TVR History

Company History

The first car produced under the TVR name (derived from the creator's first name TreVoR) was a hand-built special designed and built by Trevor Wilkinson in 1947, heralding the creation of a company that would go on the become the 3rd largest sports car manufacturer in the world. During the first years, all TVRs were considered specials and only a very few were built, and amazingly the second TVR ever built is still in existence. The firs true production run began in 1957 with the assistance of Ray Saidel, an American who became the first TVR dealer. He helped to design and test a car that was dubbed the Jomar, taken from the names of Saidel's two children (JOanna and MARc). The car proved to be very popular, and so many orders were received that production demands could not be met. TVR Engineering had to seek financial backing elsewhere.

At the end of 1958 TVR was transformed into Layton Sports Cars Ltd. which was in reality only a change of name and financial backing. Production remained in disarray, leading Saidel to relinquish his dealership. Closing the American market (which was TVR's largest) was devastating, and orders quickly tailed off. In early 1959, Grantura Engineering was set up to supply components and body shells for TVR, while Layton would do the final assembly. Named after the new company came the newest TVR, the Grantura. With this car, TVR finally began to carve it's niche and define itself for the coming years as producing fast, attractive fibergalss sports cars based on a strong, tubular backbone chassis.

Soon the company became known soley as Grantura Engineering, and he company continued under this name producing the V8 Griffith, until November of 1965 when, under financial duress, the company was purchased by Martin Lilley, who had been a shareholder of Grantura Engineering. The company's name was changed again, back to TVR Engineering, bringing with it a higher level of finish and quality control, failures of which had partly been responsible for slow sales. In an effort to resume the tradition established with the V8 Griffith, but without its negative stigma, Lilley commissioned the Tuscan series. To bolster this new car, and to replace the aging Grantura, he also oversaw the creation of the Vixen for the 1968 model year. These new cars were tremendous improvements in both performance and quality over their predecessors, and they started the long journey of turning TVR into a world-class sports car company. With Lilley at the helm things settled down, and success was only just around the corner.

1971 brought the introduction of the M-Series chassis, and a new high of refinement and luxury, and performance to TVR. While the first cars used leftover Vixen bodies, they were soon fitted with sleek new bodywork that caught the heart of the American public and would bring TVR significant profits during the coming years, guaranteeing them financial stability and a promising future.