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What with the Peter Wheeler era cars now approaching the magic 30 year old mark I thought it was high time I found another TVR. After selling my Chimaera earlier this year I was immediately keeping an eye out for a replacement.
A car cropped up for sale on the outskirts of London about a month ago that ticked all of (well most of) the boxes. So I headed over to take a look last weekend. I got the train from the airport to the local station where the seller kindly agreed to meet me and we headed the short distance to his house, where he had a very tidy, Griffith shaped, garage!
The seller was a gentleman and guided me through all the paperwork, showed me around the car, pointing out recent works that have been undertaken along with some very minor areas for improvement.
The car is a 1992, early model Griffith 400. That means it has the 4.0L Rover V8 (the smallest engine in the Griff line up). The claimed output was around 240bhp which is generally believed to be, well, "optimistic". We went out for a drive and this car really is all about the low down torque and the ability to pick up speed at low revs. Weighing in at just over a tonne it is lively to say the least.
It's the same engine and gearbox (Rover LT77) I had in my Chimaera but as the Griffith is a couple of years older it is a pre-cat version. More noise, hopefully a little more power and certainly just as many, if not more, smiles 😀 You really can't help but smile and laugh driving these cars.
It has had a lot of recent work including suspension, exhaust and wheel refurb to name a few. There is a big folder of receipts with some large bills over the past 5 years from some well respected TVR specialists in the UK. This was comforting and worrying in equal measures! However, it does seem a lot of work and preventative maintenance have been carried out.
So back to Stanstead airport I went, telling myself that I would sleep on the decision as the noise kept reverberating around in my head.. let's be honest, my mind was already made up. I contacted the seller on Monday to arrange for a deposit to be transferred. We have agreed that I will collect the car in January.
A little bit of useless information:
Peter Wheeler acquired TVR in the early 1980s and developed the company, bringing around it's most successful era in the 1990's. The secret to success was putting the RV8 in to their line of sports cars, creating some absolutely incredible cars such as the 450 SEAC and the V8-S (markcro - looking at you!), along with the introduction of the curvaceous Griffith and Chimaera (and later Cerbera).
Interestingly, Wheeler was not the first man to put a V8 in a TVR. A man by the name of Jack Griffith had acquired the rights to market TVR in the USA and came up with the idea in 1964. Over a dinner he was having with a chap called Carroll Shelby (ever heard of him?), Griffith claimed he could build a car that could outperform an AC Cobra. The rest, my friends, is history.
The TVR community in Ireland is growing all the time and it is a great club to get involved in. There is an example of almost every TVR production model here in Ireland so it's a fantastic scene.
As the saying goes, buy a TVR 😎
Sent from my SM-A528B using Tapatalk
A car cropped up for sale on the outskirts of London about a month ago that ticked all of (well most of) the boxes. So I headed over to take a look last weekend. I got the train from the airport to the local station where the seller kindly agreed to meet me and we headed the short distance to his house, where he had a very tidy, Griffith shaped, garage!
The seller was a gentleman and guided me through all the paperwork, showed me around the car, pointing out recent works that have been undertaken along with some very minor areas for improvement.
The car is a 1992, early model Griffith 400. That means it has the 4.0L Rover V8 (the smallest engine in the Griff line up). The claimed output was around 240bhp which is generally believed to be, well, "optimistic". We went out for a drive and this car really is all about the low down torque and the ability to pick up speed at low revs. Weighing in at just over a tonne it is lively to say the least.
It's the same engine and gearbox (Rover LT77) I had in my Chimaera but as the Griffith is a couple of years older it is a pre-cat version. More noise, hopefully a little more power and certainly just as many, if not more, smiles 😀 You really can't help but smile and laugh driving these cars.
It has had a lot of recent work including suspension, exhaust and wheel refurb to name a few. There is a big folder of receipts with some large bills over the past 5 years from some well respected TVR specialists in the UK. This was comforting and worrying in equal measures! However, it does seem a lot of work and preventative maintenance have been carried out.
So back to Stanstead airport I went, telling myself that I would sleep on the decision as the noise kept reverberating around in my head.. let's be honest, my mind was already made up. I contacted the seller on Monday to arrange for a deposit to be transferred. We have agreed that I will collect the car in January.
A little bit of useless information:
Peter Wheeler acquired TVR in the early 1980s and developed the company, bringing around it's most successful era in the 1990's. The secret to success was putting the RV8 in to their line of sports cars, creating some absolutely incredible cars such as the 450 SEAC and the V8-S (markcro - looking at you!), along with the introduction of the curvaceous Griffith and Chimaera (and later Cerbera).
Interestingly, Wheeler was not the first man to put a V8 in a TVR. A man by the name of Jack Griffith had acquired the rights to market TVR in the USA and came up with the idea in 1964. Over a dinner he was having with a chap called Carroll Shelby (ever heard of him?), Griffith claimed he could build a car that could outperform an AC Cobra. The rest, my friends, is history.
The TVR community in Ireland is growing all the time and it is a great club to get involved in. There is an example of almost every TVR production model here in Ireland so it's a fantastic scene.
As the saying goes, buy a TVR 😎
Sent from my SM-A528B using Tapatalk
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