1997 TVR Griffith cars for sale

The TVR Griffith is the car that ushered in the glory days of TVR. While the wedges of the 80s had been fast and outrageous, there was always a whiff of kit car about them. The Griffith, on the other hand, was taking a swing at serious sports cars from the likes of Porsche and even the lower reaches of Ferrari, with its beguiling combination of curvy looks and hot-rod performance.

The Griff came in various flavours and power outputs. The earliest cars, launched in 1991, came with a 4.0-litre Rover-derived V8 with 240hp, later joined by a 4.3-litre version with 280hp and a 5.0-litre model (badged, perhaps a little unimaginatively, as ‘500’) with a whopping 340hp arrived in 1993. A handful of 4.5-litre cars were also sold, but these are rare indeed.

While many contest the true number of horses under the Griffith’s bonnet, there was no doubt that it was more than enough to make this 1,000kg-or-so roadster fast with a side-order of scary-fast. The big-chested V8 sounded wonderful, too.

Okay, so the absence of traction control or even ABS can make them a little intimidating, but surely that’s all part of the fun with a TVR...