Description
When Carroll Shelby launched the Cobra in 1962, Jack Griffith’s dealership was one of the sales platforms for the new sports car. The Long Island dealer was deeply impressed by Shelby’s work. During a short racing career behind the wheel of a works Competition Cobra, Griffith met the representative Dick Monnich. He sold cars for a small sports car manufacturer from Blackpool, England named TVR. Inspired by the Anglo-American concept of Shelby American Inc., it was decided to build on that success. With the help of a Griffith customer, a certain Mark Donohue from New Jersey, the prototype of the “Griffith 200” was created. For this, the 289 V8 from Donohue’s Cobra race car was fitted under the hood of a TVR Grantura. After further developments and numerous bold test drives of Donohue’s, the project went into serial production. TVR supplied Granturas without engine and transmission to New York, where at Griffith Motors the K-Code 289 HiPo Ford V8 with the T-10 4-speed gearbox was installed. It was the same engine and gearbox setup as in the AC Cobra. From 1963–64 around 190 vehicles were produced at Griffith Motors, while in parallel TVR produced a few practically identical vehicles for the British market under the TVR name.
This Griffith 200 was sold from the USA to Germany in 2009. There, the car underwent a restoration between 2009 and 2012. Until 2024 the car was housed in a Swiss collection. Recently we carried out a major service. In addition, new Avon tyres have been mounted. The car is in a very beautiful and mechanically exceptionally good condition. The V8 now runs perfectly and delivers almost more power than one would care for. Driving pleasure guaranteed with the Cobra 289 V8 in an 850 kg car with a glass-fibre composite body. A vehicle that could not be more exclusive and rarer in this price range.
