TVR TUSCAN V8 SWB
Year of manufacture 1967 Recorded mileage 27,000
Asking price £130,000 Vendor Mike Abbas Classic Cars, Chorley, Lancashire; 01257 470034; mikeabbasclassiccars.co.uk
WHEN IT WAS NEW Price £2364 Max power 271bhp Max torque 314lb ft
0-60mph 5.7 secs Top speed 155mph Mpg n/a
Another month, another V8-powered British sports car. But that doesn’t mean a formulaic choice; far from it. This fantastic-looking two-seater is rare, one of just 24 – or 28, depending upon who you ask. And it’s not just being sold by Mike Abbas Classic Cars, it means more than that, as Mike’s son, Jav, explains: “Dad remembers visiting the Earls Court Motor Show in the late ’60s and seeing these when they were launched. What caught his eye was that when Motor tested one in 1967, it recorded a 155mph top speed and 0-60mph in 5.7 secs – the comparison was made with a Lamborghini Miura. How could a manufacturer from Blackpool produce such an incredible machine that it could match an iconic Italian supercar?” He had to have one. This car was offered to him by a chap in Vancouver in ’06, but it took 10 years to secure the purchase due to the vendor’s sentimental attachment. But finally with his longed-for TVR back in Lancashire, Abbas commissioned a ground-up restoration.
This major undertaking cost in excess of £120,000 and followed the guidance of leading experts, including former TVR staff retrimming the cabin from their base in the marque’s old building in Blackpool. A labour of love, the TVR is now described as being in ‘concours, showroom condition,’ and looking at the photos that’s not hard to believe. And, thanks to all of that work, the 4.7-litre smallblock Ford V8 now has more than 400bhp.
Half a century on, it doesn’t matter that being in many ways a rechristened Griffith meant the Tuscan’s reputation was tainted by association. It’s dinky and lightweight, with a manual ’box and a stonking great engine – essentially the same as that under the bonnet of my Mustang, but with more go and less heft to cart about. How can that not be an exciting prospect? And then there’s the sound from those two innocent-looking tailpipes. Delicious.
Its compact, leather-trimmed left-hand-drive cabin should feel spacious enough thanks to that expansive curved rear ’screen. And, as well as the chrome-ringed dials and switches in that re-veneered burr walnut dash there sits a modern head unit, meaning you can Bluetooth your favourite music from your phone, if you want a change from the eight-cylinder soundtrack. Ripe and ready for an epic road trip, once the grip of lockdown has been loosened.