3000S

After seeing pictures of a TVR Vixen S1 in a book when I was 14 my dream of actually owning one eventually came true in January 1992 when I purchased a 1970 Vixen S3. It was previously owned by Richard Hudson-Evans (writes the Auction Round Up in Classic & Sportscar at the moment). I use the TVR mostly at weekends and Holidays. I have also entered it in 3 Norwich Union Classic Car Runs which were very enjoyable.

In November 1997 I started restoration of the bodywork and the chassis as the body had some bad cracks appearing in it and the chassis was covered in surface rust. To get at the chassis I used an old garden swing and a hoist and lifted the body high enough off the chassis so that I could remove the surface rust and repaint it. I then lowered the body back on to the chassis ready to start on the body. The restoration of the bodywork was very time consuming as all of the gel cracks have to be ground out to the fibreglass layer. In September of 1998 I had managed to get the body ready for its respray and resprayed it during a few warm days in September. After the respray came the refitting all the shiny bits and the interior which is the best part of any restoration. I made a new padded dash as the old one was not in very good condition and replaced some sections of the carpets that were worn. It was then MOT'd and since then I've put in a spare engine & gearbox due to a lot of oil leaks in the engine and the gearbox not wanting to go into reverse. Apart from that I've just been enjoying driving it.

After finishing the restoration of my Vixen S3 I fancied doing another TVR restoration so I went on the lookout for another Vixen, Tuscan V6, 3000M, Taimar or a 3000S (which is what I really wanted). After looking at a few different candidates I finally found a 3000S in July 2001 which looked very presentable but could do with some tidying up. I decided to bite the bullet and do a full body off rebuild which I finished in May 2003. I have been driving it during the summer months and enjoying a bit of open top motoring. It does however get layed up for the winter as it's not what you would call particularly waterproof.