CarBrandLogos archive · TVR · 1958

TVRGrantura

The glassfibre coupe that turned a Blackpool workshop into a car company.

Photo: Mr.choppers · CC BY-SA 3.0

The story

A defining chapter in TVR history.

Explore the ideas, engineering and context that shaped the TVR Grantura, then continue into its specifications and place in the marque's lineage.

Origins

Trevor Wilkinson had been building one-off specials in Blackpool since the late 1940s, taking his initials for the company name. The Grantura, launched in 1958, was the first car TVR sold as a catalogued model rather than a commission.

TVRGrantura · Brian Snelson · CC BY 2.0

Design and engineering

The recipe stayed with the firm for decades: a multi-tubular steel chassis, a glassfibre body, all-independent suspension using trailing arms and torsion bars adapted from Volkswagen practice, and a proprietary engine bought in from somebody else. Customers could specify Ford, Coventry Climax or MG units depending on budget and ambition, which meant no two Granturas were quite alike and TVR never had to fund an engine programme.

TVR Grantura Mk IV 1800 · Walter from WL, GermanyCropped, plates anonymized by uploader Mr.choppers · CC BY-SA 2.0

In production

It ran through four series over nine years and 796 cars, which was enough to give the company a product line and not enough to keep it solvent — TVR passed through liquidation and changes of ownership during the model's life. But the shape of the business was set: small, self-contained, and building light rear-drive coupes in Blackpool with somebody else's engine in the nose.

1962 TVR Grantura IIA Montlhéry · jean-pierre 60;Cropped, plates blanked, and levels adjusted by uploader Mr.choppers · CC BY-SA 3.0

At a glance