TVR? Whats in a name, anyway....
TVR? Whats in a name, anyway....
Author
Discussion

jim..c

Original Poster:

842 posts

253 months

Friday 27th October 2006
quotequote all
I'm a bit confused about this discussion over what's best for TVR.

What is "TVR"?

Not the owner - changed
Not the management - changed.
Not the workforce - laid off
Not the location - moved to a different country.

Is it the current line-up of vehicles? Hope not.

Maybe it's just the legacy, the owners clubs, the old products. In which case, close the doors, batten down the hatches and refuse to recognise anything badged Trevor from 2007 on.

...rather like MG club's frosty reception to MG Metro, Maestro and Montego owners in the 80's. At least they were British rubbish cars that weren't true to the badge they wore...

LuS1fer

43,517 posts

275 months

Friday 27th October 2006
quotequote all
Same argument applies to many marques though - Rolls Royce, Bentley, Aston Martin. Much of what is, is just a peg on which to hang a product. Even a Lamborghini is really an Audi.

scared but happy

24,147 posts

259 months

Friday 27th October 2006
quotequote all
Yup I am off to buy a Kia.....NOT!

Julian64

14,325 posts

284 months

Friday 27th October 2006
quotequote all
I don't really take much notice of brand names. After all I think the Cerbera is wonderful and the sagaris is a visual nightmare.

So if that is true I picked the Cerb for what it looks/drives like not where it comes from.

It would be nice to buy a british car, but I wouldn't pay money for something I didn't want. Tony already takes half my income in direct tax and probably another third in indirect tax, so I don't think I'm being anti-british.

Its just that, lets face it, we make pretty crap cars.

I'm the same with BMW's. I would like to say as a brand they are all boring tutonic shapes, but then some BMW bod designed the 8 series. Probably for me the best looking car ever designed.

So brands mean nothing to me, and brand loyalty is for people who's enjoyment of a new car is less than their fear of the unknown.

jim..c

Original Poster:

842 posts

253 months

Friday 27th October 2006
quotequote all
All your examples did carry something of a thread, be it staff, location or both. Alright, ...ish!

TVR just seems to have severed all links with anything recognisably TVR.

andymadmak

15,634 posts

300 months

Friday 27th October 2006
quotequote all
jim..c said:


...rather like MG club's frosty reception to MG Metro, Maestro and Montego owners in the 80's. At least they were British rubbish cars that weren't true to the badge they wore...


Can I just take issue with this last point:

1, The provisional wing of the MG owners club, commonly known as the pipe and beard brigade may very well have turned their noses up at the Maestro, Metro and Montego. But they were worthy additions to the MG marque. Its a fallacy that MG only ever built two seat sports cars before the 1980s. 4 Seat MGs and sporting saloons had been always been a feature of the range.

2, The MG Maestro and Montego were not rubbish cars. In their day they were as good as the opposition and frequently better. An MG Maestro 2.0efi was quicker than a Golf GTi, and the handling was very similar (not surprising really given that the suspension set ups were copied from the golf and the passat)
The Montego and Maestro turbos in particular deserve special mention. I owned both these cars in the mid 1980s and the performance was very good indeed (as was the reliability) I remember one car magazine put a Montego Turbo up against a BMW 325. The MG lost, but not by much, and not for the reasons you might imagine.


Andy

Oops, sorry. To answer your question, whats in a name - whatever people want it to be

Edited by andymadmak on Friday 27th October 16:11

jim..c

Original Poster:

842 posts

253 months

Friday 27th October 2006
quotequote all
I thought that I'd get taken to task on the MG simile, I enjoyed the reference to the 'Provisional wing of the MG owners club'

I remember waiting, pressed to the bay window for my Dad's new MG Montego getting delivered. It pulled into the drive, 'nightwatch blue' - against the autumn leaves it looked stunning, like a page from a car magazine. The delivery guy got out, gave the door top a quick polish with his sleeve, and when he closed the door the back window fell in. Complete and intact, into the back seat.

Maybe a Friday car - I own up to not speaking for the rest, but it was rubbish!

funkyol

1,816 posts

249 months

Friday 27th October 2006
quotequote all
As I said before:

Tortellini Vermicelli Ravioli

Derek Smith

49,815 posts

278 months

Friday 27th October 2006
quotequote all
jim..c said:
I'm a bit confused about this discussion over what's best for TVR.

What is "TVR"?

Not the owner - changed
Not the management - changed.
Not the workforce - laid off
Not the location - moved to a different country.

Is it the current line-up of vehicles? Hope not.

Maybe it's just the legacy, the owners clubs, the old products. In which case, close the doors, batten down the hatches and refuse to recognise anything badged Trevor from 2007 on.

...rather like MG club's frosty reception to MG Metro, Maestro and Montego owners in the 80's. At least they were British rubbish cars that weren't true to the badge they wore...


I think continuity has a bit to do with it.

Pat H

8,058 posts

286 months

Friday 27th October 2006
quotequote all
Derek Smith said:
I think continuity has a bit to do with it.

It does.

But look at Triumph motorcycles.

The current generation was conceived in the early 1990s and has absolutely nothing in common with the bikes of the 1950s, 60s and 70s.

There was even a huge gap in production.

Then we get a new owner, new factory and a new product. Only the name remained the same.

But I think that Triumph motorcycles is worthy of the name and I am glad that a great marque has been reincarnated.

drink

RTH

1,059 posts

242 months

Friday 27th October 2006
quotequote all
'Autocar' says TVR is to move to Bertone in Turin and there will be a Le Mans campaign run by Tom Walkinshaw's new TWG outfit The revised range of engines supplied by the Ricardo Group for a two model range of Sagaris and Tuscan.

Total new car production for callender year 2006 will be less than 75 cars

jasandjules

72,602 posts

259 months

Friday 27th October 2006
quotequote all
jim..c said:

What is "TVR"?


Hand built, British, automotive sex.....

Well, that WAS TVR

Edited by jasandjules on Friday 27th October 19:27

jim..c

Original Poster:

842 posts

253 months

Friday 27th October 2006
quotequote all
jasandjules said:
jim..c said:

What is "TVR"?


Hand built, British, automotive sex.....

Well, that WAS TVR

Edited by jasandjules on Friday 27th October 19:27


Agreed, entirely. I'm just trying to work out what it is now.

Russian/Italian, built by committee, automotive vinegar stroke?

Gadaffi Duck

307 posts

246 months

Friday 27th October 2006
quotequote all
Hi

I think 'H' is the sexiest meber of 'Steps' and I would like to give him.....

Oh, Shoot! wrong forum!

betty_swallocks

199 posts

244 months

Saturday 28th October 2006
quotequote all
Gadaffi Duck said:
Hi

I think 'H' is the sexiest meber of 'Steps' and I would like to give him.....

Oh, Shoot! wrong forum!

H is a bloke Tim
and I thought drivin TVR's was a macho thing