The TVR Griffith Series 400 is a 2-door coupe sports car produced by Griffith Motor Company in Plainview, New York (a Ford Dealer in Plainview/Hicksville NY, Long Island), between 1964 and 1967. It was the successor to the TVR Griffith 200, featuring improved cooling via a larger radiator with twin electric fans, redesigned rear suspension, and a redesigned rear with better visibility and the round taillights sourced from the Ford Cortina Mark I.
The standard engine in the 400 was the more powerful Ford 289 'HiPo' Windsor engine producing 271hp that was available in the Series 200 as an option. The 400 weighed a few more pounds than the 200 due mostly to the new Salisbury independent differential with a higher gear ratio giving it a higher top speed.
Grantura Ltd of England designed the independent suspension for the TVR automobiles which later became the Griffith 200 and 400. The Griffith 400 had then state-of-the-art unequal wishbone suspension on all four corners and the car weighed significantly less than its contemporary, the AC Cobra, making it a very potent racing car.
As the Series 400 cars were being produced in early 1965, the entire east coast of the US was crippled by a prolonged dock strike. This not only caused a disruption in the supply of the series 400 bodies that were being shipped from TVR in Blackpool, UK, it also caused a delay in the shipment of the newer Series 600. Frank Reisner, whose Intermeccanica body works in Turin, Italy, was building the new steel bodied Griffith, was also unable to have the rolling chassises shipped. Jack Griffith attempted to bring his car to the public by having these bodies airlifted across the Atlantic, before the venture collapsed. The remaining Intermeccanica cars were imported to the US by Steve Wilder, where they were assembled by Holman-Moody and sold as the Omega.
With only 59 copies of the 400 and 10 600s off the assembly line at the Griffith factory in Plainview, Long Island, N.Y, USA, the company was dissolved.
TVR is a British manufacturer of sports cars. The company manufactures lightweight sports cars with powerful engines and was, at one time, the third-largest specialised sports car manufacturer in the world, offering a diverse range of coupés and convertibles.
The AC Cobra, sold in the United States as the Shelby Cobra and AC Shelby Cobra, is a sports car manufactured by British company AC Cars, with a Ford V8 engine. It was produced intermittently in both the United Kingdom and later the United States since 1962.
The Ford Galaxie is a full-sized car that was built in the United States by Ford for model years 1959 through to 1974. The name was used for the top models in Ford's full-size range from 1958 until 1961, in a marketing attempt to appeal to the excitement surrounding the Space Race. In 1958, a concept car was introduced called "la Galaxie" which incorporated the headlights into pods inline with the grille and a reduced front profile.
The Ford Falcon is a full-sized car that was manufactured by Ford Australia from 1960 to 2016. From the XA series of 1972 onward, each Falcon and range of derivates have been designed, developed, and built in Australia, following the phasing out of the American-influenced Falcon of 1960 to 1971, which had been re-engineered locally as the XK to XY series for the harsher Australian conditions. The luxury-oriented Ford Fairmont model joined the range from 1965. Luxury long-wheelbase derivative versions called the Ford Fairlane and LTD arrived in 1967 and 1973 respectively with production ending in 2007.
The Ford Country Squire is a series of full-size station wagons that were assembled by American automaker Ford. Positioned as the top-level station wagon of the Ford division, the Country Squire was distinguished by woodgrain bodyside trim. From 1950 through the 1991 model years, eight generations of the Country Squire were produced. Following the discontinuation of Edsel Bermuda, Mercury marketed the Mercury Colony Park as a divisional counterpart of the Country Squire, sharing bodywork and trim while the Mercury was not available with a six cylinder engine and was more expensive due to the optional equipment on the Ford that was standard on the Mercury.
Marcos Engineering was a British sports car manufacturer. The name derives from the surnames of founders Jem Marsh and Frank Costin.
The Caterham 7 is a super-lightweight sports car produced by Caterham Cars in the United Kingdom. It is based on the Lotus Seven, a lightweight sports car sold in kit and factory-built form by Lotus Cars, from 1957 to 1972.
Mark Neary Donohue Jr., nicknamed "Captain Nice," and later "Dark Monohue," was an American race car driver and engineer known for his ability to set up his own race car as well as driving it to victories.
Ginetta Cars Limited is a British specialist builder of racing and sports cars based in Garforth, Leeds, West Yorkshire.
The TVR Griffith, later models being referred to as the Griffith 500, is a sports car designed and built by TVR, starting production in 1990, and ending production in 2002. The Griffith name appeared again on a sports car introduced under a revived TVR brand in 2017.
The TVR Grantura is the first production model in a long line of TVR cars. It debuted in 1958 and went through a series of developments leading to the Mark I to Mark IV and 1800S models. The last ones were made in September 1967.
Intermeccanica is an automobile manufacturer, founded in Torino, Italy, in 1959 by Frank Reisner. It subsequently moved first to the United States, then to Canada, and is currently headed by Frank's son, Henry Reisner.
Sylva Autokits is a kit car manufacturer based in Lincolnshire, England. Sylva was founded in 1981 by Jeremy Phillips and has developed and produced a number of small and lightweight sports cars. Sylva cars have won a number of 750 Motor Club Kit Car championships.
The TVR Griffith 200 was a lightweight fibreglass-body sports car. In the United States, the make was Griffith and the model was Griffith Series 200, whilst the United Kingdom the make was TVR and the model was Griffith 200.
The TVR Tamora is a 2-seater sports car built from 2002 by British automobile manufacturer TVR, filling the gap left by the company's Chimaera and Griffith models. Introduced at the 2000 Birmingham Motor Show, the car is named after Tamora, a character in William Shakespeare's play Titus Andronicus and served as an entry-level model in the TVR range. Peter Wheeler was no longer directly responsible for design and the car was designed by a team led by Damian McTaggart, but Wheeler still had final approval.
The TVR Typhon is a sports car produced by the British car manufacturer TVR in their factory in Blackpool between 2000 and 2006. It is the fastest production TVR ever built. Only three were ever built. All are currently in England.
The TVR Tasmin is a sports car designed by Oliver Winterbottom (coach) and Ian Jones (chassis) for TVR and built in the United Kingdom by that company from 1980 to 1987. It was the first of TVR's "Wedge"-series which formed the basis of its 1980's model range. The Tasmin/280i was available as a 2-seater coupé, as a 2+2 coupé and as a 2-seater convertible.
The TVR M series is a line of sports cars built by automaker TVR between 1972 and 1979. The series replaced the outgoing TVR Vixen and Tuscan models, and is characterized by a common chassis and shared body style. As with other TVR models before and since, the M-series cars use a front mid-engine, rear-wheel drive layout and body-on-frame construction. The bodies themselves were built from glass-reinforced plastic (GRP). The era of the M series is commonly associated with Martin Lilley who, together with his father, took ownership of the company on 30 November 1965.
The TVR Vixen is a hand-built sports car which was produced by TVR and in Blackpool, England from 1967 until 1973. Ford-engined in most of its configurations, it succeeded the MGB-engined TVR Grantura 1800S. It is also the basis for the high-performance TVR Tuscan which was available in both V6 and V8 configurations.
The TVR Tuscan was a front engine, rear wheel drive sports car built by TVR from 1967 to 1971 in the company's Blackpool, England factory. It was the second car developed by TVR during the Martin Lilley era of the automotive firm.
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