...but let's get straight to the point. If you want to buy a new one, you'd better have the thick end of £100,000 to set aside.
That's how much TVR Motors, a company that's recently risen like a phoenix from the ashes, would like to charge you for their reincarnation of Blackpool's most famous automotive export. One of the few cars that - like an E-Type, an F40 or an XJ220 - I would do just anything to get behind the wheel of.
The new logo used by TVR Motors on its cars
The Griffith, I honestly thought, had gone for good in 2001, when TVR replaced it with the equally loud but arguably uglier Tamora, but now both are back thanks to TVR Motors' plans, as are the Tuscan, T350, Sagaris and - for those of who like TVRs a tad older - the Cerbera and Chimaera. But rather than being built by Blackpool by a team of plucky craftsmen in a collection of pre-fabs, they're now made to order in Austria, which is why they now cost Aston Vantage money.
A statement on the company's website - which also gives enthusiasts the chance to rebuild their existing TVRs with 6.2 litre V8 engines - says:
"TVR now offers customers to build the models Sagaris, Tuscan convertible, Tuscan MK II, Cerbera, Chimaera and Griffith to individual specifications.
"All cars feature a new 6.2 litre, 426 bhp, 420 lb/ft V8 engine, and a reinforced 5 gear gearbox at a fixed price."
I can see the logic; if you're a) as passionately in love with TVR's classics as I am and b) rich then you'll happily pay £100,000 for what will be the world's best Griffith, because it'll be faster, newer and better-built than any Griffith that's ever gone before. People will happily pay upwards of £100,000 for a reconditioned Jensen Interceptor, and even though it's barely 20 years old the Griffith arguably has a dedicated enough following to justify a costly reinvention.
It's just a shame the pricetage ruins a bit of the old TVR magic. When it was launched in the early Nineties a Griffith - and it didn't matter whether it was the 4.3 or the later 500 - could embarrass a Ferrari 348 for less than half the price. Price was a big part of the TVR's appeal, because a brand new Cerbera was "the fastest, noisiest thing this side of a Lamborghini Diablo" - as Clarkson put it - despite costing less than £50,000.
Jeremy Clarkson's test of the TVR Cerbera for BBC Top Gear in 1995
Being asked to stump up £100,000 for a car that cost a third of that in its heyday might make sense but it still doesn't seem very 'TVR' in its philosophy.
Would you?
