The History of TVR Cars
The United Kingdom-based TVR manufactures lightweight convertible and coupé sports cars. Its concept of equipping a compact, extremely light roadster with a powerful supercharged engine predates the legendary AC Cobras. After the founders sold the company in 1962, TVR has gone through a series of ownerships. Since 2004, its production has been inconsistent.
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Origins
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TVR Motors was founded in 1947 by Trevor Wilkinson, who came up with the TVR name using three letters in his first name. His first car was built on an Alvis Firebird frame. Two years later, Jack Pickard joined Wilkinson as a partner and the pair created an all-new TVR built on a tubular chassis using a Morris gearbox and a 1172cc engine. They set up a new company called TVR Engineering.
Construction
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TVRs were manufactured on tubular frames with aluminum bodies and later with fiberglass. To avoid heavy British taxes on assembled cars, until the 1970s, the TVR was sold as a kit car (the open roadster or tourer). These cars were powered by straight four-, six- or eight-cylinder engines.
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Early Years
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TVR Engineering eventually became simply TVR. In the 1950s, the company was using four-cylinder engines from British Motors Corporation, Coventry Climax or Ford. High-performance versions were equipped with Shorrock supercharges. All featured engine displacements of two liters or less.
Owners Leave
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In 1962, Wilkinson and Pickard resigned from the company to establish a fiberglass engineering company. While TVR had already established a philosophy of using powerfully supercharged engines in its light roadsters, the company's new owner, Jack Griffith, took it a step further: he decided to mimic the popular AC Cobra by installing a 427-cubic-inch Ford V-8 into a TVR Grantura, renaming it the TVR Griffith.
Lilley Era
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Martin Lilley assumed ownership in 1965. Through 1981, he produced some fine cars using BMC, Triumph and Ford engines. His 2994cc Ford Zodiac V-6 engine allowed the 1967 TVR Tuscan to hit zero to 60 mph in 8.3 seconds. The M Series TVRs were powered by the Ford Essex V-6, the Triumph 2500, the Ford Pinto inline four-cylinder and the Ford Cologne V-6 engines.
Wheeler Era
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Peter Wheeler bought TVR in 1981, and through 2004 preferred to power the TVR with V-8s, including the 3.5- and 4.5-liter Rover V-8s, which were originally Buick motors. Wheeler's greatest influence was the new styling of the TVRs, sculpting radical designs for the Griffith, Tuscan, Tamora, Chimaera, Sagaris, Typhoon and T350 models.
Today
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The company was purchased in 2004 by Nikolai Smolenski, but production of the TVR is almost negligible. In 2006, as few as three cars a week were being produced. TVR suffered significant staff layoffs of its once 300-strong personnel. Production moved to Turin, Italy, in 2006, diluting its British pedigree much to the disappointment of the automaker's fan base. In 2008, Smolenski presented the new Sagaris (see Resources), but nothing from the company has been heard since then.
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Resources
- Photo Credit TVR
