Managing Director – Bridge Classic Cars
Goodwood recently published an article about the 9 best TVRs for the road. The article opens with:
“TVR is one of those unlucky British car brands that didn’t quite make it. You can trace its roots back to 1946, an engineering business set up out of a small warehouse in Blackpool by a young Trevor Wilkinson. The name changed in 1947 to TVR engineering (remove a few letters from ‘Trevor’ and you’ll see where the name came from), and over the following 60 years, the business produced some of the most exciting, fastest and loudest cars on the road. The cars weren’t always perfect – far from it, in many cases – and the company saw a number of owners before production stopped in 2006. But still, as you’ll see, TVR had a seriously good run”
Within the article, Goodwood break down their top 9 TVR’s which include the TVR Grantura – 1958, TVR Taimar Turbo – 1976, TVR 420 SEAC – 1986, TVR Griffith – 1991, TVR Chimaera – 1993, TVR Tuscan – 1999, TVR Tuscan – 1999, TVR T350T – 2002 and the TVR Sagaris – 2005.
Here at Bridge we’ve worked on a TVR Grantura and TVR Chimaera recently as well as giving away a Chimaera and have become very fond of the practicality, affordability and styling.
The article eloquently explains that “In many ways the Chimaera name, derived from the Greek name ‘Chimera’, epitomises so many TVRs. Chimera was said to be a fire-breathing monster of Greek mythology, a hybrid of creatures with, most notably, a lion’s head, a goat’s body and a snakes tail.”
Grantura’s are arguably the iconic TVR’s “The earliest TVRs are funny little creations. The very first car with a TVR badge, for example, the TVR 1 from 1949 which sadly no longer exists, was a split-screen, roofless two-seater with Morris 8 mechanicals, a Ford 100E engine and a handmade metal body. The TVR 2 from later the same year, meanwhile, was another roofless two-seater that was used as a racer and had the rev counter from a Spitfire. Not the car, the World War II fighter plane.”
We’ve worked on two Grantura’s and found them to be charming and quirky early TVR’s that lend themselves well to every day use.
You can read the full article here.
