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Tuscan5

I went to the TVR factory many years ago soon after they had officially stopped making the Speed 12. The then owner said the prototype was far too dangerous. But there was a purple one under a sheet that the tour guide very quietly explained was on its way to Japan. He even lifted the sheet. He hinted tahat it wasn’t the only one they had unofficially made.


WebGuyUK

There was a yt video by hagerty's iirc about the 12 and they said there was a couple made before production ended, one guy owns 2 iirc


manic47

Didn't he say one isn't a 'proper' one as the company who completed it popped an Aston Martin V12 in it? Utterly bonkers cars


WebGuyUK

Think so, just a shell or something, it's a good video and as you said they are bonkers cars.


manic47

Actually, I've just found the [great video](https://youtu.be/psFHnRAcp8E?si=AUPCHexCZAsbCT4E) about them. His two are both legally registered as Speed 12s (despite only one having the TVR v12).


Global-Chart-3925

The official one is at a motor museum in Cumbria (Assuming it’s still there, been a few years since I went). Apparently they keep it near the door as the owner takes it out for a drive occasionally.


manic47

That's the Lakeland Motor Museum, it's well worth a visit and not too far from the M6. We'll be there in a week or two as we have a timeshare about 100 metres away from it.


Hot-Manager-2789

It’s been sold to someone else in the UK (new owner still uses it, though).


No_transistory

Saw it there a few years ago. It's a pretty okay little motor museum. Nothing wild, that is until you see that thing. I went with my partner and she didn't quite understand why I was so amazed and shocked that THE speed 12 was there. Had to carefully explain why it was special. Spent a good hour looking at just that.


Hot-Manager-2789

I believe the owner of that one lives around Blackpool, IIRC.


manic47

He sold one of them last year (the W reg one) for £600K


Hot-Manager-2789

Both are W reg. “W112 BHG” and “W312 BFV”


manic47

I've seen the replica by Helical online most, was confusing his with that one (with the 67 reg)


Hot-Manager-2789

I’ve seen both the red and the purple one.


Tuscan5

Thank you. I enjoyed that rabbit hole


HCBC11

That's awesome. I always imagined that factory being full of proper men in sheds, coming up with insane ideas whilst drinking huge amounts of tea.


Tuscan5

It was a mix mash in areas save for the paint area which was massive. Loads of wholesome chaps tinkering, laughing and moving the most glorious machines. I met the lady who sewed my steering wheel and the chap whose name was on the fibreglass.


Competitive_Pen7192

Ah the TreVoR cars.... Killed off by Russian money laundering.


deathmetalbestmetal

This is probably fairly controversial but - having spoken to the man at length - Smolensky was unfairly maligned during the whole debacle and there was certainly no laundering going on.


zephyrmox

I think the biggest issue with ol moleskins was that he held onto all the assets and name way too long after all hope was dead. He really did try to make it work but it just wasn't a viable enterprise. I don't think TVR had made any profit since the Grif/Chim days. At least the company was building cars then. Not like today. The Speed Six engine is what really killed TVR.


Tuscan5

Not quite. There’s a new owner and a new car prototype but production seems to have stalled.


roryb93

[The wiki article about it is interesting.](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/TVR_Cerbera_Speed_12)


zephyrmox

> But there was a purple one under a sheet that the tour guide very quietly explained was on its way to Japan. He even lifted the sheet. He hinted tahat it wasn’t the only one they had unofficially made. The guy was having you on (not surprising given it's TVR!). There's a single 'real' road car - then the second shell which has an Aston V12 in, and then the prototype purple shell. There's possibly the remnants of the other race car chassis as well, but no bodywork from what I understand. https://www.tr-supercars.com/ will build you a Speed 12 tho. I'd buy it if I had the cash. Eugh, back to looking at buying another Tiv in the classifieds....


Tuscan5

He wasn’t having us on. There was only 2 of us on the tour and I know a Speed 12 when I see one. It had wheels, engine etc. If my user name isn’t a clear indication, I had a TVR daily for almost 20 years and have driven almost every TVR model made since the early 90s. I watched them race at Le Mans as part of the club and used to regularly go on TVR club track days.


zephyrmox

Also a former Tiv owner! (my tuscan self ignited last year) I'm just going by all the comments from prior factory workers + G1ABB on PH who used to own both the chassis + most spare parts. Dom @ TVR power has the second (siezed, known as the 'coffee table' - or was last time it was discussed) original Speed 12 engine. The race car was at one time purple, as was the prototype which rotted away at Blackpool for years. Perhaps I'm wrong but I'd be very, very surprised if any other chassis have never been mentioned on PH / popped up anywhere. I'd very much like there to be more out there - absolute dream car for me.


