TVR Griffiths 200/400 and their Chassis Numbers

[FISCracer]

Originally Posted by terence bower

I would hope it is cheaper Richard.

Ha ha

I'll let others decide whether they prefer mine in signal red with white stripes and chrome wires, or yours in maroon/dark red.

The two cars are similar spec but IIRC your is a rebodied 200 with a later 400 body, a replaced chassis (so how much is original) and a later non period registration. Mine is fundamentally original with good history and a series of concours wins in the US.

Mike Abbas appears to have sold his and I think both of ours are much nicer, so let us hope there are two buyers out there.

[terence]

For your sake,I hope there are.

[esper]

so no package deals then?

[terence]

Originally Posted by esper

so no package deals then?

Spare chassis [original] Original magazine article-Top Gear Video,so you can watch the car being spun by Tiff Needel at Snetterton.Original FIA papers,quite a list really.LOL.

[John Turner]

Right so far only two chassis nos have emerged:-

03/200 - Terry Bower
023/200 - Louise and Jason Kennedy.

Anymore? Are you prepared to share that for yours, FISC racer?

[Peter Mallett]

Must say that at £4500 Richards Griff appears to be a bargain. It is £4500 isn't it?

[esper]

it could be that some owners are afraid of sharing chassisnumbers because in the past it could happen to have a chassisnumber in the states and one in the UK. one number 2 cars , the uk number wit old style FIA papers and te american one with a logbook. I asked a dutch owner if he wants to share his number , so far no reply

[simon drabble]

so this is the 23b of roadcars!

[FISCracer]

Originally Posted by John Turner

Right so far only two chassis nos have emerged:-

03/200 - Terry Bower
023/200 - Louise and Jason Kennedy.

Anymore? Are you prepared to share that for yours, FISC racer?

I do not believe either of the above nos are correct format although I may be wrong

My car is no 54 of the 400s. Anyone who knows the format will know the number.

Malcolm Johnsons car is no 54 of the 200s - although it now has a 400 body

[terence]

I do not know where you are coming from on that one Richard,"My" car IS fully documented with 03/200,always has been!! 04/200 was the car that Gerry used for a race car,not too sure on its existance now though.

[terence]

John T,Just for your record,03/200 left the factory in 65 with the registration of DFR 697C.Interesting old description from H&H can be seen by typing in "1965 TVR Griffith 200/400".Hope this helps in your quest,still not had any info on the other two though.

[Moby]

John,

The format is model - number denoting year of manufacture (eg, 5 for 1965) - then the number.

My old car was 200-5-147.

Originally owned in New York and then New Jersey before encountering something backwards rather harder than itself at quite a speed.

I rebuilt it NOT for FiA racing, although all the fundamentals were to FiA spec.

Sold it at the very end of 2007. Not seen or heard of it since.

Cheers,

Steve.

[andrewc]

I think our current Griff is 400-6-045.

[John Turner]

Thanks, guys! Keep it coming!

[johnh875]

Hear, hear! Very interesting. My interest in the early TVRs stems from occaisionally passing a pair of tiny, bob-tailed sportscars parked outside a local garage (Maddock's in Echuca Vic, on the Murray River) in the late 80's on my way to school. Of course TVRs don't have a lot in the way of badges, so it was only years later that I discovered what they were. I remember one having the Mk1 Cortina tail lights, the other may have been a rectangular type from memory (it was 20yr ago!). And when I found out they had also stuck a big V8 engine in these tiny cars...

[FISCracer]

Originally Posted by Moby

John,

The format is model - number denoting year of manufacture (eg, 5 for 1965) - then the number.

My old car was 200-5-147.

Exactly Steve...........I'm glad there are others out there who know their onions on TVRs

You just can't trust these dodgy car dealers...........bitsa cars, numbers that are made to match, different body, different chassis, different registration etc etc etc

[John Turner]

Well, Richard, you could have told us first, rather than this:-

Originally Posted by FISCracer

I do not believe either of the above nos are correct format although I may be wrong

My car is no 54 of the 400s. Anyone who knows the format will know the number.

Malcolm Johnsons car is no 54 of the 200s - although it now has a 400 body

I was merely quoting from earlier posts because I knew no better (one of the reasons I started the thread); it's not some obscure initiation into the shadowy world of TVR Griffiths, is it?

So can we assume yours is 400-5-54?

[terence]

Originally Posted by FISCracer

Exactly Steve...........I'm glad there are others out there who know their onions on TVRs

You just can't trust these dodgy car dealers...........bitsa cars, numbers that are made to match, different body, different chassis, different registration etc etc etc

Very brave of you to put that into print Richard.I only give the numbers that are given to me.Perhaps I should forward this to the owner.

[Moby]

Can't understand the confusion. Anyone with an FiA Griffith will presumably have the original American 'Certification of ownership'. This has the chassis number clearly typed on it.

[simon drabble]

As a layman I am very confused - I thought that they were made in Balckpool?

[Moby]

Jack Griffith had a workshop in New York and commenced buying rolling chassis from TVR in Blackpool and shipping them over. He then under license from Ford put in the same combination engine and gearbox as the early Cobra. In recognition of this they allowed him to call them the 'Griffith'. Not the TVR Griffith, just 'The Griffith'. The TVR Griffith came along later after the Company folded mainly due to the dock strike in America, although the poor quality of the rolling chassis he received from TVR and the fact that he was virtually rebuilding each one as he got them didn't help.

[John Turner]

Simon, I believe that the 289s were installed into chassis/bodies supplied by TVR to Jack Griffiths in America, hence the name. It was apparently marketed, initially at any rate, simply as the Griffith 200 without reference to TVR.

Edit - you beat me to it, Moby!

[jellison]

Falcemob
"I think Jon Ellison is building a 65 200 for racing at the moment."

Originally Posted by falcemob

That's not what I heard, but I could be wrong.................again.

Mine will be for racing. Will be similar to Steve. Engine will be a full race 5.0.

Will build it close to fia bar the rear hubs (not going Granada - there are a few sources you can get fia approved hub carriers, that are alloy new and more meat in the important places), big front brakes (though I have the Fia Cambridge Motorsport New Jag ones and will use these initailly to get it going), will go with the Cranley front hub once it is raced (the originals (fia spec but weak will be boxed up after getting the thing running on these), and the engine.

Engine should be good for 420 - 430bhp the way we are going to build it.

Jelly

[terence]

D Gerald TVR are now doing new cast ally rear uprights.The only Granada stuff we used was front end,the rears were fabricated Jon.

[jellison]

Originally Posted by terence bower

D Gerald TVR are now doing new cast ally rear uprights.The only Granada stuff we used was front end,the rears were fabricated Jon.

Cool - I' check on this. But I know there are at least 2 other places you can get them (think we are going to get via a guy in the US that has made 22+ sets), you can buy machined with vette hubs in the carriers or bare casting and make up as you wish with machining this end. We will likey do this - we like doing this sort of thing ourselves or being in control of it through engineering firms we us.

The numbering is Model (200 or 400), year (5=65, 6=66) and car no..

Mine is 200-5-017. The last number does not mean the order it left the factory strangley enough. My car is the 3rd made after the prototype 200-4-000. The other 2 before mine were 200-5-15 and 200-5-016. These 3 cars were the only one made with actual Grantura bodies (altered in the US to fit and lighter than the later Grantura rear end 200's (late 200's had the Cortina lights, as did all 400's)). These first 3 cars were deemed the lightweight (See the Griffith Years by Mike Mooney (a good read) - my father has the stock of these books if any one want one (outside of the US), Mike gets the cash, and father sends the book out.