Ahh! I watched my Griff 500 (Terry) being built in the factory and did 30k pretty trouble-free miles in him before he had a bit of bad luck...All that now remains is the Griffith 500 badge on the wall above my desk. It wasn't the car's fault, I was going quickly & someone pulled out in front of me on a dual carriageway. I spun & wiped out front & back on the central reservation, but the doors opened & I climbed out with just a bump on the head from the roof panel, which ended up on the other side of a roundabout. The insurance assessor was very impressed with the way the car's passenger space had kept its shape, the fibreglass body absorbing a good dose of the impact. The only mistake I made was not ordering him with power steering, mostly for my wife's benefit. He did 25 mpg on a decent run & would pull in 5th from under 20 mph. A great car (sob..)
You can take your 300 mile range, 0-60 in 3 seconds and auto driving function. There is NO electric car that can make me smile like listening to that gruff, animal like V8! Every journey would be a stereo off, window ajar affair! It’s one area an EV won’t EVER trump an ICE.
love EVs for their daily driving convenience of no gears and instant acceleration at all sensible speeds. However having heard a TVR RV8 start up, preferably in a garage.......few can resist saving up for their own :) Brings a shock followed by a smile, every time - awesome - then it just gets better on the road :) A 4.3 / similar pre-cat sounds like a modest dragster on start-up and at idle, then goes on to have a delightful warbling whoofle which u can fine tune, with revs set against, in gear load. You wont forget the first time u use high revs under a bridge - genuinely sounds like an old Cossy V8 scream...I frequently, cringe as I expect some maniac in a race car to come flying by! :)
I own a Griffith 500HC. Some engine upgrades. Yep, can be beyond bonkers. Also, after having a major engine ECU upgrade with now no dizzy etc. Drives super smooth and all the 'unreliable' parts gone. I love driving it.
@@TheFatAndTheFurious I paid £12,500 for mine not long ago. (August 2023). I've spent near that again on it. Now, it's as it should be. (And as I wanted it to be).. Have I spent as much as it would have cost to go out and buy a real good one? Yes and no. Yes= still probably needs work. No = all the niggles on my car done and sorted. ALL of them..
@@TheFatAndTheFuriousI paid (100% true) £12.5k for mine. It had a new chassis, paint job and all new suspension 1 year before I bought it. Then, it went to TVR power for the ECU work, had a new clutch, updated intake trumpets, decatted exhaust manifolds and decatted Y pipe. Large intake plenum. All that was near £12k on top of the purchase cost. Worth every penny!!!
I did treasure hunt in a Griff 500 in the rain. Huge fun keeps you on your toes. Probably one of the most exciting cars I've ever driven. Amazing value still
They were certainly a bit raw, and even when they were new the build quality was a bit casual. But fantastic fun. The steering was very quick for the day, although it would be familiar to someone used to a modern Ferrari. Traction control was provided by amazingly long throttle travel, just as well when on a damp road you could get wheel spin in most gears. And the scary reputation was backed up by the insurance industry, which found that 70% of Griff 500 write-offs were single-vehicle accidents. But treated with respect, such as making sure all the wheels are pointing the same way before giving it the beans, my main memory is of grinning so much my mouth hurt!
Yes, it is such a pretty little car with a monstrous bite. TVR's best design? I think so. The front end has shades of an E-type. Having owned an Austin Healey 3000, the Griff has always appealed to me because of its hairy-chestedness.
that, coupled to the smell of leather, evostik and fumes...coupled to the memories of factory tours + PW......Poor man's Ferrari experience, incl Enzo F.... :)
I saw a Griff 500 first time at the Sydney international motor show way back when. Owned an E type Jag then and couldn't afford both. E type went in favour of a kid carrier. Fast forward all these years, I now own an MX5 Mazda, not a Griff but enough fun for an old chap.
…dates back to the Buick 215ci small block V8 of 1961… It produced 150 bhp SAE, later 155. When introduced in the P5B (and later P6B) it still produced 155bhp but now “British” horsepower. When it was shoehorned into the MG MGB, the convoluted intake resulted in a drop to 137bhp. The first versions in the Range Rover were even more detuned (improving torque) I believe to around 93bhp. The most powerful Rover version was the 218bhp 4.6 in the P38a Range Rover.
The Griffith is far better looking than the TVR's which followed it. Simple clean lines, light weight, BIG power, no nanny state interference 'driver aid' BS. A PROPER driver's car. I visited the factory back in 1997, what a fascinating place, a crying shame that TVR went to the wall. Whilst TVR didn't have a reputation for build quality, or reliability, you can never accuse TVR of building a dull car! 30 years on, the Griffith is still savagely quick.
This is going to get expensive. First I have to buy a house with a 'proper' sized garage, and then buy a Griff. What a sound. Much prefer this shape and the more simple (for a TVR) interior. What a machine. Great video, and it looks like a million smiles per mile judging by the look on your face.
