My 1974 TVR 2500M

I originally stumbled upon my TVR as an accident. I had been looking for an old British convertible, as I guess a lot of teenagers would, to work on and enjoy. By this stage I had more or less settled on a Triumph TR-6 as the car I would try to buy. One of my neighbors mentioned to me that he had a friend that was restoring a TR something or other down in Beaufort, NC. He said that he was going down to visit him in a week or two and that he would bring back some pictures for me. Along with the pictures he brought back of a brown car in a very deep state of disassembly, he had a few books on the TVR marque. Well, I quickly read through all of them and fell in love with TVR as a whole. This would be a much cooler car than a TR-6, plus parts would still be fairly simple to find. I contacted the man who was restoring it and got all the information I could on the car. It was the proverbial 'barn car' that everyone hopes to find. After being purchased new in 1974, it had been used as daily transportation until 1978 when it was sold to a man who had the intention of hot-rodding it. Almost immediately after he purchased it, however, he had to go abroad, and the car was placed in a barn.

There it sat for the next 17 years, well-preserved, but largely forgotten. In 1996 the car was pulled out again, sold to make room for the brass era cars that now held it's owners attention, and thus it ended up in Beaufort. While not in need of a true frame-off restoration, the car needed substantial attention. The frame was rust free, but both it and the body were stripped to be repainted. The engine and transmission, with only 29k original miles, were in excellent condition, and given a through overhaul, but not rebuilt. The interior was in excellent condition and was retained in its entirety. The car was nearing completion when I contacted him about purchasing it, and I had the good fortune of looking over the car and agreeing to purchase it early enough that I was able to have some say in the way the car was finished, ie. the trim and paint.

I picked the car up in July of 1998, and brought it home. While all the major aspects of the restoration had been completed, there was still much sorting and fiddling to be done before the car was 100%. I spent many hours trying to get those Stromberg carbs tuned just right and tracking down little electrical faults. Once all was said and done, the car drove like a dream. I used the car as my daily driver throughout the last year of high school (well, it did stay home when I knew it was going to rain) and every day to work at Flying Circus English Cars, so yes it is possible, although it gave me my fair share of fits. My TVR is truly a wonderful car, with outstanding performance, good comfort, and you definitely won't see another one parked in the parking lot.

A group of TVRs at a car show... Mine is at the far left. Two other 2500Ms, a '71(Black) and a '73(Yellow) are shown along with the red wedge car, a 280i.