American couple travel 4,000 miles to buy sports car in Hexham

But for one American couple, a trip across The Atlantic Ocean to a car dealership in Hexham was needed to secure their dream car.

HHC Sportscars on Haugh Lane greeted Wayne and Kathy Boudreaux who travelled 4,000 miles from St. Petersburg in Florida to pick up a TVR Griffith 500 they spotted online in 2020.

Owner of HHC Sportscars Tony Abrams said: "Of all our customers Wayne has probably made the longest journey to view and test drive the car.

"While we've shipped cars to Japan, Europe, Australia and New Zealand many of our long distance customers are not always prepared to make such an epic journey to come and view and test drive our cars. 

"The rarity of TVRs and their unique appeal means that some people are prepared to travel thousands of miles to buy one. They're quirky unconventional sports cars, which are quite unlike anything else on the road and they represent a really interesting period of British motoring history. TVRs were only ever produced in the UK, in Blackpool, and so they're a really rare sight in countries such as the USA.

"We had been in touch with Wayne as early as 2020, making arrangements for him to come and view the car.

"He found us online, like many of our customers, and had his sights set on a lovely blue 1997 TVR Griffith we had in the showroom.

"The earlier model of the Griffith is one of the first cars that TVR produced back in 1963, so there's a strong lineage. It's a great looking car and has the renowned Rover V8 engine that TVR further developed to 5 litres. They have fantastic performance and a distinctive sound which is part of the appeal of TVRs."

Paul is in awe to see British motoring being appreciated across the world.

He adds: "It's great to see so much interest in TVR from places like the US.

"For a long time TVRs were an uncommon sight outside of the UK and Europe, so it's nice that we can share these quintessentially British cars with timeless styling with the rest of the world."