That was fun!!! I like the Griffith a lot!! Over here in the colonies we had TVR's imported in the 60's and 70's, converted to left hand steering and the straight 6's removed and fitted with either Ford's 289 or 302 V8's and called them Griffiths which were either marked as a series 200 or 400 and indeed to use your phrase were "hairy chested Man's cars" some were delivered to be sports cars, but most found their way into racing and remained competitive into the late70's to mid 80's (if memory serves me) when they got upstaged by the newer Tuscan in the late 70's. The great thing about the Griffiths is that while squeezing in those V8's they kept the pretty TVR design. The later Griffith 500 which you drove in this episode all had that eager 5L version of the old 3.9L Buick which Rover kind of made their own. I'm curious having never driven one what would you estimate it's performance numbers at? I love these kinds of reviews Jack, they make my want to find an abandoned TR7 hard top and swap in one of these new v6's with superchargers and the lot already built in, several of which I have seen at the Breakers Yard in Edmonton including a Jaguar Supercharged v6 from an XF that someone had attempted to wrap around a light standard, but the engine and transmission were perfectly fine. Could you imagine pulling up beside a Mustang or Camaro at a set of lights with a rusty old TR7 that you had sorted the suspension in and added that Jag V6 into? Can you picture the look on the bloke's face in the American Muscle Car as you leave them in the dust?? All I need is a shop, time and of course lots of money,....someday!! lol Take care, Jack and keep driving these awesome cars!! If anyone had a Jensen CV8 I'd love to see that reviewed!!
TVR’s finest moment. I distinctly remember the Performance Car magazine feature written by Peter Tomlinson, driving a dark grey (with oxblood red interior) 4.3 Griffith around the Lake District……and I fell in love. A few years later I bought a 350i……I loved the looks and the sound but the sub par kit car build meant I couldn’t live with it. But a TVR will still turn my head today.
@@TheFatAndTheFurious I thought (foolishly) I could use it as my only car. When it rained, I literally had to wring the mats out because they became soaked. Interior buttons, when pushed, would fall into the dash! Finally, the one part I thought would be reliable (the engine) started to have running issues. After spending almost a £1000 on its first service in my ownership only to be told it would need a lot more doing, I decided to sell it. But at least I scratched my TVR itch. (BTW, this was probably about 20 years ago now).
I was already in love with the Griff...and when that article landed in my favourite magazine, I was nearly salivating with excitement! - Yep, got a 4.3 (having tested back to back with 500) - Cats really spoil the character and too much torque / ton for anything but a perfect road surface - the 4.3 has the perfect combo of bhp/ lb ft / cwts, also screams like a wild banshee at 6,000rpm :)
Always loved the Griffith ever since the CEO of Vision Express used to shake the windows of the office when he arrived or departed. That Reg Plate looks familiar so that may have been his actual car. Proper 'Hairs on Back of Neck' presence.
I loved the Griffith that I test drove for a friend back in the 90s. It was harder and rougher than the Chimaera I tested at the same time. I could see that the Chimaera was a better drive for many drivers, it was easier to drive and maybe a bit more easily controlled at the limit, but the Griffith was jus lovely. I found that pushing it to, and beyond the limit was actually much easier than expected. Sitting right over the rear wheels and the delivery of the V8 just made it easy to go faster than you really ought to. The salesman was a bit nervous when I started playing with the rear end, but calmed down when he saw that I knew what was happening (either that, or he might have been cowering in the footwell). I've never really understood the "widow maker" reputation of TVRs, but there again, I've driven and ridden many cars and bikes which have had really evil reputations and I've usually been surprised by how easy they were at the limit. Surprisingly, some of the truly worst cars at-the-limit were usually much more mundane vehicles that were truly awful.
I had a Lotus Esprit SE Turbo, my girlfriend had a Griffith 500: we both loved to drive each other's car. If only the two could have been married into one, how amazing that would have been (the cars, I mean). The Grif was wonderful in the dry, but I will never forget going to overtake a tanker on a damp evening and wondering if I was going to go out in a fireball of fibreglass as the thing just decided to drift toward the petrol tanker!
As a young guy many decades ago I owned 3 big healys when they cost next to nothing used in poor condition. Surely i love those cars forever, but you cannot compare what a healy to any tvr. I owned a1972 tvr 2500m in the 1980s back when us poorer folk could get thier hands on something so wonderful. Even with the triumph 6 that car was no slouch, especially when at a cruising speed an up shifting an nailing it! Of all the cars i owned including chevy, mopar and my healys the only car i still regret having to sell off to support my young family....damn i wish i never sold tha tvr!
What a fantastic car. I have a 2500M with a Corvette LT1 engine in it which is probably similar in feel. Too bad we cannot buy cars like this today, this is the type of car that made us enthusiasts, made us turn our heads when we heard one or saw one, and the dream of ownership was possible. Keep up the great work.
Great review there Jack.. I'm not a big TVR follower but your description of the power and how it drives is changing my mind.. one can nearly feel how much fun Nicks car is.. its a beautiful example and looks great..Thanks Nick for letting us all get this view of TVR.. 😊
A friend of my (at the time girlfriend) took me for a very enthusiastic rip in a 500 getting on 20 years ago. It's probably up there with the most bum clenching drives I've ever been on, and I've been sideways at around 100mph in a Cobra on wet grass.
When you initially pulled away I thought the guy stood behind the car had his hands clasped praying lol. I realized then he was holding a camera filming.
"Whoa!" is spot on. Never drove one, but was given a 'spin' by a mate who used to race in Aus: never been more surprised in my life. Needless to say, any idea I had that I'd owned a fast car were shattered. As was I. Hairy, Jack. Very Hairy. You'd still favour an Elise on a Sunday pub run, obvs, if only because you'd have petrol money left over for a packet of crisps. Love that grunt and grumble!
I remember test driving the 500 20 years ago in Germany. It has been my dream car ever since I sat in it at the ‘93 Geneva motor show. Even though I am driving a Model 3 today some pistonheadishness seemed to have remained in my brain and I am still contemplating getting one today as a weekend warrior. The biggest issue is that LHD models are significantly more expensive than RHDs. I survived the test drive as a much younger lad, I reckon I will be able to tame it today. It is the Cobra of the 90s.
