Interesting Facts About TVR You Probably Don’t Know – Common Problems – and PDF Manuals for Download…
TVR is a liberated manufacturer of sports cars that are of a British descent. The cars have a powerful engine and a lightweight body. TVR is the abbreviation of the founder’s name who was Trevor Wilkinson.
He founded this manufacturing company in 1947 and left in 1962. The company dates back to 1946, when Trevor purchased an old wheelwright’s workshop wherein he planned to start an engineering business. The name of his business was Trevorcar Motors.
After Jack Pinard joined the company, Trevorcar Motors was renamed to TVR Engineering. From the beginning, the main purpose of Trevor’s workshop was related to general engineering and not particular to automobile engineering.
Their first prototype was made in 1949 with the TVR chassis. It had a Hotchkiss styled rear suspension with a live axle and an independent trailing-arm for the front suspension with a Ford 1172cc sidevalve engine.
After it crashed down and then got repaired, Trevor and Jack took the car for a test drive. It was functional despite not being the most attractively painted car.
Their first sale was made later that year when their number one was sold to a cousin of Wilkinson. The skeleton of TVRs number two was similar to the number one, only that it now had a wishbone control arms front suspension.
Les Dale was the man under the bodywork for both cars. The number two went to an automobile enthusiast and in 1952, it was registered for road use.
Next came the number three, which was an improved version from the number one and two.
Wilkinson took it with him for several club events and it was fast enough to even receive some awards.
From 1953 to 1955, Wilkinson and Pinard specialized in new chassis design in the making of their sports car saloon.
The make was to harbor an engine, gear box and other components. It was up for sale in 1954. In 1955, they received a special request from a well-known car racer (Ray Saidel), and it was referred to as the Jomar MK2.
TVR started production of open sports and coupe cars in 1958 and they dedicated two years to it. The TVR Grantura Mark 1 was their next project.
Thing started to get sour in 1958 as their debt was on the rise and as a means of evading tax, the Grantura Engineering Limited was established.
The company finally went bankrupt in 1962 due to low sales which TVR cars were experiencing. The TVR Griffith with a 4.7-liter Ford V8 was produced in 1963 and then came the TVR Trident of 1965.
After 1965, TVR has been under control of various managers who all played important roles in the successful future of the Sports Car Company.
The Tuscan V8 was manufactured in 1967 during Lilley’s era.
The TVR Vixen series 1 followed the Tuscan. The M-series replaced the Vixen series as of 1972-1980.
Five new models i.e. 2500M, 3000M, 1600M, Taimar and 3000S were produced during the span of 8 years with turbo-charged V6 engine.
When Wheeler took over in 1981, he focused back on the V8s and launched TVR Chimaera, new Griffith, Cerbera, T350, Sagaris and Typhon.
In the middle 2000’s the car company was sold to Nikolai Smolenski, a Russian investor.
Common TVR Problems
If you are a sports car fanatic, you probably have heard of various TVR car models.
If you are looking to purchase one of their older makes or even the newer ones, there are a few problem you are most likely to encounter.
They may be swift and lightweight but with that comes a few consequences and downsides.
However, provided the car is well-kept and serviced following the repair manuals, you will have very little issues with your or even none. So what problems are you likely to face with the TVR models?
- Electrical glitches: this is common in some of the 1997 TVR Chimaera. The electrical glitches can be a huge deal if not repaired in time, as they can result in fire if the car is super charged. Any car with electrical issues can burn from inside due to some friction forces that produce static charge on the road. So if you hear some twitching sounds from down there and maybe some burning wire smell, then it is time to check the issue out. If the damage is too great, it would require that the whole indicator switch be repaired. For effective repair, the indicator switch replacement is advised as the issue could be internal.
- Gearbox: the Tuscan has embedded this common issue in that the gear jams and you cannot input some gear levels. Well, if you are on the road with your Tuscan and you need to change to a certain gear for efficient driving, you may be alarmed to find that you cannot change into a certain gear. The problem is not prevailing but it needs a quick fix, as it may lead to road accidents if you were planning on changing the gear then it jams on you. The ultimate solution is having the gearbox checked out and diagnose the cause of the problem. If not too serious, the hack is to change a few mechanics and the gear is all good. Otherwise, a full gearbox change would be the real deal.
- Fuel consumption and overheating: this is an issue if you own the TVR T350. If you are travelling a long distance, you would need to keep refilling after every 2000 miles or so. The car is generally an updated one with minimal issues but the fuel consumption may be its biggest downside. Due to its high consumption, it may affect the coolant and cause overheating. This can lead to other grave issues especially if you do not regularly check on it and in worst cases of overheating it can blow. There is not much that can be done for fuel consumption, but you can manage the coolant by constantly checking up on it and using appropriate measures to lower the temperatures.
Conclusion
Different TVR car models are generally good cars that are not much a hassle to be on the road with.
A full servicing is recommended before the purchase and after to affirm that everything is in good condition. In case of any constant issues or arising problems, you would have to take it for a repair and you can also take help from repair manuals.
Purpose of this is to catalog and include one of most comprehensive, useful and accessible “automotive repair PDF manual” database on the web for all TVR models.
It’s your go-to source for learning all about TVR – when you can’t find it elsewhere.
To get started, select the intended car model below…
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