About tough to crack car puzzle #125: Grantura Gem

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We received one (1) answer on last week’s puzzle car. And the answer, provided by Robbie Marenzi, consisted of three (3) words. This saddened us deeply. Was this puzzle tough? It wasn’t, as the similarities to a TVR are more than obvious. Robbie knew just that and told us that the car was a 1968 Grantura Gem. Full points for the correct answer; zero points for prose. Don’t worry, we’ll add some. The car in question was a 1967-built prototype by Grantura Plastics – a TVR subsidiary which built the bodies for the Blackpool based company since 1963. They used a Tuscan base and mated it to a newly styled body – with very blunt nose – and Ford three litre V6 in order to show what a successor to the Vixen could look like. The idea of course was to sell it to the sports car manufacturer itself. That didn’t happen – TVR rejected the Gem. Remarkably, Grantura Plastics initially used aluminium for the car’s body and took a mould before replacing it with fibreglass. The Gem used independent suspension on all wheels and was raced, even after being rejected. Grantura Plastics did come with a car of their own shortly after it – and sold quite a few - but it had nothing in common with any other TVR. The Gem still exists and is still being raced by its current owner.

(Words and archive picture Jeroen Booij) 

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