Hello Jack! That TreVoR is truely a "British Brute" of a sportscar. And your enthusiasm shine's through to me - I'm sure to all viewers too - on that drive. Yet... it's flaw is summed up by your headline: Widowmaker! Having said that, what a car!! Thank you - and Nick - for puting us viewers in that driving seat...
Hi No 27. I have just bought a Chimaera 450. Love it. It was that or a Griffith. Super presentation you have done. I have already done a couple of video's about my plans for it. More in the garage type using the 2 post lift. Thanks for sharing. Steve.
I have owned a Chimaera 450 for 18 years. I never tire of driving it and listening to the soundtrack. It is extremely quick and I'm told it is the best one to have because the bottom end is still original Land Rover and bomb proof! Hope you enjoy yours as much as I enjoy mine.
Owned a V8S back in the nineties. A really underrated car and the true successor to the Austin Healey 3000 etc. A true British sports but seems to be forgotten these days.
Back in the 90's my boss had on of these...and very generously let me take it out for the day numerous times. As the owner of a superbike both now and then...the TVR was still able to grab my attention especially on a damp road 😲😲 Great video as always, cheers Alistair 👍
@@WainwrightWalksWiaLocalLad had a colleague called Alastair Morel , not sure if spellings who, like me worked for Booths the Grocers in Preston. Edwin Booth followed me into TVR ownership by getting an ash? Cureton green (?) 4.3 Griffith new from the factory.... I had a white S1.5 at the time, G923GRP
@@rainbowcampers Ahhh... I know Booths well but in the South Lakes! I worked all my life in Kendal... I worked for a guy at that time who had many different, interesting car's. Because we shared an interest in ICE's he would let me have them for the day if he didn't need them 👌 Seems a long time ago now! ATB Alistair 👍
Jack, this was another very enjoyable review. They way it was filmed and presented seemed to put me right there in the car with you. The engine sound is intoxicating and the car looks good too. Thanks.
They didn't build TVR- they sort of birthed them like Saruman does with the old Uruk Hai - Lads from TVR would go off to the swampy bits of the Fylde and dig one up, drag it back to Bristol Avenue, plop it in the mould and hope a fully formed car would emerge. Some say J.R.R.Tolkien based Orthanc on Blackpool Tower. Silly comment just for the Algo - confuse it with whispers in the dark.
Wet road, pulling out of a garage after getting fuel, with the slightest push on the accelerator, the back decided it would prefer to be the front. Absolutely scared me to death.
I wish I still had mine, it was a Metallic red1997 Griffith 500 reg number P6 TVR, and it was featured in the 1998 TVR calender and other promotional material.
Back in the mid 1990s I seriously explored importing these into the US (well before the 25 year rule) as grey market cars but was strongly dissuaded by the President of the TVR Owners Club in the US. A handful of Left-hand Drive Griffiths had been made for Canada and imported up North, but ceased thereafter. It's a shame as TVR left the US with the lackluster 280i in the early 1980s. With these sexy looks and killer weight/power ratio this could've been the next Cobra. For US buyers in 2023 there aren't many LHD examples in Europe available to buy and import, I've been looking for a few years.
Thanks Jack, another car that I think never made it to Oz. Great video, and the smile on your face says a lot too. I think you really enjoyed the drive.
Thank an engineer for the styling. One of the clever features is the front of the door is curved to remove the gap and allows the rear to be finished easily.
A brand new updated Griff with a BMW S58 would still be popular today if priced sub £65K. The roof is so easy to use and the roll up roof make sense if going away for a few days and boot space is at a premium
No huge tv-screens planted in front of the "driver"....No lane-assist or self parking mode.....No million-watt-audio systems that give You a fake V8-power sound from Your speakers(😂)..... Most modern cars are ridiculously heavy and just pretend to be sporty. This does not. What a great machine! I wish they'd made more in LHD.
I’ve owned a Griff for 5 years before swapping for a T350. Griff was such a B road monster. And a fantastic GT car. TVR Car Club members can be found driving all around Europe in them.
TVR's output figures are ahem......optimistic. Right out the factory the five litre probably only really does about 300 horsepower on a good day, but because that V8 is such a flexible engine you can bolt on bits that take it to the quoted figure and beyond without too much difficulty.
I remember driving my dads Griffith 500 around Croft a few times on TVR track days. Driving it anywhere between 7/10ths and 9/10ths was amazing, start really pushing it and it got a bit twitchy.
Great video Jack! You were grinning from ear to ear. I had a Chimaera 4L HC with roughly 270bhp. The noise. The power. I miss it! Keep these quick review videos coming. Love them 💪🏼
The Griff 500 will always be my favourite TVR of all time. Beautiful to look at, sounds amazing and nowhere near as complicated as the later Speed Six cars..What a car....
I would love to see a review on a Donkervoort, which is a dutch version of the Lotus 7, but much modernised, which makes it like a road going race car.
In 1995 when I first qualified as a Doctor, a colleague in a similar position spunked his inheritance off his Grandmother on one of the first one of these ‘off plan’. Within 500 miles of delivery, whilst going over a Sleeping Policeman speed bump, in London, at about 15 mph (apparently. I wasn’t there), it punched its rear suspension strut through the area rear of the seats. This was in a car that you were supposed to be able to do 150 mph in! 😮 The thing was…it wasn’t an isolated case! There were letters in the Telegraph and lawsuits with owners wanting their money back etc.
