The 1960s were a wild time where anything was possible and unlimited speed potential was at the tip of your fingers. In 1964 Jack Griffith was determined to out-Shelby Shelby by shoehorning a smallblock Ford V8 into the engine compartment of the delightfully cute fiberglass-bodied TVR Grantura.
The road racing chops of the Grantura had already been well proven, and Griffith convinced TVR to sell him chassis without engines or transmissions. Then he literally hammered at the chassis until there was enough clearance to cram 289 cubic inches of monster into a pint-sized twee Brit car.
When fitted with the 271 horsepower HiPo engine, the Griffith 200 could shoot from 0-60 in 3.9 seconds! Buying directly from Griffith, you got wider wheels and tires to handle the power, but no modifications were made to the car’s braking system, which made it a bit sketchy. As a result, only 192 examples were made.
All of that is to explain why this ultra-rare Griffith hillclimb car is so freakin’ awesome. The first few clips from the video below depict the car sitting stationary. It’s quiet and reserved, keeping its raucous power close to its chest. You don’t really understand the full fury of this racer until it shouts its departure from the start line of the Vernasca Hillclimb.
I guess TVR stands for Totally Voracious Racecar now.
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