Heroshot

1965 Griffith TVR 200

RM Online Only - Open Roads, March
Wednesday, 17 March - Thursday, 25 March 2021
$20,900
Sale Price
$35,000 - $50,000
Est. Range
Yes
Reserve
25 March 2021
Sold Date
269
Lot Number
#5
Unrestored original
RM Sotheby's
Auction House
Chassis no. 2005013. Yellow over black. 289, 4-speed, wire wheels.

Evaluation: Located in Indiana. The TVR body is fiberglass and relatively solid, but every visible piece of metal on this car is rusty. No body trim or lights are fitted and the rear glass is out, but some spares are included. There is also heavy overspray on the windshield and wheels/tires, perhaps from a late night with the paint gun. A very rare and cool car, but it’s a total mess wearing 30 years of deterioration and it’s unclear how much of it can actually be saved.

Bottom Line: While Jack Griffith may not be a household name like Carroll Shelby, the Long Island Ford dealer nevertheless followed the same formula of lightweight British sports car (in this case a TVR Grantura) plus 289 Ford V-8. The result was one of the quickest sports cars of the mid-1960s, but also one of the most squirrelly on account of its short wheelbase.

With just 192 Griffith 200s before it was replaced by the improved and even rarer Griffith 400, these cars hardly ever come up for sale. The bidders didn’t think much of this one, as it sold more as a sum of its parts than as a piece of buried barn find treasure.

by Andrew Newton
31 March 2021

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