The early 1990s was a golden era for British V8 sports cars. TVR, Marcos and MG all took the Rover-powered route and represent great value today
WORDS CHARLIE CALDERWOOD PHOTOGRAPHY JOHN BRADSHAW
The Rover V8 was a bit of a late bloomer. With a history stretching as far back as 1958 at General Motors, it seems strange that an engine so light and compact – and perfect for a sports car – struggled to find its place for so long. Neither the MGB GT V8 nor the Triumph TR8 had much success, but the 20th centuryʼs final decade brought with it a crop of eight-cylinder bruisers that finally did the engine justice.
No small part of that delay was down to some traditional managerial oversight at British Leyland. The surprise success of the Range Rover left little spare capacity for selling Rover V8s to third parties in the 1970s, but by the mid-ʼ80s that was changing: the TR8 had been discontinued and sales of the Rover SD1 were flagging. By 1986, the SD1 went off sale and the newly formed Rover Group began lining up a range of transverse, front-drive Honda-derived cars unlikely to need V8 power. Bizarrely, Land Rover was the only division then making use of this lightweight, all-aluminium V8.
All three of the cars here today first appeared in 1992, but TVR and Marcos deserve some extra credit for pioneering the purchase of ʻcrateʼ V8s from Longbridge. The 1983 Tasmin 350i (renamed simply 350i a year later) was the Blackpool firmʼs first model with Rover power, and TVR pulled off the same trick with the V8S a few years later. Yet both of these cars were old designs adapted to receive V8 motors.
The Griffithʼs public story goes back to its headline-grabbing appearance at the 1990 Birmingham motor show, where 350 were ordered in just a few days. The deposit money was needed, because the show carʼs V8S chassis required redevelopment to cope with the planned output. The Griffith was to be TVRʼs first car designed with a V8 from the outset and the first all-new car of the Peter Wheeler era.
The Tuscan racer formed the basis of the new chassis, complete with double-wishbone rear suspension to replace the old trailing-arm set-up that had reached the limit of its potential. A tubular backbone chassis was familiar, though stronger and stiffer than ever, while the floorpan, bulkheads and bodywork were moulded-in at the same time rather than as separate pieces, for further rigidity. Unlike many of the British sports car manufacturers it inspired, TVR modified the V8s it bought from Rover before fitting them to its cars. C
