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TVR is an independent manufacturer of sports cars in the city of Blackpool, in Lancashire England. The company manufactures lightweight sports cars with powerful engines. TVR is the third-largest specialised sports car manufacturer in the world, offering a diverse range of coupés and convertibles, most using an in-house straight-6 cylinder engine design, others an in-house V8. TVRs are composed of tubular steel frames, cloaked in aggressive body designs.
TVR's two arms include TVR Engineering, which manufactures sports cars and grand tourers, and TVR Power, their powertrain division.
In October 2006, the company announced plans to relocate its vehicle assembly operations to Turin, Italy, with only engine manufacture remaining in Britain.
Company History
TVR was founded in 1947 by Trevor Wilkinson, under the name of Trevcar Motors. In 1954, Wilkinson changed the name of the company to TVR by removing two vowels and a consonant from his first name. The first car was built in 1949. In 1953 the concept of glass-reinforced plastic bodywork over a tubular steel backbone chassis was born, and has continued to this day. Many of the early cars were sold in kit form to avoid a British tax on assembled cars but in the 1970s the tax loophole was closed and the kit-form option was removed.
In the late 1950s, TVRs were powered by 4-cylinder engines from Coventry Climax, BMC or Ford, the performance models having Shorrock superchargers. As with many other British sports cars, engine sizes remained under two litres, and all produced less than 100 bhp (75 kW). Most TVRs were sold in the domestic (British) market, although small numbers were exported.
In the 1960s, American motor dealer Jack Griffith decided to put a 4.7 litre V8 from an AC Cobra he owned into a TVR Grantura, in much the same way that V8s were first transplanted into AC Cobras. (It is in honour of Jack Griffith that the TVR Griffith was named).
Towards the end of the 1960s, TVR returned to Ford for a 2994 cc V6 Zodiac engine for the new Tuscan racer. This produced 128 bhp (95 kW), giving a 0-60 mph (0-97 km/h) time of 8.3 seconds, which was good performance for the time.
The 1970s saw a number of engines used in TVRs (particularly the 'M Series'), mainly Triumph 2500s, Ford Essex V6 and Ford 1600 Crossflows.
In the 1980s, under the ownership of Peter Wheeler, TVR moved away from naturally-aspirated and turbocharged V6s back to large V8s, namely the Rover V8 (to which Rover bought the intellectual property rights from Buick). Capacity grew from 3.5 to 4.5 litres.
In the 1990s, TVR Power modified a number of Rover V8s, but subsequently developed an in-house engine design. The AJP8 engine, a lightweight alloy V8, was developed by engineering consultant Al Melling along with John Ravenscroft and Peter Wheeler (hence the AJP initials), a notable achievement for a small maker. The new engine was originally destined for the Griffith and Chimaera models, but development took longer than expected and it finally became available in the Cerbera and Tuscan race cars.
Owner Peter Wheeler subsequently directed the design of a straight-six derivative of the AJP8 that would be cheaper to produce and maintain than the eight. This engine, designed by John Ravenscroft, became known as the "Speed 6", and powers current TVRs.
In July 2004, 24-year-old Nikolai Smolenski bought the company from chemical industry consultant and TVR enthusiast Peter Wheeler, for about £15 million. Despite his Russian nationality, Smolenski said he intended TVR to remain a British company.
In April 2006, responding to falling demand and with production rumoured to have dropped from 12 cars a week to 3 or 4, TVR laid off some of its 300 staff. At the same time, the firm announced plans to move to updated facilities in the Squires Gate district of Blackpool, citing impending expiry of the lease of the current factory in late 2006, where owner Peter Wheeler was said to be planning to build a housing estate.
In October 2006 Smolenski announced [1] that body production and final assembly for TVR would move to Turin, Italy [2], with only engine production remaining in the UK.
In protest at this and to show support for the workers, a large number of TVR owners paraded through central London. Dubbed 'London Thunder' [3] the event was held on November 26th 2006. It was also an attempt at the official world record for the biggest one-marque convoy on record.
TVRs in popular media
* John Travolta drove a TVR Tuscan in the movie Swordfish.
* Many TVRs are featured in the PlayStation 2 videogame, The Getaway: Black Monday.
* Many TVRs are featured in the videogame series Gran Turismo.
* TVRs are also featured in the Xbox 360 games Project Gotham Racing 3 and Test Drive Unlimited.
