2005 TVR T350T

We are pleased to offer you this incredible Tahiti Blue Pearlescent TVR T350T. Fitted with the targa top and a cream and navy leather interior, it’s still showing just 23,500 miles on the clock and three previous owners on the V5.

One of the last built and said to be one of fewer than 43 left on the road, it’s been recently rebuilt from the ground up by a professional engineer following a minor collision, starting with a new factory chassis.

Annoyingly, despite this, it’s still left with an Cat D marker, hence the extraordinarily low estimate. Still, his loss could be your gain – and we are pretty sure you won’t care about the admin once you’ve read the history and seen the car…

“I purchased my TVR in 2008 with damage on the offside front wing following an impact with a bollard (see photo #170 for details). The damage was where the back of the front wing arch joins the driver’s sill and to allow complete access to the repair area I decided to remove the body from the chassis as it is only 16 bolts or so to do so.”

“You’ll see from the pictures that the damage was contained to the driver's footwell, inner and outer wing. Worth mentioning is the body shell of the T350 provides no structural integrity to the car as a whole: It’s the chassis alone that is the main structural element.”

“The original chassis had been distorted slightly inwards into the driver’s footwell and could have been easily repaired. However, I was building a relationship with a main TVR parts supplier, and they offered to supply a brand-new factory chassis (see #168 for the invoice) if they could have my old one as they had two structurally damaged T350s with front and rear chassis damage that could be repaired by grafting my chassis on to them. And yet, despite this, it is annoying that I’m the one left with a Cat D marker!”

And, his qualifications for doing the work? “As to who repaired the car, fortunately I was able to retire from designing ocean-going supertankers fairly early and so had time on my hands to restore the car completely myself. As a professional engineer, fibreglass repair work is something I’ve been involved with for many years and is why I bought this car to repair.”

As you can see, he did a cracking job of it. Tahiti Blue Pearlescent is a great colour anyway but when it’s been applied to a car that has been as meticulously assembled as this it looks even better.

The light lens, window glazing, and badges are all equally good.

The body-coloured carbon-fibre roof panels are also in great shape and still have their protective covers. Lifting them off gives almost convertible-levels of fresh air and sunshine, while the presence of that central bar helps retain the stiffness a full-on open-top car would have lost.

The alloy wheels are 18-inch Spiders. Freshly restored and so free of any no blemishes or chips, they’re also fitted with four Goodyear Eagle F1 tyres in the correct sizes of 225/35R18 on the front and 235/40R18 on the rear.

We will never get tired of telling you that experience shows that matching high-quality tyres are an infallible sign of a caring and mechanically sympathetic owner who is prepared to spend the appropriate amount in maintaining their car properly. Their presence does not, of course, preclude the need for a thorough inspection - something the vendor would welcome, by the way – but it does perhaps give you a shortcut into their attitude towards maintenance.

Work to do? Well, we haven’t seen it in person but the photos don’t seem to show anything worrying – and having spoken to the owner we can’t imagine he’d leave anything half-done; this was a car bought with long-term ownership in mind (“this is the first car I’ve sold since I was 21!”) and he expected to own it forever. Repeated long-term overseas assignments are the only reason he has not used it a great deal in the last 10 years.

The cream and navy hide interior is every bit as impressive as the coachwork. It’s a lovely design anyway but we see far too many that haven’t lasted as well as that of their competitors.

This one, on the other hand, still looks great with a good colour to the leather - even on the seat facings and dashboard - and a still-impressive level of fit and finish.

The low seating position allied to the high centre console give the cockpit an intimate feel; pop on the roof panels and we can see it would be a cosy place to be, even in the depths of winter.

It’s full of gorgeous details too, like the drilled alloy hinges for the tailgate, the alloy floor-mounted pedals, the chunky Personal steering wheel, and the diminutive gearlever and fat alloy gear knob.

A Thatcham car alarm and immobiliser was fitted by Carl Baker, a TVR independent specialist, and entertainment is taken care of via a Pioneer AVH-X780BT with integrated sat-nav and a flip-up screen.

Oh, and it even has air-conditioning fitted, which we are told is a very rare option on this model.

Work to do is minimal. The outer edge of the driver’s seat is a little discoloured and soft (e.g. #161 and #162) and the headlining is a bit scruffy in places (#164).

The brand-new chassis has been Waxoyledd from new and the TVR was built from the ground up with an impressive specification that includes:

• New brake discs and pads all round
• An upgraded steering rack
• Upgraded poly suspension bushes all around
• Nitron fully-adjustable dampers were fitted and the car was then corner-weighted and aligned
• The throttle bodies have been modified to roller bearings with lip seals to prevent a well-known issue with them
• A new battery was fitted and the TVR is stored with a CTEK battery conditioner connected

As you’d expect, it is said to start promptly, drives very well and the dashboard is free of warning lights.

Sounds mighty too, doesn’t it?

The engine bay is very clean.

The service history is:

• 27/03/2007 and 12,100 miles – service by Drivestyle Horseless Carriages of Harrogate
• 24/04/2009 and 17,458 miles – 12,000-mile service by Racing Green including valve adjustment
• 21/06/2010 and 19,232 miles – service by Austec Racing
• 21/06/2012 and 21,002 miles – 12,000-mile service by Fernhurst TVR including valve adjustment

Fewer than 2,000 miles have been covered since this last service, although it is due one now on the grounds of time expired.

The car comes supplied with original service history booklet and owner’s handbook plus invoices for maintenance and the parts that have been fitted over the years. There are also photos of its restoration, which show just how meticulous it was.

It also has two keys plus the rarely-found alarm code so extra keys can be added if required.

The TVR’s MoT certificate is valid until May 2023 – and we surely don’t need to tell you that it passed with no advisories, do we?

Cat D insurance marker aside, the recent Vehicle History Check is clear.

No-one does brutish sportscars better than the Brits, and no-one does it better than TVR. Utterly gorgeous and very rare, the T350 also goes like a scalded rat and handles like a Scalextric car that’s been dipped in honey.

A beguiling blend of contemporary design and old school analogue engineering (the only driver aid is the power steering), the T350 draws a crowd wherever it goes – largely because, while everyone loves the look, no-one actually knows what it is…

The only problem with ‘em is if you buy the wrong one, there are few more beautiful ways to kill your bank balance – or you.

However, if you buy one like this, one that’s been rebuilt and loved by the right people, there is no better sight than one of these in your garage.

Only for sale because he’s just bought himself a race car and doesn’t have anywhere to keep this anymore, we estimate that its Cat D marker means it’ll only fetch somewhere between £27,000 and £32,000.

That’s remarkable value and while you might be able to find even cheaper ones (and an awful lot that are more expensive…) we are confident you won’t find better – and value is, after all, what you remember; ‘buy once, cry once’ has never been truer than here.

Viewing is always encouraged, and this particular car is located with the vendor in Haslemere. 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’.