TVR Tuscan V8

TVR
	TVR Tuscan V8
Tuscan V8
Production period:	1967-1970
Class :	Sports car
Body versions :	Coupe
Engines:	; Petrol engines : 4.7-4.9 liters ; (143-199 kW)
Length:	3600 mm
Width:	1664 mm
Height:	1194 mm
Wheelbase :	2171 mm
Empty weight :
Previous model	Griffith 400 ; TVR Griffith 200
successor	TVR 5000M

The TVR Tuscan V8 is a two-seat sports coupe , the TVR in Blackpool ( England ) 1967 produced to the 1970th It replaced the Griffith 400 on the US market and the TVR Griffith 200 in Europe , with which it initially largely corresponded technically. Over the years the Tuscan V8 has been developed step by step. A version with a more powerful engine was also sold as TVR Tuscan SE . Finally, the somewhat weaker TVR Tuscan V6 with a six-cylinder engine was specially tailored to the British market .

History of origin

The TVR Tuscan V8 is closely related to the TVR Grantura and its successor, the TVR Vixen . While the Grantura and the Vixen are equipped with four-cylinder engines from BMC and Ford of Britain , respectively , the technically and stylistically largely identical Tuscan V8 is powered by American eight-cylinder engines that are more than twice as powerful.

The idea of connecting the Grantura / Vixen with large eight-cylinder engines goes back to the US car dealers Jack Griffith and Dick Monnich. Monnich had been the North American importer of the British TVR Grantura coupés since 1961. Starting in 1963, Griffith Motors built 4.7-liter Ford engines in the British coupés in New York . The coupé, referred to as the Griffith 200 without any brand reference to TVR , appeared in 1963 and competed on the North American market with the AC Cobra developed by Carroll Shelby , which was based on a comparable concept. The stylistically revised successor Griffith 400 was based on the 1800 S TVR . By the end of 1965, a total of around 190 copies of the Griffith 200 and 59 of the Griffith 400 were produced. There were also around 30 right-hand drive units for the British market, all of which were produced by TVR and sold as the TVR Griffith 200 . Manufacturing of the Griffith 200/400 series ended in the fall of 1965 with the bankruptcy of Blackpool-based Grantura Engineering .

In November 1965 Martin Lilley took over the production rights and continued the production of the TVR 1800S with the newly founded company TVR Engineering in Blackpool. After the takeover by Lilley, the Griffith 400s were made. In the spring of 1967 TVR showed the Tuscan V8, which as a sister model of the four-cylinder Vixen also succeeded the Griffith 400. The Tuscan V8 was also primarily intended for the North American market. Unlike the Griffith, TVR took over the sales there itself.

The Tuscan V8 had significantly less success than the Griffith 200 and 400. From 1967 to 1971 only 58 copies were made. In 1975, the Canadian TVR importer launched a small series of around 10 copies of the TVR 5000M , which, based on the M-series chassis, revived the concept of the Tuscan V8.

Models

Tuscan V8 : Largely identical to the Griffith 400. A total of 24 copies.
Tuscan V8 LWB : model with extended wheelbase; The basis is the new chassis of the TVR Vixen S2. Again 24 copies.
Tuscan V8 LWB Wide Body : widened version with the front section of the new TVR M series . At least mostly with 4.9 liter (302 ui) Ford eight-cylinder. Only 10 copies.

literature

David Culshaw, Peter Horrobin: The Complete Catalog of British Cars 1895-1975. Veloce Publishing plc., Dorchester 1997, ISBN 1-874105-93-6 .
Ralph Dodds: TVR. Cars Of The Peter Wheeler Era , The Crowood Press, Ramsbury 2015, ISBN 978-1-84797-997-1
Dieter Günther: Kraft-Wagen. History of TVR Griffith , in: Oldtimer Markt , issue 6/2008, p. 10 ff.
John Tipler: TVR , Sutton Publishing Ltd., Strout, 1998, ISBN 0-7509-1766-0
Matthew Vale: TVR 1946-1982. The Trevor Wilkinson and Martin Lilley Years , The Crowood Press, Ramsbury 2017, ISBN 978-1-78500-351-6

Web links

Commons : TVR Tuscan - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

^ Matthew Vale: TVR 1946-1982. The Trevor Wilkinson and Martin Lilley Years , The Crowood Press, Ramsbury 2017, ISBN 978-1-78500-351-6 , p. 90.
↑ Mark Hughes: TVR Grantura, Griffith, Vixen & Tuscan . Classic & Sportscar, issue 1271989, p. 43.
^ Matthew Vale: TVR 1946-1982. The Trevor Wilkinson and Martin Lilley Years , The Crowood Press, Ramsbury 2017, ISBN 978-1-78500-351-6 , p. 101.

[Vale_90-1] Matthew Vale: TVR 1946-1982. The Trevor Wilkinson and Martin Lilley Years , The Crowood Press, Ramsbury 2017, ISBN 978-1-78500-351-6 , p. 90.

[Hughes-2] Mark Hughes: TVR Grantura, Griffith, Vixen & Tuscan . Classic & Sportscar, issue 1271989, p. 43.

[Vale_101-3] Matthew Vale: TVR 1946-1982. The Trevor Wilkinson and Martin Lilley Years , The Crowood Press, Ramsbury 2017, ISBN 978-1-78500-351-6 , p. 101.