TVR, an English artisanal company founded in 1947 in Blackpool and specialised in sports car building, achieved a decent reputation outside of Great Britain thanks to some British TV shows from the early 2000s.
After years of competitive activity under its founder Trevor Wilkinson (hence the name TVR) and his successor Martin Lilley, the story of this car manufacturer continued in 1981 with Peter Wheeler, owner until 2004. Wheeler brought great prestige to the marque, bringing it to compete with higher-end brands thanks to its iconic cars that represented an unorthodox alternative to other manufacturers’ trends. Chimaera, Cerbera, Tamora, T350—to mention a few—remained anchored to a concept of sports car devoid of all those electronic aids that, according to the more extreme conservatives, took away driving pleasure and manageability and only added weight.
Following this production strategy—or, if you prefer, this philosophy—TVR brought a car to the 1998 Birmingham Motor Show that was immediately described by some as “absolutely over-the-top, excessive, extravagant, even for the standards of the marque”. The Tuscan, as Damian McTaggart’s work was christened to pay homage to its homonym from the 60s, was a 2-seat car with a removable targa style roof and an unusually curvilinear style that left many fans breathless, and others doubtful about a design initially difficult to interpret that did not look like any other vehicle seen before.

Over twenty years from its launch it is still clear how everything in the Tuscan was meant to astonish: from the front grille, nicknamed “cheese grille”, to the obsession with an utterly clean design—see the absence of door handles, the tail lights positioned near the exhausts and the rear indicators placed in the top corners of the rear window. There were two main models: the 1999 Mk1 and the restyled Mk2. The engine was the made-in-TVR Speed Six: a 3.6 L or 4.0 L I6, with different power options offered during the production. A lot was said about this engine, especially about its fragility, possibly due to poor engineering, but also to careless owners who did not respect the peculiarities of what is, after all, a race engine. It is not uncommon to see a TVR with modified or replaced mechanical components, often with the help of specialised workshops—in a way, it is all part of the game because the product is still artisanal, and the type of care needed is unchanged: a precise and punctual upkeep.
The Tuscan’s career ended in 2004 with good sales results; a few of them arrived in Italy as well.

This model sparked curiosity in many countries, especially thanks to the famous British TV show “Top Gear”—which often reviewed TVR vehicles—and the successive product placements in some films and video games such as Gran Turismo and Forza Motorsport that kept the Tuscan relevant to this day.