Information about Tvr

TVR
TVR's logo
	Private
Founded	1947
Headquarters	Blackpool, Lancashire, England, UK
Key people	Trevor Wilkinson founder, Jack Pickard co-founder
Industry	Automotive
Products	Automobile
Website	tvr.co.uk

TVR was an independent manufacturer of sports cars in the town of Blackpool, in Lancashire, England. The company manufactured lightweight sports cars with powerful engines and was 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. TVR sports cars are composed of tubular steel frames, cloaked in aggressive body designs.

TVR's two arms were TVR Engineering, which manufactures sports cars and grand tourers, and TVR Power, their powertrain division.

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.

2004: Smolenski

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 on 26 November, 2006. Dubbed London Thunder, it was also an attempt at the official world record for the biggest one-marque convoy on record.

By December 2006, it emerged that Smolenski had split TVR into a number of different companies^[3]:

• Brand and intellectual property rights had been transferred to a core Smolenski company
• TVR Motors - held the licence to the brands and intellectual property in the UK, as well as sales and marketing of the brand
• TVR Power - the parts and spares business had been sold to a management buyout
• Blackpool Automotive - the factory and manufacturing assets

On 13 December Smolenski and production director Mike Penny resigned as a director of Blackpool Automotive, being replaced by Smolenski UK personal assistant Roger Billinghurst and 25 year old Austrian Angelco Stamenkov. By 24 December, Blackpool Automotive was in Administration. Administrators are now seeking legal clarification on the ownership of certain assets, including the brand and intellectual property, to see what assets the company has and who should pay the redundancy notices of the remaining 200 workers^[4].

On 22 February 2007 it was revealed that Smolenski is once again the owner of the company after being the highest bidder. ^[5]

On 28 February 2007 less than one week after reacquiring TVR, he has reportedly announced plans to sell the company to Adam Burdette and Jean Michel Santacreu, who intend to export TVRs to the United States market. ^[6]

On 08 October 2007 it was found that Smolenski was still in control of the company and was hoping to restart production, with a target of 2,000 units to be sold in 2008. ^[7]

TVRs in popular media

• John Travolta drove a TVR Tuscan in the movie Swordfish fitted with Preston (UK) numberplates.
• Bugs Bunny drove a "modified" TVR Tuscan in the 2003
• Yelena (Asia Argento) drove a TVR Tuscan in xXx with Vin Diesel.
• Many TVRs are featured in the PlayStation 2 videogame, The Getaway: Black Monday.
• Many TVRs are featured in the videogame series Gran Turismo.
• TVRs, including the Tuscan and Cerbera Speed 12, are featured in Project Gotham Racing 2
• TVRs are also featured in the Xbox 360 games Project Gotham Racing 3, Test Drive Unlimited, and Forza Motorsport 2.
• The TVR Griffith 400 is featured in the racing simulation game GT Legends.

TVRs are predominantly featured in the Test Drive series of video games.

• Several TVRs have been reviewed on BBC's Top Gear

Company Ownership

The history of the company can be divided into four eras, based on ownership:

• 1947–1965: founder Trevor Wilkinson, who left in 1962
• 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 Challenge3	1988-?	Rover V8/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.

Gallery

1966 Griffith 400 Original #55 of 59	TVR 280i	TVR S series 1986	TVR 280i Coupe 1984
TVR 280i Series 2 1986	TVR 350i 1986	TVR Chimaera	TVR Cerbera
TVR Sagaris, one of the many TVR cars manufactured in Blackpool	Two TVRs at the Northampton & Lamport Railway during a Car show held at the railway	TVR No.2 - Oldest surviving TVR. Located at the Yorkshire Motor Museum	Tuscan Challenge racing car

References

External links

• Official TVR website
• The TVR Car Club
• TVR Car Club North America
• TVR Griffith Owners Register, History, Mods and Maintainance, Gallery, Alt Parts,Resources, Links
• TVR pictures, costs, service schedules and specifications.
• TVR history
• TVR Chimaera maintenance, modification, ownership and buyer's guide.
• End of era for cult UK carmaker
• TVR News, Discussion, Sales, Video