We thought you were dead - Autocar drives the last TVR Tuscan

Now, a few days before it goes to its new owner, it gleams. The engine bay is pristine. The LS unit – shorter than TVR’s Speed Six and a bit wider but about the same weight – sits a long way back in the chassis. It’s mated to a five-speed manual gearbox, whose large bellhousing prevents it from sitting further back still. The motor has been converted from a by-wire to cable-operated throttle and
tuned – with a bespoke exhaust – to make what Str8six is claiming to be 485bhp. That should be conservative; earlier dyno tests put it at 505bhp.

The impeccable appearance continues inside, too, because the good guys – the really good ones – always stick around in the business. Str8six’s gaffer is Jason Clegg, a former factory employee, and he chose another former colleague, who now runs a small shop called Trim Unique, to do the interior. It retains the swoopiness that was such a huge part of the appeal of late TVRs. The dash panel looks a touch incongruous, but the fit and finish is better than in any TVR I remember. They’ve called it the Tuscan Vulcan.

By gum, it sounds pretty decent when they fire it up, too. In a standard production car, an LS3 unit is a pretty muted thing, but evidently it’s all in the exhausts. This is a monster – the sort of sound that TVRs used to have, in what I suppose you’d call the good old days. So it isn’t out of character. Take it for a drive, they say. So I do.

And you know what? It’s good. Really good. This is such a tractable engine, and it’s still a relatively light car – no more than the 1100kg it was new. So it trickles along on a light throttle opening with no worries, no complaints. There are three-stage adjustable Ohlins dampers, set up, Clegg explains, not unlike production Tuscans, so it’s respectably damped even with larger wheels than on original cars, and maintains precise body control. The leggy, lazy power delivery would make this a fine long- distance cruiser, in fact. And yes, the steering is still fast, but it’s not nervy.

There is a lot to like: incisive turn-in, lots of grip and mechanical feedback by the bucketload. Speed by the bucketload, too, when you forget about cruising and give it the beans. Blimey. It pulls. It goes. And it sounds mega. It’s fairly devastating, all told, and it remains in the top performance division, no question.

There’s so much to like, in fact, that this one found an owner without too many problems. Admittedly, he’s hooked – he’s had four TVRs before this one – but I could see the appeal. If you could, too, and if you turn up in Lewknor with a cheque big enough, this one might not be quite the last TVR after all.

First published in Autocar, 24 April 2013

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