Apparently Gordon Murray had one and wanted to improve the handling. He put it on a chassis rig and found it to have such poor chassis torsional rigidity he just got rid of it! I suspect that, because it has a separate backbone chassis, you don't get scuttle shake because the body is separate and isn't actually the thing that's responsible for providing the rigidity, so that gives a false impression of the true rigidity of the car.
Gosh the 21st Century of the austin Healy 3000! The griffin TVR brings back a true British thug with DM boots! Love these underrated machines! Long live TVR! Thanks Jack! 👍🏽
I think that this era of TVRs are great. I've worked on Griffs and Chims and, although the build quality isn't the best, particularly in the fit and finish, they are just great to drive. Tweaks to the springs and dampers can make a big difference if you want something a bit more track oriented, but the standard set up is great as a road car.
Thank you for this video. Brings back memories of playing Gran Turismo 2 in my room at university. Won the GT300 in a self built car Blackpool car, using tall high gear ratios to control it during cornering effectively making it a four speed. Not that I urge you to do so lol.
The Griff 500 was a quick car. I could tell the immensity of the torque even on the driveway over the 4.5 Chimera. I tired of the 11MPG though.! Shame TVR went out of business & just haven’t managed to get going again after Covid. I think JayEmm said the Griff/Chimera is no bigger than an MX5.
Got the chance to have a drive in one of these when I was 18, the best part was probably when the owner floored it on a dual carriageway, the grin was stretching off on my face, didn’t know where to look 😂 was quite an experience considering I owned a brown 1.3 HLE Metro at the time.
The most radical British car company, what a car,all their roster of cars are to say the least special, owning and maintaining one must be quite a commitment
'The high maintenance and slightly unhinged younger sister' is easily the best description I've ever read of the Griffith! Funny that the 4.3 and 500 get all the attention because for me the 4.0 was a peach.
The first thing that stands out is the tuck in door and fender/wing. The original Dodge Viper would be the closest car by design here in the US. What a fun package.😊 Looks like a football player bought a suit off the rack on the way to a wedding, and it seems appropriate. 😊
Had a V8s for over 8 years before trading it for my first Griffith 500... Didover 100, 000 miles in it commuting in all weathers alk year round. Wish I could have kept both 😢
The other car that I witnessed being built was the Sunbeam talbot. I watched them hammer the inner wings to fit a 5.3 l V8 into it to make the Sunbeam Tiger. Dont know much about the specs tho.
Ahh! I watched my Griff 500 (Terry) being built in the factory and did 30k pretty trouble-free miles in him before he had a bit of bad luck...All that now remains is the Griffith 500 badge on the wall above my desk. It wasn't the car's fault, I was going quickly & someone pulled out in front of me on a dual carriageway. I spun & wiped out front & back on the central reservation, but the doors opened & I climbed out with just a bump on the head from the roof panel, which ended up on the other side of a roundabout. The insurance assessor was very impressed with the way the car's passenger space had kept its shape, the fibreglass body absorbing a good dose of the impact. The only mistake I made was not ordering him with power steering, mostly for my wife's benefit. He did 25 mpg on a decent run & would pull in 5th from under 20 mph. A great car (sob..)
Did the fibreglass body really have much to do with absorbing the impact or was it more the structure beneath?
Sorry for your loss.
Sorry to hear about the death of your Griff 500, truly sad. I've driven a couple in the day and nothing could touch it. I should have bought one.
One of a very few car reviewers that doesn’t wheel spin away off a gravel road 👍
You can take your 300 mile range, 0-60 in 3 seconds and auto driving function. There is NO electric car that can make me smile like listening to that gruff, animal like V8! Every journey would be a stereo off, window ajar affair! It’s one area an EV won’t EVER trump an ICE.
Absolutely.
an EV also won't work in 30 years because you can't fix it yourself
what is the purpose of the radio in a TVR? LOL
love EVs for their daily driving convenience of no gears and instant acceleration at all sensible speeds. However having heard a TVR RV8 start up, preferably in a garage.......few can resist saving up for their own :)
Brings a shock followed by a smile, every time - awesome - then it just gets better on the road :)
A 4.3 / similar pre-cat sounds like a modest dragster on start-up and at idle, then goes on to have a delightful warbling whoofle which u can fine tune, with revs set against, in gear load.
You wont forget the first time u use high revs under a bridge - genuinely sounds like an old Cossy V8 scream...I frequently, cringe as I expect some maniac in a race car to come flying by! :)
My good lady and I used to often take the Griffith out for a spin when were were courting. She often commented on how stiff it was...
I own a Griffith 500HC. Some engine upgrades. Yep, can be beyond bonkers. Also, after having a major engine ECU upgrade with now no dizzy etc. Drives super smooth and all the 'unreliable' parts gone.
I love driving it.
When did you buy it and if I might ask, for how much? I saw Brewer got a pretty decent one on WheelerDealers for 15k just a couple of years ago
Brilliant review!❤
@@TheFatAndTheFurious I paid £12,500 for mine not long ago. (August 2023). I've spent near that again on it. Now, it's as it should be. (And as I wanted it to be)..
Have I spent as much as it would have cost to go out and buy a real good one? Yes and no. Yes= still probably needs work.
No = all the niggles on my car done and sorted. ALL of them..
@@TheFatAndTheFuriousI paid (100% true) £12.5k for mine. It had a new chassis, paint job and all new suspension 1 year before I bought it. Then, it went to TVR power for the ECU work, had a new clutch, updated intake trumpets, decatted exhaust manifolds and decatted Y pipe. Large intake plenum. All that was near £12k on top of the purchase cost.
