As most Pistonheads readers probably know, TVR Engineering was founded by
Trevor (i.e. TreVoR) Wilkinson. What you may not know is that when he started
the company back in 1947, it wasn't to build sports cars but to repair
Blackpool's fairground rides and recondition demobbed army trucks for budding
Eddie Stobarts.
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TVR 2 |
However, his dream was to make sports cars and his first step was to build
himself a "special" by fabricating a racy new body fitted to the
chassis of an old Alvis. The first "real" TVR didn't appear until 1949
with Wilkinson's second car, which featured a multi-tubular chassis of his own
design, clad in a hand-formed alloy body and fitted with a Ford 10 engine and
Morris 8 back axle.
Two of these prototype TVRs were sold, spurring Wilkinson to set up as a
sports car manufacturer, with commercial considerations seeing the prototype
roadster design ditched in favour of a backbone chassis fitted with coupe bodies
made from GRP. The initial method of producing these bodies was simply to buy
whatever GRP "specials" bodies were available and then modify them to
fit the chassis. Early TVRs therefore took several forms. In fact many customers
just bought a rolling chassis fitted with the engine of their choice and sorted
a body out for themselves.
One such customer was American Ray Saidel, who asked TVR to build him a
chassis with all round independent suspension made from two modified VW torsion
bar front suspensions - something TVR subsequently adopted for all their
chassis. Saidel fitted his chassis with an American body, called the resulting
car a Jomar and became TVR's first US agent.
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Grantura |
It was only after a move to larger premises in 1956 that TVR finally started
to make their own body, and two years later they effectively established TVR
styling for the next 20 years by re-working one of those bodies into a prototype
fastback coupe that became the Grantura.
The pretty Grantura attracted plenty of orders, but slow delivery resulted in
most (including those from Saidel) being cancelled and the ailing company was
only saved by cash invested by some enthusiastic TVR owners. Renamed Layton
Sports Cars it survived just three years before another rescue was needed, being
re-formed as TVR Cars in 1961.
Development of the Grantura continued, with an improved chassis and
Triumph-based suspension being introduced in 1962 for the Mk 3, three of which
were entered in the Sebring 12-hour race (with another three competing at Le
Mans) as part of an ambitious new racing programme. Not that competition was new
to TVR. Granturas were often privately entered in smaller events by their
owners, and there had been some previous works involvement, though never on this
scale. In the event the new racing programme was an expensive flop, with the
underdeveloped and poorly prepared cars being embarrassingly unreliable.
Wilkinson - having long since lost control of the company he founded - quit
in disgust and before the end of the year the company again went bust, with TVR
only surviving in the guise of Grantura Engineering thanks to the efforts of two
of its directors and funds provided by TVR enthusiast and clothing empire heir
Arnold Burton.
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1800S |
Granturas had originally been available with MGA, Ford Classic or Coventry
Climax engines, but in 1963 this was rationalised so that only the 1800cc MGB
engine was offered, and with a revised Kamm tail body the car became the
Grantura 1800S.
In 1961 TVR had re-established its American connection by appointing Dick
Monnich as US agent, and one of Monnich's customers - a certain Jack Griffith -
decided that anything Carroll Shelby could do with an AC he could do with a TVR
and so replaced his Grantura's B-series engine with a smallblock Ford V8.
After some development work by the factory this phenomenally fast car became
an official TVR model - though in the US they were only called Griffiths, being
completed by Griffith and marketed separately from the TVR Granturas sold by
Monnich. American demand for this new Cobra rival was such that TVR soon found
themselves with a bulging order book, with the bulk of their increasing output
being accounted for by export Griffiths.
This rosy situation came to an abrupt end with the US docks strike of 1965.
Having just made a major investment in the new Trident model on the strength of
US sales, the sudden loss of those sales once again saw TVR in serious trouble.
And once again it was enthusiasm for the cars that saved the company as young
Griffith owner Martin Lilley and his father took it over, resurrecting the name
TVR Engineering in the process.
