Craigslist Find: TVR 280i

"wbizarre - OEM fetishist" (wbizarre)
09/02/2013 at 11:08 • Filed to: Used cars, craigslist

So I was spinning the Craigslist Roulette, as many of us do, with no search terms and no price limit. In the usual soup of Corollas and F150's, I almost scrolled past this black beast, at first glance mistaking it for an old 300ZX. Surprisingly, this turned out to be something I've never seen on the street or on the internet before: a !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . Apparently the 280i was the last TVR imported into the US. The seller claims only around 100 of them were sold here, and that seems like a believable figure. The engine that originally came with the car was a 2.8L Ford V6 that also lived in the contemporary Ranger and Aerostar. If you think that its pedestrian provenance and 150 horsepower are not enough for such a sporting body, there are two pieces of good news: One is that the car weighed under 2400 lbs, which gave the V6 the chance to send the car from 0 to 60 in an 80's-fast 8.0 seconds(all wikipedia stats here, so you 280i experts chime in, please.) Two is that the engine is not included with this car. Seeing that empty engine bay should fill your mind with endless possibilities! The seller also included some cool pictures of the body off the tube frame, which ... tube frame! Look at it! It's awesome!

This thing is being sold for an oddly specific price of $2079, and I figure it has the right Jalopnik mix of obscurity, ugliness/beauty, and basketcase-ness for y'all to find it interesting. Maybe a little Labor-day edition NPOCP?

P.S. I have no affiliation with the seller.

P.S.S. Why no big pics, Kinja!?

DISCUSSION (5)

190e30-Now with COSWORTH > wbizarre - OEM fetishist
09/02/2013 at 11:14

This headed the top of my list a few days ago. You gotta love them, because there's nothing you could possibly hate about them

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Goshen, formerly Darkcode > wbizarre - OEM fetishist
09/02/2013 at 11:14

I still cannot fathom why weren't the V8 Tasmins sold in the US. It just makes zero sense in my mind.

Your boy, BJR > wbizarre - OEM fetishist
09/02/2013 at 12:24

There's been a red one floating around my area for a few years now. I'll probably buy it eventually. My dad's girlfriend's father has a couple of '60s Griffith 400s THOSE are cool.

SPNKiX > wbizarre - OEM fetishist
09/02/2013 at 13:03

Want. so glad I am on the West coast so I don't ruin my life.

samssun > wbizarre - OEM fetishist
07/19/2014 at 21:49

More recent TVR I6s & V8s are 350-450 hp, in cars that are also <2400 lbs. So yes, it's very pedestrian for a TVR. Dropping in a 4.0 should fix that.