Worth every penny!!!
Sounds the way to go
If you don't love a Griffiths with that Rover engine, you have no soul.
I did treasure hunt in a Griff 500 in the rain. Huge fun keeps you on your toes. Probably one of the most exciting cars I've ever driven. Amazing value still
These are a fantastic driver's car and a bit of a bargain
:)...a LOT of a bargain! Particulary the more blanced (powerwise) 4.3 pre-cat with much better natural sound
Number 27 just keeps getting better and better buddy!...... Absolutely superb stuff Jack 👌👍
At last, the best car video thus far. I am slightly biased, I owned one for 13 years and 90k, brilliant cars!
They were certainly a bit raw, and even when they were new the build quality was a bit casual. But fantastic fun. The steering was very quick for the day, although it would be familiar to someone used to a modern Ferrari. Traction control was provided by amazingly long throttle travel, just as well when on a damp road you could get wheel spin in most gears. And the scary reputation was backed up by the insurance industry, which found that 70% of Griff 500 write-offs were single-vehicle accidents. But treated with respect, such as making sure all the wheels are pointing the same way before giving it the beans, my main memory is of grinning so much my mouth hurt!
I remember the AC Cobra being described as 'brutal and violent'. Does that fit the Griffith?
@@hughwalker5628 all down to the driver!
I think its pretty fair to view the Griff as a more modern Cobra @@hughwalker5628
My cheeks still hurt from that grin, 25 years later. Bloody brilliant car, provided you respect it.
Yes, it is such a pretty little car with a monstrous bite. TVR's best design? I think so. The front end has shades of an E-type. Having owned an Austin Healey 3000, the Griff has always appealed to me because of its hairy-chestedness.
Beautiful car and lovely V8 sound. I think they got it pretty well spot on, what's not to like? Thanks Jack.👍👍
that, coupled to the smell of leather, evostik and fumes...coupled to the memories of factory tours + PW......Poor man's Ferrari experience, incl Enzo F.... :)
Lots of nostalgia here, my Dad is the JS in J555 GRF. Been to spa and le mans on multiple occasions in that car, excellent video, Thanks!
I saw a Griff 500 first time at the Sydney international motor show way back when.
Owned an E type Jag then and couldn't afford both. E type went in favour of a kid carrier. Fast forward all these years, I now own an MX5 Mazda, not a Griff but enough fun for an old chap.
…dates back to the Buick 215ci small block V8 of 1961… It produced 150 bhp SAE, later 155. When introduced in the P5B (and later P6B) it still produced 155bhp but now “British” horsepower. When it was shoehorned into the MG MGB, the convoluted intake resulted in a drop to 137bhp. The first versions in the Range Rover were even more detuned (improving torque) I believe to around 93bhp. The most powerful Rover version was the 218bhp 4.6 in the P38a Range Rover.
The Griffith is far better looking than the TVR's which followed it. Simple clean lines, light weight, BIG power, no nanny state interference 'driver aid' BS. A PROPER driver's car. I visited the factory back in 1997, what a fascinating place, a crying shame that TVR went to the wall. Whilst TVR didn't have a reputation for build quality, or reliability, you can never accuse TVR of building a dull car! 30 years on, the Griffith is still savagely quick.
This is going to get expensive. First I have to buy a house with a 'proper' sized garage, and then buy a Griff. What a sound. Much prefer this shape and the more simple (for a TVR) interior. What a machine. Great video, and it looks like a million smiles per mile judging by the look on your face.
As a Citroën guy I like the CX mirrors of course, but the rest of the car... Wow, I just love it!❤
You could have said the same mirrors as the jaguar xj 220 as well 😅
As an owner of 4 TVRs and 4 2cvs plus 8 VW camper vans...........
Over the years obviously? Any one got a DS23 Safari to let me try...?
That was fun!!! I like the Griffith a lot!! Over here in the colonies we had TVR's imported in the 60's and 70's, converted to left hand steering and the straight 6's removed and fitted with either Ford's 289 or 302 V8's and called them Griffiths which were either marked as a series 200 or 400 and indeed to use your phrase were "hairy chested Man's cars" some were delivered to be sports cars, but most found their way into racing and remained competitive into the late70's to mid 80's (if memory serves me) when they got upstaged by the newer Tuscan in the late 70's. The great thing about the Griffiths is that while squeezing in those V8's they kept the pretty TVR design. The later Griffith 500 which you drove in this episode all had that eager 5L version of the old 3.9L Buick which Rover kind of made their own. I'm curious having never driven one what would you estimate it's performance numbers at? I love these kinds of reviews Jack, they make my want to find an abandoned TR7 hard top and swap in one of these new v6's with superchargers and the lot already built in, several of which I have seen at the Breakers Yard in Edmonton including a Jaguar Supercharged v6 from an XF that someone had attempted to wrap around a light standard, but the engine and transmission were perfectly fine. Could you imagine pulling up beside a Mustang or Camaro at a set of lights with a rusty old TR7 that you had sorted the suspension in and added that Jag V6 into? Can you picture the look on the bloke's face in the American Muscle Car as you leave them in the dust?? All I need is a shop, time and of course lots of money,....someday!! lol Take care, Jack and keep driving these awesome cars!! If anyone had a Jensen CV8 I'd love to see that reviewed!!
