HISTORY OF TVR

TVR HISTORY

'''TVR''' is a manufacturer of sports cars, located in Blackpool, North West England. TVR is unique in having survived not just as a marque, but as a thriving independent manufacturer.

History

TVR was founded in 1947 by Trevor Wilkinson, who used three consonants of his first name for the company 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, which is continued to this day.

TVR is the third largest specialized sports car manufacturer of the world. A diverse range of coupes and convertibles are offered, most using an inhouse straight-6 cylinder engine design, others an inhouse V8. These cars are built from sturdy tubular steel frames, cloaked in aggressive body designs.

The life of TVR can be divided into four eras, based on ownership:

* 1947–1965: owner Trevor Wilkinson * 1965–1981: owner Martin Lilley * 1981–2004: owner Peter Wheeler * 2004–present: owner Nikolai Smolenski

In July 2004, 24 year old Russian, Nikolai Smolenski, bought 100% of the company from its owner Peter Wheeler, for about £15 million. Despite Smolenski's Russian origin, he reportedly intends for TVR to remain a British company and continue the tradition of building lightweight high-performance cars that started more than thirty years before he was born.

Model list

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||1972-1979||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

Nikolai Smolenski Era

TVR Sagaris||2004-date||Speed Six||3996 cc

Specialty/Racing Cars

TVR Cerbera Speed 12²||N/A||Speed Twelve||7730 cc |- |TVR Speed 12³|||| || |- |TVR Tuscan Racer³||||Speed Eight||4500 cc

Footnotes

Source: Wikipedia