“Gee, that’s a nice Viper.” Those might be the words that pop into your head when you see this car, but in fact, you’re not looking at a Chrysler (as we used to say—I know the Viper was a Dodge) offering at all. No, this is much more uncommon. It’s a TVR Tuscan Speed Six S, and you can snag it for upwards of a current bid of 21K, if you hurry. Well, maybe not hurry, as there’s only one bid in as of four days before the car is cut loose from its home in Ogdensburg, NY. Recent market for these cars seems to be in the $28,000 range, but not often does one of these come up for sale.
The car runs a 4-liter displacement straight six-cylinder engine, backed up by a five-speed, driving the rear wheels. In various places, it is called a mid- front-engined car, and you can see why looking at its proportions, with the short-deck, long-nose Pony Car formula getting a workout here. Its 360 horsepower must have looked like a lot twenty years ago, but now exists in many vehicles available. Still, lightness and tucked-in size mixed with 420 ft-lbs. of torque, which is what you feel when you push the gas pedal, must make this every bit the race car for the street that the ad calls it out as. It has about 60,000 miles on the clock. How reliable are these when the miles start to pile up, Barn Finders?
You will have to put up with the quirk of right-hand drive, as this car is fitted out in the English way. For a British car, that makes sense. The gas pedal still responds to your right foot when you sit in one of these, but shifting is done with the left hand rather than the right, which takes some getting used to, as anyone who has rented a manual in the UK or similar jurisdictions can attest.
These small-volume cars are not to everyone’s taste, often because manufacturers do different for different’s sake. Remember the Panoz Roadster? That’s perhaps an extreme example, but in that vein, what do you make of the multiple eyes this Tuscan appears to have? Maybe you won’t care when you’re behind the wheel. This torque-monster pulls like crazy, apparently, doing 0-60 in under four seconds. Handling is reported as go-kart like, and who else do you know who has a car with a Kevlar and fiberglass body? To get this exotic a package here on ebay for, say, mid-$20 thousand would seem like a bargain. But don’t forget that someone’s going to have to fix this when it breaks. Is there a British marque specialist within towing distance of your pad?
Exhaust looks like a motorcycle pipes .
LOL! I thought the same thing – looks like what was on my ’79 Yamaha from the factory.
Not very attractive, IMO.
Not a single pic of the engine in the add. No mention of who makes the motor.
TVR designed and built their own engines by this period, making reliability and parts availability a bit of an open question.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TVR_Speed_Six_engine
2 minutes ago I didn’t even know what it was and now I want it! Even if it just sat in the garage ,I wouldn’t care. I would just use it to impress people and that it’s mine.
TVR made their own engines and they were something. The sound is magnificent. Google TVR Speed Six and take a listen.
360 horse straight six. Yes please!
TVR developed the engine inhouse. 420 ft lbs of launch…
The ad copy is ridiculous… tells us nothing. These are neat cars with robust powertrains, so why no mention or even photos? Anyway, price seems reasonable to me, but not feeling any confidence in the seller.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TVR_Speed_Six_engine
This TVR not legal in the US until it’s 25 years old. Depending on mfg date it’s still a year away. It has Ontario plates on it so not actually a US reg.
I was just about to post that fact. Good catch on the Canada plates – I thought they looked like Ohio so was wondering how it got registered in the States.
And it won’t be legal to buy and import now and just wait on filing the paperwork until it’s 25yo. You’ve got to document that it first entered the US over 25 years to the day after its actual date of manufacture. Not to say you couldn’t buy now but store it in Canada meanwhile…
When I first saw this on eBay I notified the seller that this is probably impossible to import to USA, certainly impossible to register in California and elsewhere as it sits.
always with uneducated CA statements. Like in other states, you can register 25Plus year old cars
…and this is not 25+ years old yet, so “as it sits” right now it’s still not legal.
Hey guy – In Calif anything 1975 and newer has to pass smog. Good luck on that – your ignorance is pretty blatant.
When I first saw this on eBay I notified the seller that this is probably impossible to import to USA, certainly impossible to register in California and elsewhere as it sits.His solution is to now say that the car is in NY – he could have driven it across the border as a tourist, but the hapless USA buyer will be in for a rude surprise!
What exactly is your reasoning for believing that it can’t be registered in the US?
“If the vehicle is less than 25 years old and was not originally manufactured to comply with all applicable FMVSS, and/or was not so certified by its original manufacturer, it cannot be lawfully imported into the U.S. on a permanent basis unless NHTSA determines it eligible for importation. The agency makes those determinations on its own initiative or the basis of a petition from a registered importer. These are business entities that are specifically approved by NHTSA to import nonconforming vehicles and to perform the necessary modifications on those vehicles so that they conform to all applicable FMVSS. The petitions must specify that the vehicle is substantially similar to a vehicle that was certified by its original manufacturer as conforming to all applicable FMVSS and is capable of being readily altered to conform to those standards, or, if there is no substantially similar U.S.-certified vehicle, that the vehicle has safety features that comply with, or are capable of being altered to comply with, the FMVSS based on destructive test information or other evidence the agency deems adequate. Import eligibility decisions are made on a make, model, and model year basis. ”
Taken from FAQ #3 off of the NHTSA website. https://www.nhtsa.gov/importing-vehicle/importation-and-certification-faqs#:~:text=If%20the%20vehicle%20is%20less,determines%20it%20eligible%20for%20importation.
to Charles Jenkins: Unless it is 25 year or older, it is essentially illegal to import for all practical purposes. Then, many venues, California is the primary example, won’t register it because it doesn’t have the required smog equipment. I have imported dozens and dozens of cars, but all had to be 25 years or older. Then you still have to figure out if it can be registered in your state. I used to live in a state where it was no problem so I bought quite a few cars from frustrated Californians who had to give up trying to register their non-conforming cars.
Seller is a gushing salesman.
As I get older and more feeble every day, I have revised my needs in automobiles. Rear drive, eight cylinders, two doors and 300 horsepower are sufficient. I never thought I would admit this, but here we are. My newest folly is much like this beautiful car but with a ZF automatic. After cleaning the fuel system and putting this decades tires on it, I drove it to 140 before good sense kicked in. Who was it said “I have reached my limit”?
I didn’t know that. (Although California doesn’t surprise me)
It’s my opinion that TVR reached their styling peak in the early Nineties, surpassed only by the boattail Rivieras in the common era. Certainly, no other makes evoke visions of the female body form as those two do; yes, you can go back to the Thirties for muliple examples, but move forward, and they are few and far between today. The true genuis behind those years of TVR Peter Wheeler – read or listen about him here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXTQFc_zoug
What other shoestring company faced with the cutoff of their engine supplies designs and puts into production a race ready V-8, and then later their own inline six? Just a magical story! Shame I’ll never be able to sit in one, let alone drive one.
scottymac, thanks for sharing the video. Great production and very informative history lesson.
I liked the time-matched soundtrack, and now I have a new interest in TVR cars.