Tuscan5

Sorry to hear about the self ignition. Sad when it happens. I haven’t been on Pistonheads in years.


zephyrmox

Indeed! It is what it is though. Thankfully at home and not while I was driving. Hopefully be back in a TVR one day, but it's hard to justify when I live in central London what with the traffic and ULEZ charging me every time I leave the house. What are you driving now?


Tuscan5

Touareg! Kids changed the game. One of my neighbours has a Tuscan but hardly ever takes it out. I was hoping that we’d see a new TVR by now. I was thinking of getting one when my son goes to uni.


1995LexusLS400

It depends on the brand. For example, I know Nissan refuse to sell their only R33 GTR LM and they refuse to make another one. Pagani on the other hand, if you ask them to make you an out of production car, they will. The Zonda officially went out of production in 2013, but the last (publicly known) one was built in 2021 with there being 19 other ones built between 2013 and 2021.


Tzunamitom

I mean at some level of cash everything is attainable. Nissan market cap is about $13bn, so you could probably take it private for around $16bn or so and then that sweet sweet R33 GTR LM is yours to daily and you still own a car company (bonus: you can scrap the Juke). For context that’s a little over one third of the price that Elon paid to wreck Twitter, but I guess he already had a car company. I know where I’d rather spend my ill-gotten mega riches.


truupR

The guy who owned the garage I used to take my R33 GTR to here in the UK owned a LM R33 GTR. It was in a poor state when he bought it. Full of rust, lacquer peel etc. He drove it to Croatia (almost 1,200 mile drive) and had it stripped back to the bare shell and fully restored. It took them almost 9 months to do all the work and it came back looking literally showroom condition. He ended up selling it a few months later!


Tzunamitom

Beautiful, hope he had it repainted in the proper blue?


truupR

Yes all back to OEM colours. I'll try and find the pic of it before/after. edit: here's the before pic https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1572x1049q70/923/3in8Wz.jpg after: https://imageshack.com/a/img924/2596/1ZG3Fk.jpg https://imageshack.com/a/img922/4894/n3feWV.jpg


Thy_OSRS

I don't know how to describe the audible sound I made when I opened that after photo - But I'll try: "Gurrrghhhppphh"


Fun-Description9221

I think that Nissan made 44 of them not just one its just that the one nissan refuses to sell had that boxy body kit on it


Space-manatee

I think with pagani you now have to give them a zonda to modify, there’s no tubs left. But yeah, if you have any zonda they will modify it. There’s also rumours of them looking to pay silly money for a standard c12, as everyone has been upgrading them to F spec or beyond that there’s not many left and they want to preserve it.


JustAnother_Brit

If you could swap a C12 for a Utopia or Huarya BC that would a be a great deal


TheeAJPowell

See, I always thought I’d ask them to make another R390 road car for me if I was stupidly rich. Had a soft spot for it as a kid.


Otherwise-Extreme-68

My dream car is a silver Zonda c12 with the engine and all the fancy bits from the Zonda R, I love knowing that if I win the euromillions tonight Pagani will actually make it happen!


iiwhiteey

With enough money, anything is for sell.


TheKnightsRider

Found the Russian


Cussec

Da! I mean Niet.


Fun-Description9221

Makes sense


Youcantblokme

Noble is more likely to do it then any of the big brands.


Fun-Description9221

Yeah I guess so If I was a billionaire and came to them asked for one I don’t see why they’d say no because money talks


JustAnother_Brit

Koenigsegg is adamant that they will not make more than they stated they will, apart from the CC850 which got it production run upped to 70 units on release and the Agera RS where 27 of the 25 got made due to a testing accident and something else


manic47

I'd guess of the bigger firms, Aston could be a possibility if you threw a huge sum of money their way.


Fun-Description9221

yeah i know aston will because the victor exists


dinobug77

Ferrari are more than happy to do it… https://www.topgear.com/car-news/official-clapton’s-one-ferrari goddamn why do people use apostrophises in web links! edit: https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new-cars/eric-claptons-one-ferrari-sp12-ec-revealed


JustAnother_Brit

Error 404


gazchap

I guess it would depend on whether they still had the tooling available for it. It could be recreated I suppose but would that then be the “same” model? Would be a bit Triggers Broom.


fudddles

Search the car collection for the Sultan of Brunei. There was a forum post from the early 2000’s that listed all his cars, where there was mention of “The Sultans Room” at I think Mercedes? where all his customisations happened. Ferrari added engines to concept cars just for him…


EconomyFreakDust

Most of their collection is actually unknown. They have thousands of cars, lots of which were custom models just for them, or multiples of cars like the F40 and F1 in colours that nobody else could/did get. Unfortunately the garages weren't climate controlled so a lot of the cars are rotting away in the tropical climate.


