TVR Vixen 2500

Production period:	1970 to 1972
Class:	sports car
Body versions:	Coupe
Engines:	Gasoline 2.5 litres
Length:	145 in, 3,683 mm
Width:	64 in, 1,626 mm
Height:	48 in, 1,219 mm
Wheelbase:	90 in, 2,286 mm
dry weight:	1,960 1b

The TVR Vixen 2500 is a sports car of the British car manufacturer TVR for only two years in the 1970s.

History

The Vixen 2500 was unveiled in the fall of 1970 at the Earls Court Motor Show in London. This was designed primarily for the North American market, reviving interest in the TVR brand. This Vixen which belongs to the TVR Vixen range TVR combined the Vixen chassis with a six-cylinder British Leyland engine. Only a few copies remained in the UK, where they were sold without the name addition Vixen and just as the TVR 2500. The Vixen 2500 was at times TVR's most successful model in the USA.

After TVR was taken over by Martin Lilley in November 1965, some new models appeared, with which TVR turned away from the previous technology supplier BMC later British Leyland and Ford of Britain. The conversion had cost reasons above all: The Ford components were cheaper than the parts of BMC. The Vixen with Ford technology replaced the 1967 Grantura, and took the place of the Griffith 400 of the external and technically very similar Tuscan V8, further comprising a up to 271 bhp strong American Windsor engine. This found only a few buyers in the US and remained largely unnoticed in Europe. The Tuscan V6 has a British Ford Essex four-cylinder V-engine with 3.0 litre capacity. By 1971, 101 copies of the Tuscan V6, of which all but seven cars in the United Kingdom. The export of the Tuscan V6 in the US was excluded because the Ford Essex -Motor did not meet US emission regulations. That's why TVR developed the Vixen 2500, which was sold there instead of the Tuscan V6, especially in view of the North American market. For this market TVR returned temporarily back to engines and transmissions from British Leyland, which was also true for the 1971 introduced base model Vixen 1300. With the introduction of the Vixen 2500 the production of the Tuscan V6 ended. Later in 1972, the 2500M replaced the Vixen 2500. It had the same engine as the Vixen 2500, but the chassis and body of the M-Series.

The Vixen 2500 uses a six-cylinder in-line engine of the British Leyland brand Triumph instead of the usual Ford TVR technology since 1967. The 2498 cc engine was published in 1967 with electronic fuel injection by Lucas in the European version of the Triumph TR5 and was found from 1968 in its successor TR6. Since the injection engines did not meet the US emissions regulations, there was a detoxified version with two Stromberg’s for the overseas market, which was significantly weaker. The carburettor engine was installed in the Triumph TR250 and the US version of the TR6. This version took over TVR for the Vixen 2500. The carburettor version delivers 106 bhp in the Vixen 2500 and is therefore one third weaker than the injection version. The power increase compared to the Vixen S3 with the 1.6-liter Ford four-cylinder engine is only about 18 bhp. The Tuscan V6 with the Ford Essex engine, however, was significantly stronger with 136 bhp. Many American customers restored the engine of the Vixen 2500 to the injection version privately. Instead of the usual at the regular Vixen models four-speed transmission of Ford is used, a manually shifted transmission Triumph when Vixen 2500, which - with - differently than the Ford transmissions overdrive is equipped. Also, the limited slip differential comes from Triumph. 

PERFORMANCE: TVR Vixen 2500 (1970-1972)

• Max power (SAE): 104 hp at 4,500 rpm
• Max torque (SAE): 117 1b ft, 16.2 kg m at 3,000 rpm
• Power-weight ratio: 18.7 lb/hp, 8.5 kWh hp
• Acceleration standing 1/4 mile 17 sec, 0-50 mph (0-80 km/h) 6 sec
• Fuel consumption 28 m/ imp gal, 23.3 m/ US gal

The Vixen 2500, TVR combined the technology and bodywork of the Vixen S3 with a six-cylinder Triumph engine. The additional designation 2500 refers to the displacement of the engine, which is approximately 2500 cm³.Most Vixen 2500 have the tube frame of the Vixen S3, which was introduced in 1968, the S2 and 11.5 cm longer than that of the S1. However, in 1972, the last year of production, TVR changed the technology. The finished the year with the Vixen 2500 on the newly developed chassis of the TVR-M series, but are otherwise unchanged. The plastic body of the Vixen 2500 almost completely matches that of the Vixen S3. Only the slightly differently shaped bonnet took over TVR for the Vixen 2500 of the TVR Tuscan V6. It has a noticeable bulge over the engine. The change to the chassis of the 1972 M series had no influence on the design of the Vixen 2500: its body remained unchanged.

In addition, TVR offered the car as TVR 2500 (without the model’s name Vixen) in the UK. Again, there was only the factory-cleaned engine version with 105 bhp, not the variant with gasoline injection. From 1970 to 1972, a total of about 385 copies of the car, the last 96 created with the chassis of the M series. 1970 built TVR eight, 1971 then 237 cars, and in 1972 it was again 127 vehicles. 1971, the Vixen 2500 was the most successful single model of TVR. From 1972, the car had next to the chassis and the body of the M-series; in this version it was marketed as TVR 2500M.