TVR was started by Trevor Wilkinson in 1946 as a light engineering business that specialized in repairing and selling cars. Shortly afterwards Trevor decided to build his own car, under the TVR Engineering banner, comprising an alloy bodied 2 seater on a tubular chassis, which was completed in 1949.

It wasn't long before TVR had settled on the glass reinforced plastic body over a tubular steel frame formula that would be the blue print for the Company's output for the rest of their days. In fact, the first production car using this formula was the Grantura launched in 1954.

During this period many cars were sold as kits to avoid British tax payable on assembled cars and used 4 cylinder Coventry Climax, BMC or Ford engines.

In the early 1960s a TVR customer called Jack Griffith, who ran his own US dealership, put a 4.7 litre AC Cobra engine in his Grantura and took it racing. This prompted TVR to take up this idea and the original V8 Griffiths were born.

However, Trevor Wilkinson was increasingly marginalised in his own Company and so moved on and Martin Lilley took over running TVR in 1965.

Lilley reverted to a 3 litre V6 Ford powerplant for the 1967 TVR Tuscan and then set about designing the popular 'M' series cars that were produced throughout the 1970s.

Changing legislation in 1980 saw the launch of the 'wedge' which was a big departure, design wise, from the norm for TVR. Developing a whole new car from scratch is not a cheap move, but it was a necessity. However, the buying public weren't overly impressed and a combination of the development costs and lack of sales meant that financial difficulties continued.

Peter Wheeler then took ownership of the Company. It wasn't long before the wedges were fitted with a Rover V8 powerplant and re-badged the 350i. The launch of the 'S' in 1988 took TVR back to familiar design territory and sales were on the up again.

1989 saw the launch of Peter Wheeler's brainchild the TVR Tuscan Challenge. This was a one make series show-casing TVR's engineering capability and it drew not only a large TV audience but also many top flight drivers of the day. A road going racer was never built by the factory, although most of what had been learnt underpinned the forthcoming Griffith.

Ever larger versions of the RV8 were fitted into the wedge range, until the 1992 launch of the iconic Griffith, which was actually a cheaper car to buy. This was the start of what is now recognised as TVR's golden era.

Hot on it's heels was the Chimaera in 1993, followed by the Cerbera in 1994 which Performance Car magazine called the 'performance car of the decade'. TVR was clearly on a roll.

Peter Wheeler was keen to ensure that TVR did not become dependent upon an engine manufacturer, so they set about designing their own engines. The Speed 8 (AJP8) and the Speed 6 were the result. The latter made it's debut in a Cerbera in 1998 and the Tuscan became the first car specifically designed for the engine in 2000. Both 3.6 and 4 litre versions were available.

The Tamora was close behind in 2001; Evo magazine called it 'the most honed car TVR has ever built' due to its wonderful handing - although the rear end styling was somewhat unresolved.

The next model release in 2002 was the T350, which is probably the most refined TVR of them all. This is effectively a coupe version of the Tamora, although you could specify a targa top version with two lift out roof panels. In this case the rear end styling is much better executed.

The Tuscan 2, Sagaris and Typhon were announced in 2004, whilst on the track two Tuscan T400Rs finished at Le Mans. It is at this peak that Peter Wheeler sold TVR to Nikolai Smolenski.

Over the following couple of years the factory distilled the model range to the Tuscan 2, Tuscan Convertible and Sagaris and successfully concentrated on enhancing the build quality, which was arguably at it's highest ever. However, amid talk of moving production abroad the Blackpool factory was closed in 2007 and production ceased.

It remains unlikely that TVR will be re-born, certainly in any way that resembles the first 60 years of production. For the purists then, TVR is now being kept alive by the enthusiastic owners that enjoy and maintain their cars, both on the road and on the track.

February 2010 and TVR (still owned by Smolenski) announce that production will start in Germany of a Sagaris bodied US engined car to retail at around £75k. Let's see what happens...........