TVR’s finest moment. I distinctly remember the Performance Car magazine feature written by Peter Tomlinson, driving a dark grey (with oxblood red interior) 4.3 Griffith around the Lake District……and I fell in love. A few years later I bought a 350i……I loved the looks and the sound but the sub par kit car build meant I couldn’t live with it. But a TVR will still turn my head today.
What was / were the main gripes with the build?
@@TheFatAndTheFurious I thought (foolishly) I could use it as my only car. When it rained, I literally had to wring the mats out because they became soaked. Interior buttons, when pushed, would fall into the dash! Finally, the one part I thought would be reliable (the engine) started to have running issues. After spending almost a £1000 on its first service in my ownership only to be told it would need a lot more doing, I decided to sell it. But at least I scratched my TVR itch. (BTW, this was probably about 20 years ago now).
That Peter Tomalin article did rather influence me too 😊
I was already in love with the Griff...and when that article landed in my favourite magazine, I was nearly salivating with excitement! - Yep, got a 4.3 (having tested back to back with 500) - Cats really spoil the character and too much torque / ton for anything but a perfect road surface - the 4.3 has the perfect combo of bhp/ lb ft / cwts, also screams like a wild banshee at 6,000rpm :)
Always loved the Griffith ever since the CEO of Vision Express used to shake the windows of the office when he arrived or departed. That Reg Plate looks familiar so that may have been his actual car. Proper 'Hairs on Back of Neck' presence.
I loved the Griffith that I test drove for a friend back in the 90s. It was harder and rougher than the Chimaera I tested at the same time. I could see that the Chimaera was a better drive for many drivers, it was easier to drive and maybe a bit more easily controlled at the limit, but the Griffith was jus lovely. I found that pushing it to, and beyond the limit was actually much easier than expected. Sitting right over the rear wheels and the delivery of the V8 just made it easy to go faster than you really ought to. The salesman was a bit nervous when I started playing with the rear end, but calmed down when he saw that I knew what was happening (either that, or he might have been cowering in the footwell).
I've never really understood the "widow maker" reputation of TVRs, but there again, I've driven and ridden many cars and bikes which have had really evil reputations and I've usually been surprised by how easy they were at the limit.
Surprisingly, some of the truly worst cars at-the-limit were usually much more mundane vehicles that were truly awful.
I had a Lotus Esprit SE Turbo, my girlfriend had a Griffith 500: we both loved to drive each other's car. If only the two could have been married into one, how amazing that would have been (the cars, I mean). The Grif was wonderful in the dry, but I will never forget going to overtake a tanker on a damp evening and wondering if I was going to go out in a fireball of fibreglass as the thing just decided to drift toward the petrol tanker!
u sir, had one wild lady...the cars too!
As a young guy many decades ago I owned 3 big healys when they cost next to nothing used in poor condition. Surely i love those cars forever, but you cannot compare what a healy to any tvr. I owned a1972 tvr 2500m in the 1980s back when us poorer folk could get thier hands on something so wonderful. Even with the triumph 6 that car was no slouch, especially when at a cruising speed an up shifting an nailing it! Of all the cars i owned including chevy, mopar and my healys the only car i still regret having to sell off to support my young family....damn i wish i never sold tha tvr!
This is my favourite TVR. It's so so so beautiful! Amazing colour as well. Nick is a lucky man.
What a fantastic car. I have a 2500M with a Corvette LT1 engine in it which is probably similar in feel. Too bad we cannot buy cars like this today, this is the type of car that made us enthusiasts, made us turn our heads when we heard one or saw one, and the dream of ownership was possible. Keep up the great work.
Great review there Jack.. I'm not a big TVR follower but your description of the power and how it drives is changing my mind.. one can nearly feel how much fun Nicks car is.. its a beautiful example and looks great..Thanks Nick for letting us all get this view of TVR.. 😊
A friend of my (at the time girlfriend) took me for a very enthusiastic rip in a 500 getting on 20 years ago. It's probably up there with the most bum clenching drives I've ever been on, and I've been sideways at around 100mph in a Cobra on wet grass.
When you initially pulled away I thought the guy stood behind the car had his hands clasped praying lol. I realized then he was holding a camera filming.
I had a 500 and a 4.3 BV before that. Both mad and great fun.
"Whoa!" is spot on. Never drove one, but was given a 'spin' by a mate who used to race in Aus: never been more surprised in my life. Needless to say, any idea I had that I'd owned a fast car were shattered. As was I. Hairy, Jack. Very Hairy. You'd still favour an Elise on a Sunday pub run, obvs, if only because you'd have petrol money left over for a packet of crisps. Love that grunt and grumble!
One of the few cars that actually lives up to the moniker "insane."
I remember test driving the 500 20 years ago in Germany. It has been my dream car ever since I sat in it at the ‘93 Geneva motor show. Even though I am driving a Model 3 today some pistonheadishness seemed to have remained in my brain and I am still contemplating getting one today as a weekend warrior. The biggest issue is that LHD models are significantly more expensive than RHDs. I survived the test drive as a much younger lad, I reckon I will be able to tame it today. It is the Cobra of the 90s.
The TVR Griffith 500 always was a real hairy beast. Great video. ❤
Hello Jack! That TreVoR is truely a "British Brute" of a sportscar. And your enthusiasm shine's through to me - I'm sure to all viewers too - on that drive. Yet... it's flaw is summed up by your headline: Widowmaker! Having said that, what a car!! Thank you - and Nick - for puting us viewers in that driving seat...
Your welcome
@@nickfiore1743
Awesome car.
Enjoy it!
My boss had one of these for a few weeks, until he wrapped round a lamp post! City brokers used to love TVRs.
