Some people say that Britain has lost all their great manufacturers: Rolls-Royces was taken over by BMW, Bentley by Volkswagen, Aston Martin and Jaguar by Ford.  Here comes a time where the spirit of Britannia is beginning to be lost in the world of globalization, or is it?  Not so, as Britain still retains one great car manufacturer who still remains independent of foreign control: TVR.  What?  You haven’t heard of TVR?  Well, I can’t really blame you.  TVR’s present target market is geared solely in Great Britain.  Though it has a small following elsewhere in the world, it’s in Britain where the TVR is as part of a child’s exotic car dream as a Ferrari F50. 

The Blackpool Story 

The man behind TVR was Trevor Wilkinson.  Born in Blackpool in 1923, he left school at the age of 12 to join a local garage as an apprentice mechanic.  Later on, he set up his own shop and by 1947, he built his first special—a light weight two-seater based on a pre-war Alvis Firebird chassis and engine. Two years later, he built is second special, this time using a Ford side-valve for the engine.  By then, he renamed his blooming business by abbreviating his Christian name to TVR.  Thus, TVR was born.

Though the first TVR was made up for a tubular frame and light-alloy body with a 1.2-liter Ford 100E engine and a Morris Eight rear axle it was only in 1976 that the first true production TVR, the Grantura was made. The design set the distinctive TVR look that would last until the late 1970s. 

However, despite financial woes, Wilkinson refused to give up and by 1960, the Grantura reached a total of 100 orders and thus prompted him to launch the Grantura Mk II with a bigger engine that clocked over 100 mph.  TVR also improved the handling and the gearbox.  By 1962, the TVRs had a stiffer chassis and a double wishbone suspension—a platform TVR would use for the next 10 years and serving 13 different car models from a inline-4 to a V8.