Not only did TVR have large debts, no orders and a bad name, there was also a
wrangle over who owned the rights to the Trident. The Lilleys believed they'd
bought the rights with the company but then found versions of the car being
built by somebody else, and eventually they gave up on it to concentrate on
developing the Mk 4 Grantura.
When the US docks strike ended, TVR set about reviving those profitable
American exports and so appointed Gerry Sagerman (who had raced and subsequently
bought one of the Sebring Granturas) as new US agent and launched a new Ford V8
powered car in the shape of the Tuscan. However, sales of the Tuscan were poor,
even in America, and it was to be a new four-cylinder car that put TVR back on
the road to success.
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Vixen |
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Developed from the Grantura, the Vixen offered a choice of Ford's new 1600GT
crossflow or MGB engine (the latter soon dropped because Ford offered a better
deal) and when it was shown at the 1967 London Motor Show TVR received many
orders.
At that time most TVRs sold in the UK were supplied in "kit" form
(actually, little more than installing the engine and gearbox was needed to
complete them) because kit cars weren't subject to taxes levied on production
cars. Spend a weekend finishing a kit and you could have a brand new TVR on the
road for ¾ the cost of a turnkey version - the only way most owners could
afford one.
However, the majority of TVRs still went abroad, with the US and Canada
taking 70% of the 200 Vixens sold in 1968 - the year TVR went back into profit.
Two years later the situation had reversed, with most Vixens being sold in
Britain. Business was booming to the extent that in 1970 TVR had to move to
larger premises in Bristol Avenue, where it's still based today.
Despite the failure of the Tuscan V8, TVR still felt there was a market for a
more powerful version of the Vixen and so introduced the Tuscan V6 with Ford's 3
litre "Essex" V6. Milder mannered than the Tuscan V8, and with an
easily maintainable homegrown engine, it found a niche with UK buyers who wanted
more grunt than the Vixen provided. However, it wasn't suitable for America due
to emissions levels - a problem solved by fitting the Stromberg carburetted
engine from the US specification Triumph TR6, resulting in the TVR 2500, which
(in more powerful injected form) also became available in the UK.
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M Series |
In 1971 an improved chassis formed the basis of two cars whose Motor Show
debut sparked a media frenzy, the shrewdly planned uncovering of two stunning
models on the TVR stand even becoming front page news. The models in question
weren't the new M-Series coupe and SM prototype though but the two naked blondes
that TVR had draped over them on press day for what has to be one of the all
time great publicity stunts.
Although the SM (aka Zante) never reached production the M-Series sold well
on both sides of the Atlantic - until new UK taxes in 1973 put kit car prices up
by 30% and instantly killed off most of TVR's home market, making it once again
primarily dependent on US orders. Fortunately TVR's US agents could get those
orders and the company continued to thrive, despite the 1974 oil crisis and
component supply problems caused by frequent strikes at British Leyland.
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| Taimar Turbo |
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| 3000S |
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| Tasmin |
TVR received another set-back in January 1975 when a fire closed the works
for three months. The basic need to resume production meant the company couldn't
spend time meeting new US regulations and few cars reached America that year,
but fortunately recovering production coincided with increasing demand in the
UK, enabling TVR to sell those cars it could make.
1976 saw TVR back in full swing, launching the hatchback Taimar and the 3000S
roadster, both of which were based on the 3000M and available with turbo
options. American exports were also back on track - but not for much longer. A
new agent filled in some import documents wrongly and twenty five 3000Ss were
impounded. Losing £250,000 worth of stock and having the US market closed to it
because of a minor error was another harsh blow for TVR.
But business continued, and a new decade saw a new look with the 1980 launch
of the wedge-shaped Tasmin with Ford 2 litre "Pinto" or 2.8 litre
Cologne V6 power and choice of coupe, Plus 2 and convertible bodies.
However, the Tasmin's styling wasn't well received and sales were poor, and
this, on top of development costs and the US debacle, caused TVR serious
financial problems. After struggling for two years to overcome them Martin
Lilley finally admitted defeat, but not wanting to see TVR die he played on the
enthusiasm that had saved it so often in the past and contacted a Taimar Turbo
driving businessman by the name of Peter Wheeler…
Copyright Graham Bell 2003
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