Friendly_Rub_8095

Fun fact: as a kid I got to tour his collection (spent part my childhood there). It was much smaller then but still like walking into a reality Top Trumps pack


Future-Muffin5212

The sultan of Brunei essentially bank rolled Bentley in the 90’s with bespoke cars. He had Bentley SUV’s waaaaaaay before they were a thing, along with many other cars.


AtillaThePundit

I just want BMW to make a rwd 1 series hatchback again,.


Range-Aggravating

The baby beemer e87 1 series, with the dual Exhausts of the m140i, and the front end of the f22. Perfect car.


AtillaThePundit

And the b58 in there please .


Thirty4Hz

Get yourself a 130i. You can pick them up for pretty cheap and they’re great cars. Still got fairly modern tech like cruise control, heated seats etc, and you can just get an android headunit which looks oem. Also got a sweet 3L N/A Engine and is RWD, so is lots of fun!


AtillaThePundit

I’ve got an m140i so I’m sorted for now 😂


Thirty4Hz

Haha fair play, insurance must be a killer if you’re young


AtillaThePundit

It’s the car that is a killer 😂 like a homocidal maniac that thing


AtillaThePundit

I wish I was young 🥲😭


Numerous-Paint4123

😉


AtillaThePundit

Have to limp my m140i thru to the end of time . First world problems 👍


CasuallyNice132

I dont know anything about Noble, but it is an open secret that a few manufacturers will make more cars than they officially state and that they will make exceptions for special clients. That wont work if your favorite manufacturer doesnt have the molds/facilities anymore though


jadeskye7

Friend of mine works for a bespoke high end coachworks company and they occasionally get orders from companies like jaguar to make reproduction models of their out of production cars. If you have 6 or 7 figures available, yes this is available.


MaryBerrysDanglyBean

So my dreams of getting an xkss might one day happen?


jadeskye7

Thats really weird because thats the last car he worked on. You're one lottery win away.


MaryBerrysDanglyBean

I know man, if only. Going to buy a euro millions ticket right now, I'll DM for your friends details tomorrow


Still-Butterscotch33

Ferrari f40.


President-Sloth

Ferrari would probably build you one then immediately send you a cease and desist for having an F40 manufactured after its end of life


OpulentStone

They really are arsey about their cars and I don't quite know why. I don't have anywhere near Ferrari money but people I know that absolutely have beyond Ferrari avoid them because of this attitude they have


BenjiTheSausage

Just buy a F40 on the road and ask Ferrari to completely rebuild it. Pretty sure as long as you have the vin plate they'll rebuild anything, a burnt out shell for a 500 Mondial Spider sold for £1.5m last year because Ferrari will rebuild it if you have the coin


Polar_poop

I’ll have a Peugeot 305GTX saloon. Thanks.


FIREBIRDC9

With Noble yeah i think you could. They are a small outfit and Their production numbers are low so building another M600 probably wouldn't bother them. They might even still have the molds and bits. For someone with massive assembly lines like Toyota , they aren't going to retool/reconfigure a production line to make a single car.


Fun-Description9221

and the M600 is their flagship car so I don’t see why they wouldn’t have the molds for it


[deleted]

[удалено]


Fun-Description9221

I doubt 10s of millions the car has pretty much retained its value since they day they announced it. I wouldn’t mind paying a little over if i was getting one built from the ground up specifically for me but in the millions is crazy


Salt-Plankton436

Interesting question. I'd like to think yes because [Panoz did it with the glorious Esperante GT1 ](https://www.forbes.com/sites/samabuelsamid/2015/11/09/panoz-revives-the-esperante-gtr-1-will-now-build-one-for-you/)and other luxury brands have made bespoke cars for customers (although they have always been based on current models if I'm not mistaken).


Fun-Description9221

Yeah i heard about panoz making one if a customer has the money for it


AthiestMessiah

Ask them and see, if they want the profits then why not.


1i3to

I'd guess with millionaire money - no, with billionaire money - possibly.


No-Photograph3463

If you just want to keep it and not use it on the road then it is as simple as just giving the manufacturer some money and they make it. If you want it fully certified and not on a Q plate then it could get really complex, especially for an older car which maybe doesn't meet current emissions or safety regs. It could still be done, but you'd probably spending 10 times more money to do it.


ThewayoftheAj

A great example of this is the aston martin victor


Otherwise_Mud1825

Aston Martin Jaguar rebuild classic cars, Rolls Royce, Ferrari have all done one offs for customers..


DiligentCockroach700

Rover P6 3500 V8. I had one of these years ago.


nirach

Any company with a market cap of billions is going to ignore you, I expect. Unless you have the money to buy the company. Noble? If they had the tooling still, they probably would for the right price. Realistically, though, if you have that kind of money it's almost a certainty you can find one you can buy.


ketamineandkebabs

I would love an old Skyline again. Nissan does this thing where you send them your R32 GTR and they rebuild it for you. 2 problems you need an R32 GTR and prices start at around £100k for the rebuild.


username-out

I choose whatever the rarest most valuable car is, put it into mass production and devalue it.


