1985 | TVR 350i

You'd struggle to find more four wheel fun than with this fantastic TVR 350i with her 3.5litre Rover V8, extremely lightweight fibreglass body & 5 speed manual gearbox coming together in a perfect concoction of Blackpool's finest

We bought this car just before the first COVID lockdown with the immediate intention of taking her for a European road trip crossing great mountain passes with the top down and sun beaming, even the best laid plans of mice & men and all that...

Never the less we stuck with her because we had deliberately bought her on her outstanding merits and provenance

Barely a year has passed since her production that a record of mileage has not been taken, either in her original service book or on MoT certificates & services invoices which validated completely the 59,000 miles she had at the time was correct

Moreover the previous owner had rather spoilt her fitting a joyous stainless steel exhaust, all new suspension with Gaz shocks & springs, power assisted steering, new fuel lines all over & fuel filter. Of course he serviced her more than regularly and fitted a new sound system with a Kenwood amplifier and speakers in the foot wells & rear parcel shelf to give a full surround sound effect as well as fabricating a secure stay for the targa top top live in the boot retaining all the boot space in the process!

Her underpinnings completely solid with no signs of rust of corrosion and the engine, gearbox & diff strong as Ox's

We also couldn't help but love the Miami Vice esque colours of white on white with orange wheels. How much more '80s does it get!

Once she was in our care new exhaust manifold gaskets were installed immediately to address a slight blow and a bee sting aerial to replace the original that wasn't receiving the relaxing tones of Smooth radio quite well enough for our liking

Having not been able to take her on the intended road trip because of the pandemic she fell into use as a much loved weekend car for when the weather was asking for it and the mood took

Gradually over the proceeding 18 months or so the mileage crept up steadily with a few UK road trips and regular servicing changing plugs, oils & filters routinely carried out by our team

Finally there was a window of opportunity approaching for the intended road trip to be had but not before we prepped her for the journey ahead

Although not strictly necessary for continent crossing we chose to re-veneer & polish all the burr walnut as well as servicing the engine, gearbox & diff. And to help with handling the way down the mountain passes we installed all new brake pads, discs & callipers all round

Finally we put in a new head unit for the stereo with BT, AUX & USB (even the Bee sting aerial wouldn't get Smooth radio in the Alps) so the iPod took over

She ate up the journey with serious ease and was a joy on the twisty stuff whilst cruising very comfortably on the long stretches, can see in the pictures some great shots of her on Lake Geneva and refuelling in the Valle D'Aosta too

Everywhere she went she was greeted with smiles as the public lapped her up and bought into her immediately in the same way we had when we found her

Once home we completed another service and have listed her for sale, a lovely car with a great future