Fantastic car. Beautiful, charachterful, wonderful interior and a noise to die for. Now on my shopping list!
Only NOW??? Where've you been? I've wanted one of these for 20 years!
Great review great drive great comments ! 👍
And what a soundtrack, especially with a targa!!
Hi No 27. I have just bought a Chimaera 450. Love it. It was that or a Griffith. Super presentation you have done. I have already done a couple of video's about my plans for it. More in the garage type using the 2 post lift. Thanks for sharing.
Steve.
I have owned a Chimaera 450 for 18 years. I never tire of driving it and listening to the soundtrack. It is extremely quick and I'm told it is the best one to have because the bottom end is still original Land Rover and bomb proof! Hope you enjoy yours as much as I enjoy mine.
Love TVR cars ever since I learned about them from Gran Turismo 4. TVR always have such beautiful colours. Nice video. Keep up the good work.
Owned a V8S back in the nineties. A really underrated car and the true successor to the Austin Healey 3000 etc. A true British sports but seems to be forgotten these days.
yes, you dont hear of them at all - sounds particularly good with their exhaust config.
Back in the 90's my boss had on of these...and very generously let me take it out for the day numerous times.
As the owner of a superbike both now and then...the TVR was still able to grab my attention especially on a damp road 😲😲
Great video as always, cheers Alistair 👍
Alistair Morrel?
@@rainbowcampers No, I think you must be confusing me with some one else 🤔
@@WainwrightWalksWiaLocalLad had a colleague called Alastair Morel , not sure if spellings who, like me worked for Booths the Grocers in Preston. Edwin Booth followed me into TVR ownership by getting an ash? Cureton green (?) 4.3 Griffith new from the factory.... I had a white S1.5 at the time, G923GRP
@@rainbowcampers Ahhh... I know Booths well but in the South Lakes!
I worked all my life in Kendal... I worked for a guy at that time who had many different, interesting car's.
Because we shared an interest in ICE's he would let me have them for the day if he didn't need them 👌
Seems a long time ago now!
ATB Alistair 👍
His way of firing u?! ;)
Jack, this was another very enjoyable review. They way it was filmed and presented seemed to put me right there in the car with you. The engine sound is intoxicating and the car looks good too. Thanks.
They didn't build TVR- they sort of birthed them like Saruman does with the old Uruk Hai -
Lads from TVR would go off to the swampy bits of the Fylde and dig one up, drag it back to Bristol Avenue, plop it in the mould and hope a fully formed car would emerge.
Some say J.R.R.Tolkien based Orthanc on Blackpool Tower.
Silly comment just for the Algo - confuse it with whispers in the dark.
Wet road, pulling out of a garage after getting fuel, with the slightest push on the accelerator, the back decided it would prefer to be the front. Absolutely scared me to death.
I wish I still had mine, it was a Metallic red1997 Griffith 500 reg number P6 TVR, and it was featured in the 1998 TVR calender and other promotional material.
Back in the mid 1990s I seriously explored importing these into the US (well before the 25 year rule) as grey market cars but was strongly dissuaded by the President of the TVR Owners Club in the US. A handful of Left-hand Drive Griffiths had been made for Canada and imported up North, but ceased thereafter. It's a shame as TVR left the US with the lackluster 280i in the early 1980s. With these sexy looks and killer weight/power ratio this could've been the next Cobra. For US buyers in 2023 there aren't many LHD examples in Europe available to buy and import, I've been looking for a few years.
I had one of these too. A fabulous car! I owned my 500HC for 18 years but had to sell it as I was moving
Thanks Jack, another car that I think never made it to Oz. Great video, and the smile on your face says a lot too. I think you really enjoyed the drive.
Thank an engineer for the styling. One of the clever features is the front of the door is curved to remove the gap and allows the rear to be finished easily.
A brand new updated Griff with a BMW S58 would still be popular today if priced sub £65K. The roof is so easy to use and the roll up roof make sense if going away for a few days and boot space is at a premium
No huge tv-screens planted in front of the "driver"....No lane-assist or self parking mode.....No million-watt-audio systems that give You a fake V8-power sound from Your speakers(😂).....
Most modern cars are ridiculously heavy and just pretend to be sporty. This does not.
What a great machine! I wish they'd made more in LHD.
I’ve owned a Griff for 5 years before swapping for a T350. Griff was such a B road monster. And a fantastic GT car. TVR Car Club members can be found driving all around Europe in them.
Hello Martin,
Do you enjoy your T350?
What can you tell us about her?
Awesome! This used to be my favorite Grand Turismo car. Fantastic review, keep up the great work!
Surely everyone's dream car in the 1990s. Absolutely beautiful to look at and to listen to.
TVR's output figures are ahem......optimistic. Right out the factory the five litre probably only really does about 300 horsepower on a good day, but because that V8 is such a flexible engine you can bolt on bits that take it to the quoted figure and beyond without too much difficulty.
I remember driving my dads Griffith 500 around Croft a few times on TVR track days. Driving it anywhere between 7/10ths and 9/10ths was amazing, start really pushing it and it got a bit twitchy.
Great video Jack! You were grinning from ear to ear.
I had a Chimaera 4L HC with roughly 270bhp. The noise. The power. I miss it!
Keep these quick review videos coming. Love them 💪🏼
Thanks! Love your work.
Thank you so much and sorry for the late reply.. I only just saw this.. really glad you enjoyed the video FutureCat!
I do agree with you it is a pretty car the exterior and interior also it seems a very fast car bonus
The Griff 500 will always be my favourite TVR of all time. Beautiful to look at, sounds amazing and nowhere near as complicated as the later Speed Six cars..What a car....
