TVR
TVR is an independent manufacturer of sports cars in the city of Blackpool, in Lancashire England. The company manufactures lightweight sports cars with powerful engines. TVR is the third-largest specialised sports car manufacturer in the world, offering a diverse range of coupés and convertibles, most using an in-house straight-6 cylinder engine design, others an in-house V8. TVRs are composed of tubular steel frames, cloaked in aggressive body designs.
TVR's two arms include TVR Engineering, which manufactures sports cars and grand tourers, and TVR Power, their powertrain division.
In October 2006, the company announced plans to relocate its vehicle assembly operations to Turin, Italy, with only engine manufacture remaining in Britain.
Company History
TVR was founded in 1947 by Trevor Wilkinson, under the name of Trevcar Motors. In 1954, Wilkinson changed the name of the company to TVR by removing two vowels and a consonant from his first 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, and has continued to this day. Many of the early cars were sold in kit form to avoid a British tax on assembled cars but in the 1970s the tax loophole was closed and the kit-form option was removed.
In the late 1950s, TVRs were powered by 4-cylinder engines from Coventry Climax, BMC or Ford, the performance models having Shorrock superchargers. As with many other British sports cars, engine sizes remained under two litres, and all produced less than 100 bhp (75 kW). Most TVRs were sold in the domestic (British) market, although small numbers were exported.
In the 1960s, American motor dealer Jack Griffith decided to put a 4.7 litre V8 from an AC Cobra he owned into a TVR Grantura, in much the same way that V8s were first transplanted into AC Cobras. (It is in honour of Jack Griffith that the TVR Griffith was named).
Towards the end of the 1960s, TVR returned to Ford for a 2994 cc V6 Zodiac engine for the new Tuscan racer. This produced 128 bhp (95 kW), giving a 0-60 mph (0-97 km/h) time of 8.3 seconds, which was good performance for the time.
The 1970s saw a number of engines used in TVRs (particularly the 'M Series'), mainly Triumph 2500s, Ford Essex V6 and Ford 1600 Crossflows.
In the 1980s, under the ownership of Peter Wheeler, TVR moved away from naturally-aspirated and turbocharged V6s back to large V8s, namely the Rover V8 (to which Rover bought the intellectual property rights from Buick). Capacity grew from 3.5 to 4.5 litres.
In the 1990s, TVR Power modified a number of Rover V8s, but subsequently developed an in-house engine design. The AJP8 engine, a lightweight alloy V8, was developed by engineering consultant Al Melling along with John Ravenscroft and Peter Wheeler (hence the AJP initials), a notable achievement for a small maker. The new engine was originally destined for the Griffith and Chimaera models, but development took longer than expected and it finally became available in the Cerbera and Tuscan race cars.
Owner Peter Wheeler subsequently directed the design of a straight-six derivative of the AJP8 that would be cheaper to produce and maintain than the eight. This engine, designed by John Ravenscroft, became known as the "Speed 6", and powers current TVRs.
2004: Smolenski
In July 2004, 24-year-old Nikolai Smolenski bought the company from chemical industry consultant and TVR enthusiast Peter Wheeler, for about £15 million. Despite his Russian nationality, Smolenski said he intended TVR to remain a British company.
In April 2006, responding to falling demand and with production rumoured to have dropped from 12 cars a week to 3 or 4, TVR laid off some of its 300 staff. At the same time, the firm announced plans to move to updated facilities in the Squires Gate district of Blackpool, citing impending expiry of the lease of the current factory in late 2006, where owner Peter Wheeler was said to be planning to build a housing estate.
In October 2006 Smolenski announced[1] that body production and final assembly for TVR would move to Turin, Italy[2], with only engine production remaining in the UK. In protest at this and to show support for the workers, a large number of TVR owners paraded through central London on 26 November, 2006. Dubbed London Thunder, it was also an attempt at the official world record for the biggest one-marque convoy on record.
By December 2006, it emerged that Smolenski had split TVR into a number of different companies[3]:
- Brand and intellectual property rights had been transfered to a core Smolenski company
- TVR Motors - held the license to those brand and intellectual property in the UK, as well as sales and marketing of the brand
- TVR Power - the parts and spares business had been sold to a management buyout
- Blackpool Automotive - the factory and manufacturing assets
On 13 December Smolenski and production director Mike Penny resigned as a director of Blackpool Automotive, being replaced by Smolenski UK personal assistant Roger Billinghurst and 25 year old Austrian Angelco Stamenkov. By 24 December, Blackpool Automotive was in Administration. Administrators are now seeking legal clarification on the ownership of certain assets, including the brand and intellectual property, to see what assets the company has and who should pay the redundancy notices of the remaining 200 workers[4].
TVRs in popular media
- John Travolta drove a TVR Tuscan in the movie Swordfish.
- Bugs Bunny drove a "modified" TVR Tuscan in the 2003 Looney Tunes: Back in Action
- Yelena (Asia Argento) drove a TVR Tuscan in xXx with Vin Diesel.
- Many TVRs are featured in the PlayStation 2 videogame, The Getaway: Black Monday.
- Many TVRs are featured in the videogame series Gran Turismo.
- TVRs are also featured in the Xbox 360 games Project Gotham Racing 3 and Test Drive Unlimited.
- The TVR Griffith 400 is featured in the racing simulation game GT Legends.
Company Ownership
The history of the company 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
Model list
1 - Not technically a TVR model, but used TVR chassis/body.
2 - Never went into production.
3 - Built exclusively for racing.
References
External links
