By 1960, 43 people worked at TVR, 100 Grantura Mk1s had been produced, and the bodywork for the Mk2 was almost ready. It had countless dealers all over Great Britain. In January ’61, two of us wanted to buy into the company. In order to cement Keith Aitchison and Bryan Hopton’s investment intention, the Company offered them a Mk2 Grantura to travel to the Monza race track. The Grantura’s exhaust broke off twice during the journey, but this did not deter the two men, who were amazed by the car’s driving characteristics. After this, the Aitchison-Hopton duo acquired a majority share in the company. Hopton took over as CEO and renamed the company TVR Cars Limited. Between September 1961 and February 1962, the company doubled its orders and sold almost all of the cars in stock that had already been produced.

In 1962, Ken Richardson was asked to be the head of the brand’s racing team, hoping that Ken would introduce TVR to the international motor racing scene. In March, they entered three Grantura Mk2As in the Serbring 12-hour race. Only one of their cars finished the race, the other two retired due to mechanical problems. After that the company’s board began to question Hopton‘s leadership. They believed that Hopton was overspending himself (and the company) on his motorsport ambitions, not to mention spending nights in luxury hotels. The Serbring defeats were the final nail in the coffin that led to the founders’ departure, as Trevor Wilkinson‘s resignation was accepted by the board on 5 April 1962. Despite the lack of success, TVR continued to race. In 1962 they entered the German Tulip Rally, where they came 3rd in their class, and the 24 Hours of Le Mans, which was a complete disaster for TVR. In the run-up to the race, two of the cars intended for the race were wrecked in separate accidents. The third car suffered from overheating problems and retired on the third lap of the race. David Hives, the team’s racing engineer, described the incident as a fiasco, adding that it had cost TVR a small fortune. Miraculously, this did not deter TVR from racing. Tommy Entwistle was the one who eventually achieved success with TVR. He won the Freddie Dixon Challenge Trophy in 1963, 1965 and 1966.

By the end of 1963, the carmaker was once again in financial trouble. The third generation Grantura was released later than planned and two British dealers closed their doors. TVR ended its relationship with American importer Dick Monnich because he was unable to pay for the cars he had ordered. In October 1962, all the workers were laid off. In December, the directors sat down to negotiate with TVR’s creditors, which resulted in TVR Cars Limited being placed into liquidation. In short, TVR was not doing well at all..

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