Somehow, Rare Rides has never covered a single TVR in the past. It was just a matter of time before one of their premium motor canoes sporty, all-British roadsters graced these pages. This one happens to be a very rare and very boxy 350i from 1988.
Like many small car companies, TVR’s had a string of owners. Started in 1946 by Trevor Wilkinson, the brand passed through the ownership of Martin Lilley in the Sixties and Seventies, and on to Peter Wheeler in 1982. At that time, TVR’s product lineup consisted of one car: the Tasmin. On sale since 1980, the first of the wedge-shaped vehicles from the brand formed the foundation of the rest of TVR’s offerings throughout the Eighties.
The Tasmin utilized a Ford Cologne V6, which was not the mill of dreams for TVR’s new owner. Setting to work with some minor visual changes, the company shoehorned a classic 3.5-liter Rover V8 under the sloped hood. The Tasmin 350i was born.
Production started late in 1983, and after a year the association with the Tasmin name was eliminated; the 350i left to develop its own reputation. Output of 190 horsepower and a lightweight fiberglass body meant a top speed of 130 miles per hour and a zero-to-60 time of just 6.3 seconds. A five-speed manual transmission was the only way to get power to the rear wheels.
TVR offered coupe and convertible versions, and the 350i was used as a basis for the visually similar 390SE and 420SE models. The model’s final development was the 450 SEAC, which used a 4.5-liter version of the Rover V8 (325 horsepower). The 350i remained in production in its base form through 1989. In 1990 and 1991, a special 25-car run known as the 350SE commemorated the important run of the 350i. The wedge craze was about finished by the dawn of the Nineties, and the much more modern Griffith was in production, ready to spawn its own variants. Mr. Wheeler owned TVR from 1983 through 2003, overseeing the development of the widest offering of product in the company’s history.
Today’s banana yellow 350i is well-maintained and has 82,000 miles on the odometer. Note the stylish rear lamps from a Renault Fuego! The seller notes just 897 units of the 350i were made in 1988, and asks $17,500.
[Images: seller]
neighbor had a TVR Tasmin coupe back in the 90s. Unique car, for sure. He had trouble keeping it running. This looks like a prototype for the Qvale Mangusta, with its roto-top that would go from coupe to targa to convertible.
Liking the black leather seats with the yellow piping.
Those body panel fits, though…eek!
The DLO fail is horrendous.
Kind of a poor man’s Aston Martin
… or a rich mans Triumph TR8. No, I’m not always a ‘glass is half empty’ kind of guy.
A former high school teacher (and the man that would later get me addicted to autocross) had a TVR M-series car. I can’t remember which but it was British Racing Green and had a number of… “quirks”
* It leaned OUTRAGEOUSLY in the corners.
* It spewed sooty water out the upturned tailpipe, coating any car unfortunate enough to be gridded behind it
* leaked motor oil out via the stereo.
Our local VW/Audi/Porsche/Mazda dealer sold these in the ’80s. Still a few that come out to play in the summers in the area. Neat cars, if VERY much “factory” made kit-cars, if you can call some old sheds in Blackpool, England a factory, LOL.
Having experienced the 3.5L Rover V8 only in a first-generation Discovery that struggled to reach 90 mph, it’s very hard for me to imagine it propelling anything to 60 in 6.3 seconds.
LR often downrated the V8 with a throttle restrictor plate (I vaguely remember a 90hp version). Remove that and it was interesting.
I used to see several of these around L.A. in the late ’80s and ’90s. They seemed pricey for what they were, but you wanted something different they did stand out.
That is a comically undersized steering wheel.