TVR Speed 16 design stuns

Gobsmacking design study with two engines

By PH Staff / Monday, 16 May 2005 / Loading comments

TVR Speed 16 by T. Jon Meyer

PHer Los Angeles has unearthed these drawings by a Californian car designer of a theoretical TVR Speed 16.

LA writes:

"It's an extreme exercise in design given by tutor to student. The brief was, "Design a sports car for a movie with no restrictions on imagination or practicality." The result you see here in rendered form -- a superb clay model exists too -- is a dream version of a TVR Speed 16. The designer, T. Jon Mayer, chose TVR because he venerates the company and would love to work on its new models.

"For those who bemoan the lack of a modern V8 TVR, the Speed 16 has two, one in the nose, one in the rear, thus the ventilation grid in place of a rear window. Doors open suicide fashion. All else is there for good aerodynamic reasons. It's a courageous design, outrageous even. Nor is he afraid of using camouflage colours, adding, "Some flip colours work, some don't."

"Of course, it could never be put into production as conceived. Much would have to be altered, but as an exercise in harnessing the essence of TVR, it's a great success, and was duly lauded at his graduation show. It captures TVR's design language exactly.

"His starting point was the Tuscan. Like other students of his generation, he thinks TVR under Peter Wheeler's guidance, inspirational, exciting, rebellious, and futuristic. "Though the Tuscan has a dropped waist that weakens the design, and a fat rear, the car is still jaw dropping. I love the clam shell bonnet." The new Tuscan, he opines, is a diluted version of the original, but it doesn't dampen his enthusiasm for TVR. "They are such a great company."

"Jon is a Fine Arts graduate in Industrial Design who has studied car design at the famous Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, Los Angeles. (It is alma mater to Chris Bangle and J. Mays, among other luminaries.) As it's name suggests, the Transport Department studies new ways of getting us from A to B, in addition to encouraging talented students from around the world in taking a radical look at car shapes, inside and out.

"Many of the design projects are sponsored by car companies, though none yet by TVR. As they enter a new phase of their history perhaps they ought to take note of Jon. After all, if a retro company like Morgan can invite a 21 year old to make real his ideas for an Aero 8 Coupe, what's to stop TVR going one better?"