FOR SALE 1965 TVR Trident Prototype by Fissore
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very good car story should include a design or idea being written on the back of a cigarette packet or in this case, a napkin! In the early 1960’s TVR was going through some financial remodelling and the plan was to introduce a new model that would be aimed between the Jaguar E-Type and Aston Martin DB4/5. In 1963, a Director of TVR, Bernard Williams, met with a budding designer by the name of Trevor Frost at the Derby Arms in Treales, Lancashire, where the first sketches were put forward on the aforementioned napkin. Frost was half Italian and worked with a number of design houses using his Italian name, Trevor Fiore, principally Carozzeria Fissore of Turin. The design was met with delight but the means to pay for such a project were not available until 1965 when two prototypes were commissioned in Left Hand Drive.
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Originally, the idea was to use the Mk3 1800 chassis with MG running gear but soon the powerplant was changed to a V8 and so the chassis was lengthened and modified as a result. A Ford 289ci V8 was decided upon as the engine of choice and prototype No.1 was soon built and put on the TVR stand at the 1965 Geneva Motor Show, where it stole the show. After another successful display at the New York Motor Show in April 1965, two more prototypes were approved, another Coupé and a Convertible, this time in Right Hand Drive. Sadly, management conflict and the spiralling costs of the Trident led to TVR going into liquidation in summer 1965 and the Trident program looked to be over. Fortunately, TVR was snapped up rather quickly by Martin Lilley and his father, who ran TVR dealer The Barnet Motor Co and who were very attracted to the idea of continuing the plan to build the TVR
Trident. Unfortunately for Martin, TVR dealer, Bill Last, had seen an opportunity and went to Fissore, who some sources say hadn’t been paid a penny by TVR, and he acquired the Trident design. What ensued was an acrimonious tale of legal battles and even alleged theft but the end result was that Bill Last set up Trident Cars, building fiberglass versions of the Trident on an Austin Healey chassis with a V8 engine. The crisp, clean design was lost through the use of fiberglass and open headlights but the Trident would be produced for a number of years until the business ultimately failed in 1976. Rewinding back to 1965, to placate Martin Lilley, Fissore decided it was best to send the last two prototypes to TVR. The Convertible (No. 4) would be used by Martin Lilley as his personal car for a number of years and No.3, the RHD coupé would sit in the factory where it would reside until sold in 1972.
