History of TVR Sports Cars – Part–1

TVR was founded in 1947 by a man called Trevor Wilkinson, who used three consonants from his first name as the title for his company. However, his company didn’t originally build sports cars, but operated on a contract repairing the fairground rides at the Lancashire seaside resort of Blackpool.

Britain had just come out World War 2 and economically was on its knees and there was much work to be done to get the economy back on track. Wilkinson was involved in reconditioning de-commissioned military trucks and selling them on to the road haulage industry.

Trevor Wilkinson’s dream had always been to build cars. His first was to fabricate a sports body, which he fitted to the chassis of an Alvis Firebird. This car he registered on 24th August 1949.

The first car to carry the TVR name didn’t appear until the following year and when Wilkinson built his second car. This featured a multi–tubular chassis of his own design, upon which he mounted a hand–formed alloy body. Propulsion came from a Ford 10 engine, driving a Morris 8 rear axle.

Sports Car Producer TVR Was Born

Only two of these TVR prototypes were sold, but gave Wilkinson the inspiration to set up as a sports car manufacturer, which he did with business partner, Jack Pickard. One of these cars still exists today and is in the hands of private ownership.

Commercial considerations influenced Wilkinson to abandon his prototype roadster design and use a backbone chassis instead. He used a coupé body made from glass reinforced plastic (GRP), buying whatever GRP specials were available and then modified them to fit the chassis.

Early TVR’s took on several forms and many customers bought just a rolling chassis, fitted the engine of their choice and then sorted a body out for themselves.

Early North American Interest in TVR

One early TVR customer was American, Ray Saidel, from New Hampshire, USA, who in 1955 asked Trevor Wilkinson to build him a chassis with all–round independent suspension. This was achieved from two modified VW Beetle torsion bar front suspension units, a system that was subsequently adopted at the time for all TVR cars.

Saidel fitted his chassis with a glass reinforced plastic body, a Coventry Climax engine and called the car a Jomar. As a consequence of exhibiting the car at the 1957 New York Motor Show, Saidel became the first TVR agent in the United States.

In 1956, TVR started to make its own GRP body shells, as well as the chassis, and moved to larger premises. Two years later the cars Wilkinson produced were in a style that was to last for the next 20–years, initially in the form of the TVR Grantura.

The TVR Grantura attracted plenty of orders, but slow delivery resulted in most orders, including those from Saidel, being cancelled and causing the company significant financial difficulty. In fact, the ailing carmaker was only saved by a cash investment made by a group of generous and enthusiastic TVR owners.

TVR then was renamed to Layton Sports Cars and survived just three more years, this being until 1961, when money ran out again. Fortunately, another financial rescue package provided the company with a future, being re–formed as TVR Cars, and with Trevor Wilkinson in place as managing director.

Re–established American Connection

In 1961, TVR had re–established its American connection by appointing a man called Dick Monnich as their US agent. One of Monnich’s customers was a man called Jack Griffith. Monnich and Griffith decided that anything Carroll Shelby could do with his AC cars they could do better with a TVR, and taking a Grantura they swapped its meagre 1800cc MGB engine for a 4.7–litre Ford V8, as fitted to the AC Cobra.

After some development work by the factory this phenomenally quick car became an official TVR model, called the TVR Griffith 200. In the US, however, it was just called simply the Griffith. The reason for the name difference was the car was exported to the States in kit form and completed by Jack Griffith and to be marketed separately from the TVR Grantura’s sold by Monnich.

Such was the American demand for this new Cobra rival that TVR soon found themselves swamped with orders, with the bulk of their increasing output being accounted for by sales of the Griffith.

TVR and Motor Sport

Despite difficulties the development of the TVR Grantura continued. This was now the Mk3 with an improved chassis that used Triumph–based suspension. Three of these cars were entered for the Sebring 12–hour race, and another three competed at Le Mans.

Competition was not new to TVR, as Grantura’s were often privately entered in smaller events by their owners. There had been some previous works involvement too, although it was never on a big scale. Motor racing proved to be an expensive flop, mainly due to underdeveloped and poorly prepared cars that turned out to be embarrassingly unreliable on the track.

TVR was financially up against a wall and Trevor Wilkinson, realising he had lost control of the company he founded, quit in disgust as TVR again went into receivership. The company did survive, however.

A rescue package was put together by two of TVR’s directors, some TVR enthusiasts and clothing empire heir, Arnold Burton with the company being re–named as Grantura Engineering.

Grantura’s had originally been available with MGA, Ford Classic or Coventry Climax engines, but in 1963 only the 4–cylinder 1800cc British Motor Company (BMC) MGB engine was offered. These cars could be identified by the design of the rear and the model became known as the Grantura 1800S.

The TVR Trident

In early 1963, a man called Trevor Frost met with the management team of Grantura Engineering at the Derby Arms pub public house in Treales near to Blackpool to discuss a design he had thought up for a new TVR model. Frost was English designer of Italian descent and at the time was working at Carrozzeria Fissore, a design house of some note in Turin, under the name Trevor Fiore.

Whilst sitting at a table, Frost sketched his idea on a table napkin. The TVR representatives were impressed and as a result, Frost went back to Turin and pursuaded Carrozzeria Fissore of Turin to build two examples of the car, to be called the TVR Trident.

The TVR Trident was a fastback coupé and not a great deal dissimilar in appearance to the TVR wedges that appeared much later. Engine power came from the American Ford 4.7–litre V8, as fitted to the AC Cobra, and was the only TVR since the two prototypes to be given a metal body.

The main body shell was fabricated in steel, but with an aluminium bonnet, and this was mounted on the existing Grantura⁄Griffith chassis. However, the process of moving from the simple drawing on a table napkin to building the project car was slow. It was nearly two–years before things started to take shape. However, the two cars were finished in time for the 1965 Geneva motor show where they were well received.

TVR’s was always known to use parts taken from standard production cars. The Trident was no exception as the lights came from Alfa Romeo and Fiat as did the electrical switches. As a consequence of the showing in Turin, Carrozzeria Fissore was asked to build two more cars, another coupé and a convertible.

After the show, the two show cars became the official TVR test vehicles upon which all further production Trident cars would be based. However, before the third and fourth could be delivered, TVR’s hopes and dreams came to an abrupt end with the 1965 US dock strike.

Having just made a major investment into the Trident project, and on the strength of Griffith and Grantura sales to the United States, the sudden loss of such a large customer base once again sent TVR into bankruptcy.

History of TVR Part–1
History of TVR Part–2
History of TVR Part–3
History of TVR Part–4

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Thursday, 27-Jan-2011

The History of TVR Sports Cars Part–1