark green in the pic, mine is now aparrently Starmist Green, didnt realise that only the last 30 had angled number plates, this was my baby, No. 84, maddest coloured Griff?

[richb]

tj500 said:

Guess this just shows there's 'no accounting for tastes'

Absolutely, the LE is simply tinkering for the sake of it! Every aspect of it is detrimental to the design (except for fitting larger diameter headlamps which can't make that much difference as they still have H1 bulbs in them). 1) The original rear lens arrangement, whilst we know it to be upside down Cavalier lenses actually had some design to it, if you notice the way the lens is sculpted into the rear wing to pick up on the door scallops which in turn reflect the scallop on the nose of the car - i.e. all one cohesive piece of design thought. Plus it was a rather nice nod to TVR's past idiosyncrasies The LE arrangement is simply a case of "Oh we've got a load of these Hella round lamp units in stock for the Tamora and Tuscans lets see if we can use them instead of having to order Vauxhall items." 2) The original dashboard layout was perfection, Fast lane once said it looked as though the entire item was been hewn from something organic as it swooped and curved asymmetrically around the driver. Again the LE arrangement is simply a case of "using-up" Chimaera parts and fitting Tuscan air nozzles and... as there is no other brass used in the interior design they feel somewhat out of place. The original Griffith shape was perfection, so much so that it won a design council award, they should have knon not to try to fiddle with it! Rich...

[97octane]

richb said:

tj500 said: Guess this just shows there's 'no accounting for tastes' Absolutely, the LE is simply tinkering for the sake of it! Every aspect of it is detrimental to the design (except for fitting larger diameter headlamps which can't make that much difference as they still have H1 bulbs in them). Rich...

NOT TRUE - Sorry to pick you up on that, Rich, but they are H4s, twin filament, as I recently discovered when I tried to uprate them & I found that I had bought H1s in error.
As to the other criticisms - I own no57 and I really like the rear lights, the dash is less cluttered and looks better without the "British Leyland" air vents. I do agree about the rear number plate but fortunately they were still doing backlit ones when mine was made.
My major criticism is the wing mirrors which are VW, they are large, give good rearward vision but they are never as pretty as the originals and stand too proud of the bodywork.
In the end I love my Griff - it still has the same heart as yours, but there are so many variations and mods over the 9 years it was produced that really it is "each to his own"

[lazyitus]

MikeyT said:

Awful arse end

How very dare you !




To be fair, I do prefer the old cavalier lights but the picture of the black one at the top looks if you ask me.

[mrmaggit]

nsparey said:

No its not my old car, Moonraker Black, looked dark green in the pic, mine is now aparrently Starmist Green, didnt realise that only the last 30 had angled number plates, this was my baby, No. 84, maddest coloured Griff?

That one went up North, via TMS. I was there when the chap bought it. I believe he's since sold it on.

[nsparey]

mrmaggit said:

nsparey said: No its not my old car, Moonraker Black, looked dark green in the pic, mine is now aparrently Starmist Green, didnt realise that only the last 30 had angled number plates, this was my baby, No. 84, maddest coloured Griff? That one went up North, via TMS. I was there when the chap bought it. I believe he's since sold it on.

I bought it from TMS, so if it was at the open day then that was me, then I changed for a Tuscan S, then TMS had it resprayed dark green I belive befor selling it again, definately for sale recently through Racing Green as "No.84" was in the sales description.

[NJW 77]

The 1st owner of my cerb has LE #99 tucked up in his garage

[jamer]

NJW 77 said:

The 1st owner of my cerb has LE #99 tucked up in his garage

Nice we have a cutsomer who has TWO LE's dry stored and even had them both shipped back up to blackpool to make them as new just after Wheeler sold up.