We featured a TVR Tasmin as a Prime Find almost exactly one year ago, so rather than repeat what I wrote then about the company’s convoluted history, and as I’m short of time this week, allow me to suggest that if you’re interested in the early days of TVR, you can follow this link. However, that one was a coupé, and this week’s car is a convertible. It is also in a fabulous colour and on the face of it represents remarkable value for money, so no apologies for making a TVR Tasmin our Prime Find of the Week again.
Last year’s Tasmin………………………………………….this week’s Tasmin.
I think it’s fair to say that the Tasmin was – in terms of styling – nothing less than a revolution for TVR, following the purposeful but rounded styling of its predecessors, although dramatic straight-edge styling had already been seen on cars such as the Lamborghini Countach and Lotus Elite, Eclat and Esprit, among others. Indeed, the Tasmin was styled by Oliver Winterbottom, who was also responsible for the Elite S2, and despite the prosaic nature of so many of the parts that made up the Tasmin, from a variety of Fords and BL models, it looked as exotic as anything else on the road, thanks to that dramatic profile.
Built in 1983, “our” car is a fine example of an early “Wedge”, with the Ford 2.8i Cologne engine pushing out 160bhp, enough to take the Tasmin to a top speed of 130mph and cover the standstill-to-60mph sprint in eight seconds – not too shabby. It’s finished in an eye-catching shade of metallic lilac and sits on a smart set of refurbed wheels. This example was fully restored between in 2011/12 – there is a photographic record of the restoration with the car – and according to the Brentwood, Essex-based dealer, “presents beautifully” and is in excellent condition inside and out.
The roof and roof supports have been renewed, and the original seats replaced with those from the later Chimaera, and the car has factory fitted power steering and new tyres.
862 convertible and 118 coupé examples of the Tamsin 280i were built over a six-year period before being superseded by the V8-powered 350i, and a decent number of all Tasmin variants remain on the road in the UK – 74 at the last count, with another 162 SORN waiting for restoration to be financially viable, something that may well take a while if the price of this car is anything to go by. However, only about ten are 280i’s, so this lovely looking car is a rare beast in this form.
If the photos we’ve borrowed from the dealer’s website are any guide, I have to say that I think this drophead Tasmin looks terrific, and with an asking price of £8,495, represents tremendous value – you would have to look hard to find another car in this condition, with this much presence and performance, for this money. You can check out the full dealer advert here, and as usual we recommend arranging a prior inspection before you buy, if possible.
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.