VotW – TVR’s Oldschool Blackpool Factory

I can’t resist stories of the way cars used to be made – back when automobiles weren’t so much produced as crafted. You know, VotW - TVR's Oldschool Blackpool Factoryback when every other car that slides off an automated assembly line resembles nothing so much as an over-ripe jellybean. Honestly, it wasn’t that long ago. Our VotW this week goes back to an old Top Gear episode with a much younger Jeremy Clarkson visiting the TVR factory in Blackpool, Lancashire. The video, from 1995, shows a factory that is worlds away from the automotive assembly plants we picture today.

TVR was started by Trevor Wilkinson in 1947 in Blackpool. For nearly 60 years the company produced fabulous if ofter quirky sports cars in fits and starts and under various ownership. In 2006, the factory at Blackpool was closed by then-owner and Russian businessman Nikolai Smolensky.

Now TVR is back. The marque TVR will kick off its all-new sports car range in 2017 with a limited-run of models built around an inventive allcarbon architecture, the company has confirmed.

The first run of ‘Launch Edition’ cars will be built around a carbonfibre chassis, designed with help from famed design consultant Gordon Murray, put together using his innovative ‘iStream’ manufacturing system, and clothed in carbonfibre bodywork.

While the new TVRs will be built in the UK, it’s unlikely they’ll be built in Blackpool; the current engineering prototypes are being developed near Gordon Murray Design’s Surrey base.

For more information on the new TVRs, check out tvr.co.uk.

Staff