Owners of TVRs make noise for carmaker
More than 400 TVR owners paraded their steeds through London this past Sunday, in an attempt to kill two pheasants with one (very loud) stone. London Thunder was first an attempt to break the world record for the largest convoy of a single car make. And the second goal was to impress upon the British government the importance of TVR to the country. TVR's Russian billionaire owner plans to move production of the iconic British sports car off the island.
It remains to be seen if Tony Blair is motivated by the rally to help keep TVR British, but the Guinness record might have been beaten. While the count isn't official yet, those participating in the rally say they bested the 2005 Mazda-organized record-setting event that gathered 249 Miatas in New Zealand.
More photos of the event can be seen here and here.
A couple of London Thunder amateur videos are after the jump.
[Source: www.autoindustry.co.uk]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
James 9:58AM (11/28/2006)
I saw, heard and felt the beautiful sounds of quite a few of these cards on Whitehall... a brilliant turn out and a proud display of independently produced British sports cars... not one of the cars that I saw wasn't a stunner. They were even attracting the attention of quite a few tourists...
*j*
PS... I think the photographer is pulling your leg though, everyone knows VM was felled by a much less interested motor... :)
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Casey 1:29PM (11/28/2006)
This is the second rally of this type, the first everyone gathered outside the TVR factory. Both times i was disappointed that the guy who now owns the Cerbera Speed 12...as I understand it the only privately owned Cerbera Speed 12 in existence, didnt show up to show support. That car, IMO, just epitomizes TVR and how good of a manufacturer they are. Obviously people had a good time there and made their point, i just think people would have gone wild if that car showed up.
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Spectacular Bid 10:39AM (11/29/2006)
It is shame that with all the private equity money rolling around these days, this much loyalty by existing owners, Blackpool willing to help out as much as it can, and all the praise (albeit tainted at times) from the auto publications for the cars themselves, etc that some group doesn't materialize to buy 'the kid' out.
Talk abounds that Aston Martin [a much different animal, of course] could fetch perhaps upwards of 1 billion pounds - the Russian paid under $30 million US for TVR Cars. Hasn't made a dime I suspect and would be happy to sell out (and get away from the bad press) for a minor profit.
Maybe the Italian venture [with Bertone] will work out but I suspect not before sales plummet in the UK and the number of dealerships shrink.
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