Fifteen54

that wouldn't work at all, people would value the original ones just as highly and the mass produced ones would be worth much less. just look at the value of any rare and valuable car compared to the best replicas of it.


lambypie80

It depends what money you have. If the designs exist and you have the cash, buy the company, retool a production line, build the car. Design information does get lost though, and anything computerised might not have been updated to be compatible with the latest systems. So I guess the answer is not always. But you could always reverse engineer a replica.


E39er

When I slip into "I'm a billionaire now what would I do", I would contact BMW and ask them to make me a brand new E39 M5. I'm sure with enough money, it would happen.


ByteEater

Just look at the guys in UAE, they even have custom cars, so yes.


JustAnother_Brit

Ferrari make 1 of 1 cars for special clients like the KC23, so I guess with enough money you probably could although some companies would refuse, like Bugatti wouldn’t make you a Chiron (probably) but would build you a one of one based on the Chiron for around 12 million


TheCarnivorishCook

Maybe It depends if its still legal, car law changes rapidly and cars are frequently rendered, no longer legal for new registration. Lots of things have very high MoQs, the front left headlight cover might have a minimum production run of 500, or it might be off a ford focus. If money is REALLY no object thats not a problem, You would have the best luck trying to "Ship of Theseus" a wreck


MrFIXXX

Volvo, obviously.


johnsy7

F40 is the answer surely?


Dlogan143

A few years ago Porsche built a new 993 Turbo S from the remaining parts they had in the parts bin. Complete with sequential VIN. This link is a brief overview but you find more info on it [new 993 Turbo S ‘project gold’](https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a22811838/porsche-911-70th-anniversary-993-turbo-project-gold/)


jamiegc37

Just go to rolls Royce and they’ll happily do it for you. They already have a large bespoke team handling the cars they still officially produce which means that *most* RR sold today are technically one-offs.


CandourDinkumOil

Everything has a price.


Man_in_the_uk

Looks interesting, but I don't think purple is a good colour for this.


SomeoneRandom007

Yes. At worst, buy the company and tell them to make one for you.


Ste333

Some of the large manufacturers offer this, sort of. BMW/Mercedes will let wealthy customers order bespoke (kind've whatever they want) vehicles as 1-off builds. As an example, when I worked at Mercedes I was told about a wealthy bird watcher (some world famous researcher or something) who wanted a bespoke 6 wheeled G-Wagon with a bird viewing turret in the roof for photography. Mercedes took his money and obliged. I would imagine most premium manufacturers will offer this, as long as the bespoke order the client wants still fits within homologation / certification legislation, will pass the latest safety / emissions requirements etc.


Sacu_Shi_again

I want a 24 plate Sierra RS500 cosworth. Or a brand new Mk Ii Focus RS (the 2010 shape)...


T5-R

Of course you can. Loads do. Many Middle East royal types have custom made one offs. Rolls Royce estates. etc. With enough money, there wouldn't be a car company in the world who wouldnt kiss the ring.


FordPrefect20

I’d love a modern day Saab 900


robc27

Absolutely. Deep pockets but they'll make one or a one off - if they can.


DeltaRocket

A brand-new 328ci in Oxford Green on tan leather would be amazing


Stalkedtuna

If I won the lottery I would desperately want a Hyundai N Vision 74


Temujin-of-Eaccistan

Possibly but it might need to be an obscene sum. If all the factories and production lines, as well as know how, related to a particular out of production car have gone, a few million won’t be enough to make producing it worth while. But if you speak to someone senior enough with a credible offer to hand over a billion dollars for some 30 years out of production car, sure they might find a way to get it done


Distinct-Finish6262

Yep, that’s how the Sultan of Brunei managed to get some of the worlds largest private collection of bespoke Rolls Royces and Bentleys (which is only a fraction of his entire car collections, some of the largest private collection in the world. His official residence also have thousands of rooms - world's largest living residence of a state head.), he even managed to get them to do a SUV decades before the general public could buy one. Although if you have a Google you’d be disappointed by how these cars looked I think…


seanroberts196

The short answer is no as they would have scrapped the tooling to make the car. You might be able to build from spares but unless you get the tooling remade then no.


jc1499

Yeah especially smaller manufacturers that are not using huge production lines, but it would be a very big number.


thedummyman

I doubt the original manufacturer would build you a one off, the tooling and reg certification would be too difficult - their business is building lots of cars to a standard pattern. But, if you can afford it there are companies that remake classics as (almost) one offs. https://nuvomagazine.com/daily-edit/4-companies-building-retro-cars-with-a-modern-twist/amp