To Be OFFERED AT AUCTION WITHOUT RESERVE at RM Sothebys' The Elkhart Collection event, 23 - 24 October 2020.

• The third Griffith factory development car
• Used as a factory test platform by TVR importer Dick Monnich
• The only Griffith delivered with a Ford 260 V-8
• Known history since new; kept by its second owner for 50 years
• Accompanied by a collection of spares
• A hairy beast by any measure!

The Ford-powered, TVR-bodied Griffith may be best described by the prior owner: “Take a Cobra, make the tires skinnier, keep the power, and put it in a fiberglass shell that’s very lightweight...around the 1,900 [pound] mark with the drivetrain in it.”

The Series 200 offered is chassis no. 200/5/002, the third “development car” built, used as a factory test platform by Dick Monnich, the importer of the TVR bodies upon which the car was based. The design of this car was used for the 261 production Griffiths that followed. Chassis no. 200/5/002 was the only Griffith delivered with a Ford 260 V-8, rather than the 289 used in later examples, backed up by a top-loader four-speed manual transmission.

In 1966 Monnich returned the car to Griffith Motors, which repowered it with another 260 V-8 removed from another prototype. With the new engine, the car was sold to a dealer in Virginia, who passed it to its first private owner. It was then acquired by its second owner in California in 1968 and remained in his ownership for a half century. During those 50 years it was largely garaged but always maintained in good running condition.

As with many Griffiths, the car has been subtly modified over the years, including locking hood latches and a tinted rear window. The seats were recovered in 2018, but the wood-rimmed steering wheel with engine-turned spokes is original. The Griffith Sprint engine is fitted with an Edelbrock aluminum intake, upgraded radiator fans, and high-performance ignition, as well as Cobra aluminum rocker covers; a stronger Salisbury differential is also fitted, as is an aluminum fuel tank. Accompanying the car are several crates of spares accumulated over the years.

This is among the most historically significant extant Griffiths.To view this car and others currently consigned to this auction, please visit the RM website at rmsothebys.com/en/auctions/el20.