There have been numerous specialist British sports car manufacturers over the years – some, like Morgan, survive to this day, while the list of those that lasted just a few years is long. One particular name has struggled on and off for most of its existence and is currently battling yet again to keep its head above water. In between times, however, it has built some of the most exciting – in some cases overtly so – sports cars in the UK. Their image has often been a bit macho, with many of their later cars in particular sometimes derided as making up for their owners’ small… stature or overcompensating for some other perceived masculine failing.
I’m referring of course to TVR. There is something prosaically British about TVR. There is nothing romantic or glamorous about them in the way that there is with Ferrari, or Maserati, or Porsche. The name is made up of the three consonants in the first name of the company’s founder, Trevor Wilkinson – can you imagine a sports car, or any car, being called a “Trevor”? And TVR’s were built in that northern English bastion of the working-class seaside holiday – Blackpool – which despite its miniature version of the Eiffel Tower, has none of the cachet or sophistication of Paris, or indeed Turin, Stuttgart, or Maranello.
And yet… TVR have made some of the fastest, and wildest, sports cars money could buy – and in terms of performance per pound, probably unmatched. Lightweight GRP bodies housing ever more powerful engines made TVR’s tremendously quick on road and track. Build quality was not always to the standard of their perceived rivals, but then neither were their prices. There was an aura of the kit-car about them – indeed, in the early years of the company, cars were also offered in kit form – and they could be brutes to drive, especially in the early days, but for a small company (they’ve only made c.21,160 cars over the 64 years of their existence to date, about 330 a year) they punch well above their weight.
The first original TVR to be built was what became known as the TVR Open Coupé, in 1956, followed by the Grantura, of which three series were made between 1958 and 1967, by which time Trevor Wilkinson had long left the company, though the TVR name was retained, and in 1964 the company endured the first of several collapses.
TVR Engineering Limited was formed in late 1965 and the next models to carry the name were the Tuscan and Vixen, keeping to the formula of small, light weight two-seaters with powerful engines. In 1970 and ’71 the company generated more publicity than ever by becoming the first to use nude models on their stand at the Earl’s Court Motor Show – after which everyone knew the name, even if they didn’t know the cars.
By 1980 financial problems had again beset the company, which changed hands to fall under the ownership of Peter Wheeler, and this marked the start of what might be termed TVR’s “Golden Age”, and our Prime Find this week started life on either side of Wheeler’s acquisition.
In 1979 work began on a prototype sports coupé that was given the name Tasmin. Designed by Oliver Winterbottom – again, how very English! – the dramatic wedge-shape he came up with (the Tasmin was the first of what became known as the “TVR Wedges”) was not liked by management, but a shortage of funds meant that it got the go-ahead. Despite this unpromising start, the Tasmin was well-received by the motoring press – Autocar wrote in very positive terms of its performance, handling, build quality and finish but the controversial shape and dubious reliability combined with the UK going through a difficult time economically (few TVR’s were exported) resulted in disappointing sales.
In profile, the Tasmin’s nose looks almost broken, giving it a slight resemblance to that of the Concorde supersonic passenger jet, the roofline continuing the sharp edged lines, with a lift-up tailgate giving easy access to reasonable luggage space and the rear glass panel – a la Lamborghini Espada and Maserati Khamsin – aids rearwards visibility, though it probably also aids thieves. It was also the first production car to feature a bonded windscreen and to have the radio aerial incorporated into the heated rear window element.
Running gear came from a variety of Fords, with other components sourced from a veritable lucky-dip of manufacturers and models, such as the Jaguar XJS (differential and rear brakes), Triumph TR7 (internal handles), Peugeot 505, Renault 12 (front and side indicator lamps), Hillman Imp (bootlid hinges)…. the list goes on; small wonder that TVR’s had a bit of the air of the kit-car about them. One of the very few bespoke elements to the Tasmin – besides its body – was its seats.
The power was supplied by Ford’s well-proven Cologne V6 2.8 injected lump, although an entry-level 2.0-litre 4-cylinder from the Ford Pinto was also made available. However, with the smaller engine producing only 100bhp compared to the 2.8’s 160bhp, there was little interest in it and only 61 Tasmin 200’s were sold.
The V6’s 160 horses push the car along to a top speed of very nearly 210kmh and it reaches 100kmh from standstill in a touch over 8 seconds – not too shabby, and compares favourably with probably its most direct competitors, the Lotus Elite and Eclat, coincidentally also designed by Winterbottom.
The Tasmin had a production run that was long enough for a Series II to be introduced in 1981, with a number of modifications including a name change – in fact, a name drop – with the launch of the 350i, the model became known as the TVR 280i and 350i, and a 2+2 and a very sharp-looking convertible. were added to the range. By the end of its life, 1,167 of the V6-engined cars had been produced, of which 74 remain on the road. Remarkably, another 174 are SORN’d, but current values presumably make putting many of these back on the road financially unviable. There are quite a few around for less than £10,000 although that doesn’t apply to “our” car, but it’s hard to know how good or bad these are.
TVR Wedges tend to divide opinion – actually, I think TVR’s in general do – but they are absolutely of their time. Our own Claus Ebberfeld wrote about them here and the cars have a strong following; there’s often at least one at any reasonably large show.
While there are few examples of the Tasmin in the UK these days, they must be a rare sight indeed in Switzerland, which is where our Prime Find is located. It’s also the most expensive Tasmin I can currently find, yet it still comes in within our usual self-imposed budget limit of £20,000.
The reason for the higher than usual price (apart from being in one of Europe’s most expensive countries) would appear to be that – at least according to the dealer, located in Gingins, in the South West corner of the country – the car is “exceptional” and in “superb original condition”; in fact, he claims it’s the best Tasmin he’s seen in a very long time (his emphasis). It does look terrific in the photos, finished in a classy combination of champagne metallic paint with a brown and beige interior. It has only 100,000km (62,500 miles) under its standard alloys, so has hardly been over-used.
Inside is the usual British sports car mixture of wood veneer, lots of dials, with suede and ambla upholstered seats, making the interior quite a nice place to sit. I’d go so far as to say that allowing for the parts-bin assemblage of switchgear and handles etc, it looks pretty plush. The slush-box might put some buyers off (the Tasmin was the first TVR to be offered with an automatic option) but it suffers little in performance compared to the manual car – literally just a couple of kmh slower and a fractions of a second slower getting to 100kmh.
As per our usual practice, we’ve borrowed a few of the many photographs on the dealer website – you can see the full advert here. Personally, I think the car looks pretty cool, and by TVR standards, quite subtle thanks to its restrained colour scheme. It’s a lot of money for a TVR, but if it lives up to the dealer’s claims, it might be worth it over cheaper ones.
As always, we recommend interested buyers should inspect – or arrange an inspection of – the car before accessing their bank account.
With our Saturday instalment of Prime Find of the Week, we’re offering our services to the classic car community, by passing on our favourite classic car for sale from the week that passed. This top-tip might help a first-time-buyer to own his first classic, or it could even be the perfect motivation for a multiple-classic-car-owner to expand his garage with something different. We’ll let us be inspired by anything from a cheap project to a stunning concours exotic, and hope that you will do the same.
Just remember – Any Classic is Better than No Classic! We obviously invite our readers to help prospective buyers with your views and maybe even experiences of any given model we feature. Further to that, if you stumble across a classic which you feel we ought to feature as Prime Find of the Week, then please send us a link to primefindoftheweek@viaretro.co.uk