I would love to see a review on a Donkervoort, which is a dutch version of the Lotus 7, but much modernised, which makes it like a road going race car.
In 1995 when I first qualified as a Doctor, a colleague in a similar position spunked his inheritance off his Grandmother on one of the first one of these ‘off plan’.
Within 500 miles of delivery, whilst going over a Sleeping Policeman speed bump, in London, at about 15 mph (apparently. I wasn’t there), it punched its rear suspension strut through the area rear of the seats. This was in a car that you were supposed to be able to do 150 mph in! 😮
The thing was…it wasn’t an isolated case! There were letters in the Telegraph and lawsuits with owners wanting their money back etc.
Just glorious in every way. With my own money, this would be somewhere towards the top...
I used to work at a TVR main dealer, every summer if it rained at the weekend the body shop would be busy on Monday.
Only thing missing here is nice roads and scenery. The Griffith deserves better.
I had a drive in a friends 400HC Chimaera it was brutal and beautiful at the same time, but so intoxicating ❤
The Griffith 500 is one of the greatest british sports cars!!
...bettered only by the 4.3 ;)
Apparently Gordon Murray had one and wanted to improve the handling. He put it on a chassis rig and found it to have such poor chassis torsional rigidity he just got rid of it!
I suspect that, because it has a separate backbone chassis, you don't get scuttle shake because the body is separate and isn't actually the thing that's responsible for providing the rigidity, so that gives a false impression of the true rigidity of the car.
That sound 😳 what a car. Heavy clutch?
Great stuff though more interesting cars of all sorts please
Gosh the 21st Century of the austin Healy 3000! The griffin TVR brings back a true British thug with DM boots! Love these underrated machines! Long live TVR! Thanks Jack! 👍🏽
Great review Jack.
Missing my Chimaera 500 that I sold earlier this year 😞
Please work your way through the rest of the TVRs! It’d be great to see you document this chapter of British motoring history.
SECONDED!
Thirded!
Drive every TVR Jack, they're all interesting. Great review, as always!
The sound of that engine is amazing.
Was, and still is, my dream car. Peak TVR. Great, balanced, take.
I think that this era of TVRs are great. I've worked on Griffs and Chims and, although the build quality isn't the best, particularly in the fit and finish, they are just great to drive. Tweaks to the springs and dampers can make a big difference if you want something a bit more track oriented, but the standard set up is great as a road car.
Thank you for this video. Brings back memories of playing Gran Turismo 2 in my room at university. Won the GT300 in a self built car Blackpool car, using tall high gear ratios to control it during cornering effectively making it a four speed. Not that I urge you to do so lol.
Welcome to another of my favourite ex-cars. One of the few I really, really regret selling but not the hideous bills from running it daily
Taking me straight back to my youth with this one Jack!
Awesome video like Always for an Amazing car❤...now you have to drive the Blackpool Rocket...the Cerbera
The Griff 500 was a quick car. I could tell the immensity of the torque even on the driveway over the 4.5 Chimera. I tired of the 11MPG though.! Shame TVR went out of business & just haven’t managed to get going again after Covid. I think JayEmm said the Griff/Chimera is no bigger than an MX5.
I think he said slightly smaller!
Weren't they all exceedingly rapid cars?
yes the Griff is immensely deceptive in size - looks large, but smaller and lighter than a Golf!
Got the chance to have a drive in one of these when I was 18, the best part was probably when the owner floored it on a dual carriageway, the grin was stretching off on my face, didn’t know where to look 😂 was quite an experience considering I owned a brown 1.3 HLE Metro at the time.
What a Beautiful Noise!
Drove one of these many years ago and my abiding memory is of tramlininig. The car seemed to want to follow its own path!
The most radical British car company, what a car,all their roster of cars are to say the least special, owning and maintaining one must be quite a commitment
pushrod front engine RWD is radical? Lotus says hello
Fighter airplane for the road! What a soundtrack! Thank you Jack :)
'The high maintenance and slightly unhinged younger sister' is easily the best description I've ever read of the Griffith!
Funny that the 4.3 and 500 get all the attention because for me the 4.0 was a peach.
Having driven 5 litre and 4 litre you are right - just rev a 4 litre and your in heaven - 27 years of ownership
the 4.3 is the perfect middle ground and will howl like a banshee at 6k :) @@billsunderland3936
Beautiful motor car.
Thank you
The first thing that stands out is the tuck in door and fender/wing. The original Dodge Viper would be the closest car by design here in the US.
What a fun package.😊
Looks like a football player bought a suit off the rack on the way to a wedding, and it seems appropriate. 😊
Always wondered about the TVRs. Thanks for the ride. I think it would have sold well here in the US.
Had a V8s for over 8 years before trading it for my first Griffith 500... Didover 100, 000 miles in it commuting in all weathers alk year round. Wish I could have kept both 😢
I have a blue 500 and that review was spot on.
The other car that I witnessed being built was the Sunbeam talbot. I watched them hammer the inner wings to fit a 5.3 l V8 into it to make the Sunbeam Tiger. Dont know much about the specs tho.
Fantastic review Jack. Spot on. Your grin said it all! I love my Griff ❤
Totally agree with you Jack probably the prettiest TVR and in my opinion the best sounding 👌🏻💪🏻
Always wanted one, but I was young and skint so had to settle for a TR7 with a tweaked V8.
Just lovely Jake. What a noise.
I saw one of these today. Lovely.