Hot Rods Hot Rod Sports Cars

Not sure, it looks kinda like a Griffin or TVR

 

I think your right. I can see the resemblance. Good call.

 

Griffins came out just early enough but not sure when TVR's came out.

 

Hey Pat @1934coupe you know this car?

 

Took a lot of guts to cut one up. It appears to be Buick nail head powered. Can you imagine doing that today? It would be like admitting to being a Trump supporter.

 

It started life as a TVR (built in Blackpool, England). Typical British low volume production car with a tube frame and a fiberglass body. It was not a Griffith to begin with as they used the large round taillights from a Cortina so this was probably one of the Triumph (six cylinder) powered versions.
Jack Griffith was a Long Island (NY) Ford dealer who had TVR build what was basically a different take on the Cobra between 1964 and 1967.

Roo

 

LB I don't recall seeing that car in person when I was at Dover between 62 and 66. I did get a chance to hop in a Griffith which was only a year or two old and it was the fastest thing I had ever driven, put a big smile in this 15 year olds face.

Pat

 

Huge photo great for computer background

 

British TVR, or its derivative Griffith, which were marketed by an American, and were made with V8 Ford power, to compete with Cobras (second pic). Later Griffiths had nice Italian styled bodies (third pic), were marketed without much success under several different names. Gets reincarnated every few years; there is actually a 2019 model readied
for production.

 

You are correct Roo. The car pictured is likely a "Grantura" which is what the Griffiths were based on. I had a 63' Grantura and mine came from the factory with a 1600cc MGA 4 cylinder. Later I had a 79' Tvr Taimar with German Ford V-6 power.

- EM

 

Sorry, I missed reading page 31 before writing my post #910, above. Clearly, many readers were aware of the the car's heredity. To add a little interesting early history:



TVR made racing chassis from the late 40s onward. Ray Saidel, from Manchester NH, embarked upon the construction of some very limited production (like a few, all different) sports-racing cars in the mid 50s, utilizing TVR chassis, some complete, some partial sub-assemblies. These were called Jomars. The first car considered a TVR/Jomar was a joint effort between Saidel and the TVR factory. This was a very stubby notchback coupe, which used the same mold for the Fiberglass nose and tail, but is obviously the predecessor of the later fastback coupes and Griffiths. (A classmate of mine had an early one back in my school days, with a rip-roaring 1172 cc English Ford flathead 4, replete with a PD blower, and probably 25 HP!)

 

Wasn't there a variant of the TVR ( perhaps under another name ) that used a small block mopar , 273 or perhaps a 318, after the Ford engine deal went south ? It also seems to me that the supplier of the body and chassis changed about that same time. Or am I thinking of the late production Sunbeam Tigers that ended up with mopar power ?

 

It’s got California plates and the guy “Jolopy Joker” who posted it is from NorCal.. If he took the pictures he might be your best shot at catching this hotrod Healey.. I think it’s a pretty bad ass lookin ride which I believe is a 1956 Austin Healey.

Here’s another one..

 

At the St Louis all British car show.

 

"Or am I thinking of the late production Sunbeam Tigers that ended up with mopar power ?"

I've never heard of a Mopar powered Tiger. After Chrysler took over Rootes, they decided that Mopar small blocks of the day were too wide to fit and the distributor was in the wrong place, and according the Wikipedia, Tiger production ended when they ran out of Ford engines.

 

That one is a "spendy" one as it is the 100M series. Of those sold this year at collector auctions, the cheapest went for $65K and the high price was $185K for one just like this.

Roo

 

Hemi Healy Current photo I think

 

1958 Echidna Chevy Roadster

 

Cheetah

 

Lance Reventlow in Scarab MKI

 

Kellison J-4 Coupe