The Barn Finds readership is a high point in my workday, as they begin to figure out what we like and don’t like when it comes to four-wheeled fascinations. The proliferation of TVRs that end up in my pile of work makes me smile, and it has the added bonus of almost guaranteeing I’ll never buy one. That being said, any car that has a history of seemingly being loved makes me want it more, and the sellers of this 1986 TVR 280i claim their father has accumulated 40 years of documentation. While I wouldn’t be a buyer for this TVR listed here on Facebook Marketplace, I’d love to pour over those records. The asking price is just $4,000.

Thanks to Barn Finds reader Chuck Foster for the tip. The 280i, also known as the Tasmin, was born from an era of change at TVR. The company was struggling financially, and leadership changed from Martin Liley to Peter Wheeler. There’s a fair amount of design influence in the TVR from Lotus, and that’s no accident: Liley was undoubtedly thinking about his foremost sports car rival at the other British company, and it even brought in a former Lotus engineer to design the tubular chassis. You can also draw plenty of comparisons to other Lotus models of the same timeframe, like the Eclat. Like the Eclat, TVR even offered the 280i briefly as a 2+2 that sold poorly.

Here in the states, we didn’t get much in the way of variation with the 280i aside from the nameplate and some styling changes. The 280i represented TVR’s return to the market after a brief hiatus, and it came equipped with the robust German-market Ford Cologne V6. A Ford-sourced 4-speed manual was also used, and it remains a willing and powerful combination to this day. Parts are still more or less available, and plenty of other bits in the suspension and elsewhere were simply raided from parts bins. The seller’s car does not run, but it’s difficult to decipher from the description if it’s simple due to the dead battery. The seller confirms it does turn over by hand.

While the interiors didn’t change much, model years like this one did benefit from more attractive European-market style bumpers which replaced the ugly “park bench”-style units first used. The interior appears to be in fine condition, with leather seats that likely have been redone at some point in the not-too-distant past. The wood trim inlays on the dash also look tidy, and I don’t see any cracks in the dash pad. The Tasmin/280i, more affectionately known simply as “The Wedge,” remains an excellent choice for a vintage sports car at a reasonable price with enthusiast DNA running through its fuel lines, and while I won’t be buying this one, someone out there should.