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| Company Profile of TVR Engineering
Ltd |
The TVR Story effectively began in 1947 when a young engineer,
Trevor Wilkinson, built himself a
light alloy special based on an Alvis Firebird rolling chassis.
The
first TVR with its own chassis was built in 1949 with Ford side-valve power. By
1956, TVRs were being sold in the U.S. and in 1958 production of the Grantura
was well and truly under way. By the standards of the day, Granturas were fast,
agile and good looking. Indeed something of a TVR formula was emerging: strong
tubular steel chassis covered in good looking bodywork and propelled by a
strong engine to give impressive performance at a very reasonable
price.
In 1963 a major milestone was reached with the introduction of
the first TVR Griffith, which was fundamentally a Grantura with a modified
chassis and a big American V8 under the bonnet. Performance of these cars was
very much in the AC Cobra league, enough to severely embarrass the Jaguars and
Ferraris of the day. In 1966 management of TVR was stabilised in the hands of
the Lilleys and over the next few years the company gradually grew with the
Grantura being replaced by the Vixen and the Griffith by the Tuscan
V8.
In 1970 TVR moved to its current factory in Bristol Avenue from
where it has never moved, although the premises have been expanded enormously
over the last 20 years. In 1972, the M series was introduced which was to serve
TVR extremely well through the '70s. As the years progressed the M was sold in
fixed head coupe, hatchback, convertible and turbocharged forms, the last
accelerating quicker than the Porsche 911 Turbo.
In 1980, the
Tasmin was introduced with a new chassis, new
body and a new engine. Power came from the Ford 2.8 unit and there were Coupe,
Convertible and 2+2 models.
In 1982 TVR's current owner and chairman,
Peter
Wheeler, took over and in the following year the first of the
Rover V8 engined TVR's was introduced: the 350i. Over the years, the cars got
faster and more sophisticated, culminating in the mighty 450 SEAC of 1988 which
produced 324 bhp from a TVR modified 4500cc V8 engine. A new chapter in TVR's
history was introduced with the birth of the S which went into production in
1987. Although it looked superficially like the M Series, it was an all-new car
and with its stunningly low price, it transformed TVR's fortunes and saw
production almost double in a year. However, it was the Griffith that was
really responsible for TVR's renaissance. The first cars were delivered to
customers at the beginning of 1992 and the car was overwhelmingly successful.
An order was taken on average every eight minutes at its first Motor Show and,
with the introduction of the Griffith 500 in 1993, it has reached the
first rank of the instant classics.
The TVR
Chimaera and
Cerbera have been introduced since then and
have contributed to TVR's position as the most popular, and prolific, of
Britain's independent car manufacturers.
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| © TVR
Engineering Ltd |
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