Company Ownership
The history of the company can be divided into four eras, based on ownership:
* 1947–1965: owner Trevor Wilkinson
* 1965–1981: owner Martin Lilley
* 1981–2004: owner Peter Wheeler
* 2004–present: owner Nikolai Smolenski
Model list
Model Production Years Engine Displacement
Trevor Wilkinson Era
Jomar1 1957-1959 Coventry Climax
Ford Kent
1098 cc
1172 cc
TVR Grantura I 1958-1960 Coventry Climax
Ford Kent
BMC B-Series 1098 cc
1172 cc
1588 cc
TVR Grantura II 1960-1961 Coventry Climax
Ford Kent
BMC B-Series 1098 cc
1172 cc
1588 cc
TVR Grantura IIa 1961-1962 Coventry Climax
Ford Kent
BMC B-Series 1098 cc
1172 cc
1588 cc
TVR Grantura III 1962-1964 Coventry Climax
Ford Kent
BMC B-Series 1098 cc
1172 cc
1588 cc
TVR Grantura 1800S 1964-1966 BMC B-Series 1798 cc
Griffith 2001 1963-1964 Ford Windsor V8 4727 cc
Griffith 4001 1964-1967 Ford Windsor V8 4727 cc
Martin Lilley Era
TVR Grantura IV 1800S 1966-1967 BMC B-Series 1798 cc
TVR Tuscan 1967-1970 Ford Windsor V8 4727 cc
TVR Tuscan V6 1969-1971 Ford Essex V6 2994 cc
TVR Vixen S1 1967-1968 Ford Kent
BMC B-Series 1599 cc
1798 cc
TVR Vixen S2 1968-1969 Ford Kent 1599 cc
TVR Vixen S3 1970-1972 Ford Kent 1599 cc
TVR Vixen S4 1972-1972 Ford Kent 1599 cc
TVR Vixen 1300 1971-1972 Triumph I4 1296 cc
TVR Vixen 2500 1971-1972 Triumph I6 2498 cc
TVR 1600M 1972-1973
1975-1977 Ford Kent I4 1599 cc
TVR 2500M 1972-1977 Triumph I6 2498 cc
TVR 3000M 1971-1979 Ford Essex V6 2994 cc
TVR 3000M Turbo 1975-1979 Ford Essex V6 2994 cc
TVR Taimar 1976-1979 Ford Essex V6 2994 cc
TVR Taimar Turbo 1976-1979 Ford Essex V6 2994 cc
TVR 3000S 1978-1979 Ford Essex V6 2994 cc
TVR 3000S Turbo 1978-1979 Ford Essex V6 2994 cc
TVR Tasmin 200 1979-1984 Ford Pinto I4 1993 cc
TVR Tasmin 280 1980-1984 Ford Cologne V6 2792 cc
Peter Wheeler Era
TVR 280i 1984-1987 Ford Cologne V6 2792 cc
TVR 350i 1983-1985 TVR/Rover V8 3528 cc
TVR 350SX 1985-1989 TVR/Rover V8
+ Sprintex Supercharger 3528 cc
TVR 350SE 1990-1991 TVR/Rover V8 3947 cc
TVR 390SE 1984-1988 TVR/Rover V8 3905 cc
TVR 400SE 1988-1991 TVR/Rover V8 3948 cc
TVR 400SX 1989 TVR/Rover V8
+ Sprintex Supercharger 3948 cc
TVR 420SE 1986-1987 TVR/Rover V8 4228 cc
TVR 420SEAC 1986-1988 TVR/Rover V8 4228 cc
TVR 450SE 1989-1990 TVR/Rover V8 4441 cc
TVR 450SEAC 1988-1989 TVR/Rover V8 4441 cc
TVR S1 1986-1988 Ford Cologne V6 2792 cc
TVR S2 1989-1990 Ford Cologne V6 2933 cc
TVR S3(C) 1991-1992 Ford Cologne V6 2933 cc
TVR S4C 1993-1993 Ford Cologne V6 2933 cc
TVR V8S 1991-1993 TVR/Rover V8 3948 cc
TVR Griffith 1992-2002 TVR/Rover V8 3948 cc
4280 cc
4988 cc
TVR Chimaera 1992-2001 TVR/Rover V8 3948 cc
4280 cc
4495 cc
4988 cc
TVR Cerbera 1996-2003 Speed Eight 4185 cc
4475 cc
Speed Six 3996 cc
TVR Tamora Speed Six 3605 cc
TVR T350 (Targa & Coupe) Speed Six 3605 cc
TVR Tuscan Speed Six 3996 cc
TVR Typhon Speed Six 3996 cc
Nikolai Smolenski Era
TVR Sagaris 2004-date Speed Six 3996 cc
Speciality/Racing Cars
TVR Cerbera Speed 12 N/A Speed Twelve 7730 cc
TVR Speed 123
TVR Tuscan Racer3 Speed Eight 4500 cc
TVR T400R/Typhon GT3 440 bhp
1 - Not technically a TVR model, but used TVR chassis/body.
2 - Never went into production.
3 - Built exclusively for racing.
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