Honest John - top 10 Classic Cars

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Can't argue with any of the Mercs or the RR Classic on that list, don't like old Jags or that Cortina though.
 
What a poor piece of journalism.

Aside from the spelling mistakes and grammatical errors it's factually inaccurate on several occasions.

The Mercedes 190 went on sale in 1982 and the Jaguar (such as the Sovereign shown) carried on into the 80's (early 90's in V12 form).

And the MG RV8 was a rubbish white elephant when new and hasn't got better with age !
 
What a poor piece of journalism.

Aside from the spelling mistakes and grammatical errors it's factually inaccurate on several occasions.

The Mercedes 190 went on sale in 1982 and the Jaguar (such as the Sovereign shown) carried on into the 80's (early 90's in V12 form).

And the MG RV8 was a rubbish white elephant when new and hasn't got better with age !

It's the top 10 searched for. So.... A bit of a pointless piece all round. Must have been a lot of middle aged men searching for Cortinas.
 
What a poor piece of journalism.

And the MG RV8 was a rubbish white elephant when new and hasn't got better with age !

Very true, anyone who would pick an MG RV8 over a TVR Griffith has something seriously wrong with them, now there's a proper 90s classic!!.
 
There are hardly any old TVRs that haven't either been thrashed to death, had terminal electical problems, leak like a pair of sandals in a monsoon or have GF problems. Definately a car for people who wanted to be a 70s porn star.

RV8 was bought by old blokes and people witha burning desire to be old blokes. Cars were carefully cossetted, polished twice a week and never went out in rain. With an increasing population of old blokes, I'm not surprised that the number of searches for test reviews is high. Quite a few excellent examples will be for sale now that the original buyers are pushing up daisies.


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There are hardly any old TVRs that haven't either been thrashed to death, had terminal electical problems, leak like a pair of sandals in a monsoon or have GF problems. Definately a car for people who wanted to be a 70s porn star.

RV8 was bought by old blokes and people witha burning desire to be old blokes. Cars were carefully cossetted, polished twice a week and never went out in rain. With an increasing population of old blokes, I'm not surprised that the number of searches for test reviews is high. Quite a few excellent examples will be for sale now that the original buyers are pushing up daisies.


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You will find most TVRs are meticulously maintained by enthusiasts who care for their cars, yes some of them had questionable build quality, some didn't but should be well sorted by now , the Griffith is already becoming a classic, as are most of the others due to their very limited production,great performance and looks.
Your comments strike me as being someone whos closest contact with one has been listening to comments made on Top Gear or down the local pub, go and have a drive in anything Griffith or later, I think you might be pleasantly surprised.
 
There are hardly any old TVRs that haven't either been thrashed to death, had terminal electical problems, leak like a pair of sandals in a monsoon or have GF problems. Definately a car for people who wanted to be a 70s porn star.

After they'd finished rectifying that list of problems I doubt they would have the energy for any other activities !
 
I think that's an excellent article, but then I would, I own 3 out of the top ten!
 
Always fancied the Alpha, they look good in fully rally livery :)
 
What a poor piece of journalism.

Aside from the spelling mistakes and grammatical errors it's factually inaccurate on several occasions.

The Mercedes 190 went on sale in 1982 and the Jaguar (such as the Sovereign shown) carried on into the 80's (early 90's in V12 form).

And the MG RV8 was a rubbish white elephant when new and hasn't got better with age !

The 1983 date would refer to UK sales- although the article does not make this clear
The XJ "1960s-'70s " date i think is used generically for 1968.The link correctly gives dates though.
The Cortina 2.3-litre V6 is described as ....."super-smooth":D
 
You will find most TVRs are meticulously maintained by enthusiasts who care for their cars, yes some of them had questionable build quality, some didn't but should be well sorted by now , the Griffith is already becoming a classic, as are most of the others due to their very limited production,great performance and looks.
Your comments strike me as being someone whos closest contact with one has been listening to comments made on Top Gear or down the local pub, go and have a drive in anything Griffith or later, I think you might be pleasantly surprised.
No, my closest contact was with the one that was parked on my drive, with a dodgy handbrake. I can send you pictures of the dent in my garage door if you don't believe me.

The owner of the offending garage door bender is now on his second TVR ..... throwing money at it in the same way as the first, happy to jolly out for the odd day in the sunshine and dodging the threat of a cloud in the sky. Last time I saw it the car was stuck at the roadside, unwilling to start because of some intermittent problem with the alarm/imobiliser. He did plan to take it to Italy via Switzerland this year but it broke down a week beforehand so he took the Jag instead.

I'll recommend that he buys a Griffith next time. Clearly, it was a completely different kettle of fish. A bit like a mid-life crisis version of the RV8, maybe?


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I've had two, a Griffith and a Tuscan, the Griffith I didn't need to spend anything on but I didn't have it for long, the Tuscan had 1 fuse go and a loose connection on a wire to the fuel pump and apart from these two minor niggles the only thing I spent money on in the 10k miles I did in it, using it as an every day car was servicing and tyres, my SL has cost more to run.
Your mate sounds like he has been unlucky, there are plenty of very reliable ones about, all of the minor niggles should be well ironed out by now as the newest TVR is now 7/8 Years old, personally I'm looking forward to seeing them return in a couple of years time.
 
My Griff has been far more reliable than many of my supposedly better modern cars, Mercs included.
 
My Griff has been far more reliable than many of my supposedly better modern cars, Mercs included.

Their very simple, there isn't a lot to go wrong on them, even the Speed 6 engine once they've been rebuilt due to their original design flaws have seemed to be very reliable.
 
I think that's an excellent article, but then I would, I own 3 out of the top ten!

Me too in that I have owned five of those not including the Cortina.

Sometimes wish for the simplicity of those older cars;)
 

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