TVR on the TV

Let's set the scene, it’s 2005 and you’re wandering through the rain soaked, dimly lit streets of Blackpool. There is a sea of monochrome Astras, Fiestas and Mondeos, each one slightly more dull than the last, barely distinguishable from each other save for vague trim level badges adorned above orange side repeaters offering some kind of plastic-chrome aspiration.

The scenery, except for the Blackpool Illuminations isn’t setting your world alight, you’re beginning to wonder why you got off the train here. Yet, amidst the grey-ness, from deep within the shadow of the Pleasure Pier you see something abnormal. It’s low-slung, aggressive, loud and lairy. It’s also bright orange, a stark contrast to the surrounding concoction of grey plastic bumpers.

As it burbles towards you, the cutaway slats sit proudly atop its wide front wheel arches, it's typically TVR paintwork, catching a glimpse of sun that has begun to poke wearily through the clouds. The perspex rear wing remains peppered with glistening water droplets that attempt to cling on as the raw, unfiltered power drags them away towards the ground.

It’s at that moment, that a fire is lit inside you, this little TVR has gotten to you. This icon of British (kind of, it was owned by the Russians by that point) ingenuity has caught your heart and lit a fire within you.

The Sagaris certainly had that fire-starting effect when it appeared on BBC Top Gear, with one Jeremy Clarkson behind the wheel. It’s hard now looking back to explain the cultural phenomenon that was peak Top Gear. Waiting all year for new episodes to appear in the TV guide, then having to wait a week in between each episode, compared to today's instant gratification of YouTube and Netflix, we must’ve had the patience of saints.

 
The Sagaris represents a period of change in the automotive landscape, with TVR choosing to firmly ignore the notion of fitting any nannying safety items, like an airbag, or traction control. The Sagaris then, like a handful of other cars, will be something we look back on in the future and ask ourselves, how did that possibly go on-sale?! 

You could be forgiven for wondering, what ever happened to the press car that adorned so many magazine covers, and TV shows. Did it scurry off into a shed somewhere? Was it parked up outside a workshop and left to rot, like the recently re-discovered Blink-182 van? 

Well, no. It was loved and cherished after its life as a press vehicle in TVRs ownership, it was sold with around 17,000 miles on the clock, and subsequently lived a life of luxury, being serviced and maintained correctly, when in 2015 an avid Sagaris fan, sought it out specifically. 

Now, it's looking for a new home, available for sale via Hilton & Moss. It’s listed for sale at a hair under £70,000, which means that it's put squarely in a pretty diverse marketplace. There are a lot of cars you could buy for that kind of money. But none, we imagine, would be quite as out there, and wild as a TVR Sagaris.

After all, the Sagaris is a rare beast, it’s believed only around 200 were produced, with production cut short due to TVRs ownership struggles, despite an attempt to reboot the TVR brand and the Sagaris with a facelifted and mildly upgraded Series 2 model, the Sagaris project remained dormant and now with less than 150 listed as on the road according to DVLA data, you’re more likely than ever to be the only Sagaris arriving at your local coffee run!

You’ll also be the talk of the town thanks to this car's prestigious back catalogue of drivers, including BTCC-legend Jason Plato where he drove it alongside Vicki Butler-Henderson on Fifth Gear.

PN05 OUL then is a great opportunity to own not only a brilliant car, but a truly special piece of TVR and Television history. Sagaris values will surely increase as time goes on, and whilst TVR often make rumblings about returning, deliveries of their newest Griffith model have yet to begin. We, like the rest of the car world, wait with baited breath to see what Blackpool has to offer next. 

Fancy your own TVR, but a Sagaris is a bit too mad? Thankfully, there are a wide range of models available, browse all the TVRs available on Carhuna here!