TVR grew out of Trevcar Motors, run by young engineer Trevor Wilkinson, who was thankfully persuaded to truncate his idea to badge the cars ‘Trevors.’ The first was sold in 1949, and the firm soon settled on the glassfibre body over steel frame that would form the structure of all TVRs. After several changes of management Wilkinson left in 1962.

Martin Lilley bought the company in 1965 and revitalised it. However, its 1980 Tasmin ‘wedge’ range strained finances and the company was sold to chemical engineer Peter Wheeler at the end of 1981, who turned TVR into a serious car maker, even producing its own engines. He sold out to Nikolay Smolensky in 2004, who struggled and stopped production two years later. But the TVR story may not be over yet...