1995 TVR Griffith 500

Records show that our car was first registered in June 1995. It was supplied new by H R Owen of London with 34 miles on the clock. The Griffith continued to be serviced by H R Owen until around 12,000 miles in 1997. Mechanical stewardship of the car moved out of the capital, at around that time, with the next services moving to specialists and dealers on the South Coast and in the West Country. This possibly delineates the car’s progression from its first to its second lucky owner.

At around this time, possibly in 1999, the speedometer head appears to have been changed at 18,817 miles. A sticker has been helpfully applied to the speedo face to make a note of this. Any discrepancies in the car’s mileage record, and there are a couple, relate to MoT testers either adding the two mileages together or, more often, just taking the reading from the odometer.

The third owner acquired the car April 2012 at around 31,400 miles. It was used very lightly in the hands of its third owner with the current, and fourth, owner acquiring the car in January 2022, a mere 3,500 miles later at around 34,900 miles.

Our owner has just enjoyed summer use of the car with its winters spent covered and garaged. As a result, the car has only gained around another 400 miles since his acquisition to bring it to around 35,300 miles. It is partly this lack of use that brings it to market and ready to cherish by its next lucky owner.

Lots of unbelievable, and hence probably true, anecdotes surround TVR and their cottage-industry methods. One of the more charming is that part of the Griffith’s design should be credited to German Pointer, Ned. Ned was Peter Wheeler’s dog who was alleged to have taken a bite out of some styling foam with the result being incorporated into the car’s final concept. True or not, the Griffith is a fine-looking sports car with swoops and curves that seem to please most eyes. With recessed door handles, lack of external bumpers and faired in headlights it somehow evokes early wind tunnel development cars. Ironically the car never graced a wind tunnel with the 1999 Tuscan Speed Six becoming the first wind tunnel tested TVR model.

This example presents very well indeed in its bright Cosmos Blue livery. A deep and lustrous shine is certainly in evidence and the owner reports that stage 2 machine polish and wax has recently been undertaken. The paintwork isn’t faultless, as it rarely is on 27-year-old cars, but any imperfections are mostly minor or hidden in door shuts and along wing mirror edges. The fibre-glass body work looks pristine, and the panel gaps look very symmetrical for a car of this nature.

Our car sits on a sublime set of 17-inch, 12-spoke Team Dynamics light alloy wheels. These present in an immaculate condition and wear a metallic silver finish. The Team Dynamics name is embossed into the rims, and they are shod in a new set of Toyo Proxes T1R tyres.

The easy to deploy Targa top and fabric “landau hood” arrangement looks in good order. The hard Targa panel is in great condition on both sides. The rear fabric hood appears nicely presented with only a “welded” repair noted to the Plexiglass rear screen.

The Griffith’s interior is one of the less outlandish TVR designs with everything, mostly, making sense to a first-time driver. Only the centre tunnel mounted door releases are likely to initially confound and confuse. The condition and colourway of the car’s interior are most unlikely to confound, however.

The deeply bolstered seats are finished in a soft-looking black leather. The seats are double stitched into three vertical box pleats. These extend into the supportive headrests. The condition is great with just the right level of creasing to the driver’s side seat. No rips, tears or de-coloured areas were noted.

Behind the seats is a useful, additional luggage area finished with light blue, Berber style carpet. The same substrate finishes the centre of the door cards and is encapsulated by leather trimmed panels. The cabin is carpeted in grey, and the carpets appear to be in great shape and have been protected by light blue TVR monogrammed carpet mats.

Our car rolled out of Blackpool with a dark, walnut veneer dashboard. In its current ownership, however, this has been replaced with a stainless-steel item to better match the knurled control knobs and gauge bezels. Those gauges are white on black TVR emblazoned items. These sit behind a leather rimmed, three spoke Momo steering wheel with a TVR centre and Griffith 500 badging. A modern Sony DAB and Bluetooth head unit is fitted.

The surprisingly useful boot is finished in hard wearing grey carpet. It is also home to the Pioneer CD changer, tools and spare wheel.

The headline act of the Griffith 500 is surely the muscular 5.0L V8 engine. This 4,988cc alloy V8 is as powerful as it is torquey. Original specifications revealed a 340 bhp power output together with 350 lb-ft of torque. With a dry weight of around 1060 kgs this endows the Griffith with some deeply impressive performance statistics. The 0-60mph sprint was dispatched in around 4.3 seconds and the Griffith powered on to a 167mph top speed.

The car is fitted with power steering, Racing Red adjustable shock absorbers and spring set and a new battery has been recently fitted. A Cobra alarm and immobiliser is fitted with an associated cost of around £500. The under-bonnet presentation is very good for the age of car, helping to underscore the car’s low mileage and well-maintained history. All the requisite data plates appear to be present, including the charmingly hand-engraved VIN plate. The underside of the car also looks in good order with plenty of protective underseal still in evidence.

Our owner attests to the car’s mechanical integrity with no known faults reported. The owner does make special mention of the driving experience, however, which is what the Griffith 500 is surely all about. He says “the car pulls like new and sounds epic. It delivers a very tight and together ride. The gearbox is smooth and precise.”

The car comes with a number of accessories and spares which are pictured. These include the original dashboard fascia, spare headlight units and a fitted, indoor cover.

This example comes with a good deal of informative paperwork. The original TVR book folder is on hand, and this includes the all-important service record. This contains a total of 13 (lucky for the next owner) stamps covering mileages from 34 to 30,830. These are from a mix of dealers and independent specialists.

Virtually every MoT in hard copy is present, providing solid mileage provenance including the odd blip where the more diligent testers added the two mileages together. There is also a veritable stack of invoices included covering periods from the 1990’s right up to 2022. The current V5 in the name of the owner is, of course, also present.

The Griffith really helped TVR up their sports car game from very niche somewhat old-fashioned conveyances to modern and quite hard-core offerings. Suddenly these were TVRs that could genuinely be considered as alternatives to the usual suspects from Porsche and Lotus. By any comparison these were sparingly produced cars too. A mere 284 examples were built in 1995, for example, the year of this fine example.

And what a lovely car this is. It boasts a modest original mileage (or two, to be pedantic) and is in a lovely overall condition. It looks suitably purposeful in its bright blue livery and its Team Dynamics alloy wheels are pristine and sublime in equal measure. Clearly this has been a well loved and cherished car with loads of reassuring paperwork and provenance. So, a rare and pristine example of what many consider as the “sweet spot” model from this renowned, artisanal maker. What’s more a dog (allegedly) help design it! What more could you possibly want or need? Bid today to avoid missing out on a compelling ownership opportunity.

We estimate this to fetch between £15,000 - £25,000 in auction.

Viewing is always encouraged, and this particular car is located with us at The Market HQ near Abingdon; we are open weekdays 9am-5pm, to arrange an appointment please use the Contact Seller button at the top of the listing. Feel free to ask any questions or make observations in the comments section below, or try our ‘Frequently Asked Questions’.