My neighbourhood never ceases to amaze me. I remember reading about the TVR Tasmin in the buff books, but I never thought I would see one in my area.
I recall drooling over the styling, the angular origami that was so popular in the 1980s. In my mind, anyway, it hasn’t aged all that well.
Looks like some VW Scirocco is in the back.
The interior has held up well, albeit with some UV damage.
I have other CCs in my phone and will be adding them over the summer.
Further reading:
I’ll “start the ball rolling” by admiring the simple, effective ball-&- stick, short- throw shifter, placed within the console.
The 1980’s styling is (unfortunately) brought up to date by the ubiquitous blue disposable mask, draped over the e-brake.
What odd proportions in the exterior styling.
The TVR cars have always fascinated me. Along with Morgan, they represent the very definition of “cottage industry”. Both companies produce as many cars in a *year* as Ford produces F-trucks in an *hour*, yet both brands seem to have enough loyalists to stay in business, and I assume profitably (enough).
TVR is long gone…
Yes, there are always ides for the future, but no actual cars
ideas
Amazing find. Independent car makes are well known for primitive design details. This one appears particularly make-do. 🙂
That part of the design has been hurting my eyes for decades. The rest of the car looked normal enough, but those right angles are pretty jarring.
I’m sure it was a source of angst for the designer(s). They should have done whatever they could, to eliminate those two sharp turns. A high profile design oddity.
The fuel filler door is also awkwardly tight to the passenger door and B pillar.
These flaws, beside the overall overly sharp-edged design, and various other design flaws, are hard to not notice. Lends an amateur feel.
I remember being disappointed when these came out and were described in the car magazines. TVR always were a bit quirky but had likable designs, nice rounded forms. They were always a bit (too) small to be really beautiful. This Tasmin also is too small for those sharp lines.
Agree with Len Peters (it hasn’t aged that well). Add to this the fact that the early 80s were bad times for (interior) materials and quality. That said this car’s interior seems to have held up very good – I would not be surprised if it had its interior redone.
I would say no to this car. In fact I actually said no to a rare convertible of this type when it was for sale locally, and cheap. The lines just do not do it for me.
The front has a Saab Sonnett II look, which is weird because this is a rear-drive car, and the Sonnet had that protruding beak look partly because of it’s front-drive configuration.
The rear feel very 1989’s Toyota Celica or Mitsubishi Starion more than a Scirroco, which was IIRC a bit more rounded.
The center console with the shelf on top of the radio is something that has rarely (never) been seen in other cars, and would have been greatly improved if the top was really a shelf, with railings and (gasp) cupholders. But that would have made it even more like a 1980’s Celica.
Looks to be a 1982-84 example. As well as the 2.8 V6 in the 280i, the door handles and rear lights are also from the 1978-86 Ford Capri. After the Tasmin TVR reverted to rounded lines with the S series.
What a fantastic find. I am a little more positive on the styling of these days currently. Years ago I did not enjoy the razor sharp sides and overall wedge but I have been coming around to it as a “product of its time”. The colour does not do it too many favours though.
I can’t take my eyes off that not-console, it’s a thin little slab of leather plopped over the transmission tunnel carpeting, with said carpeting exposed as a sort of open storage bin where you’d expect an armrest to be.
These use a backbone frame, so the console is literally covering the frame. I found a picture on the TVR website. The frames are still available.
When I was a kid there was always one parked in this repair shop lot on W. Coldspring La. in northern Baltimore City back in the 80s and it was a convertible, the exact same color as the car in the picture.. The name and the shape always caught my eye as I’ve never seen anything like it before. I’ve never seen one on the street since.
An interesting find Len; don’t think I’ve ever seen one in the metal/fibreglass. I agree some aspects haven’t aged well, like the Mk III Cortina door handles and the interior, but other aspects are nice and a little ahead of their time, like the frameless glass rear hatch (the first with the radio aerial embedded in it apparently) and the glass panel above the taillights. With largely Ford or Rover running gear, the Tasmin should be relatively reliable for an old British car too, albeit with a few quirks – a local Kiwi enthusiast noted that every wire in the wiring loom of his Tasmin is black…
I love it for almost all the reasons previous posters don’t –
Gold paint ✔
Stainless floating center wheels ✔
Chiseled angles ✔
Front bumper proportional overhang ✔
Rear bumper overhang = Maybe 2 – 3 inches too long but still very compact for the time period
Horizontal peekaboo hatch window (a la CRX) ✔
That said I don’t have the pocketbook or the patience for its maintenance needs but it’s rare and cool and very unlikely you will ever see another one here in the Midwest.
Back in the late 80’s, I came very close to purchasing a roadster version of that car. Crazily enough, at the time, the biggest US parts supplier for TVR was located in Johnstown, PA and the owner (name long forgotten) was a rather good friend of mine. This was one of those businesses that was located out of the offices of another, more mundane (and money making) business, and the building actually had a ‘showroom’ which had two roadsters for sale. I was able to come up with the money at the time to buy, what held me off was a lack of mechanical ability to do my own wrenching. And a complete lack of any kind of shop that would have had the slightest clue how to work on them, even if given the service manuals.
I have seen other TVR models over the years, but I don’t think I have ever spotted a Tasmin. This wa the era of “wedge” design, which usually did not turn out well. The Aston Martin Lagonda and the one-off Bulldog come to mind.