A 1965 Griffith 200 Series prototype will be auctioned off.

An important piece of British sports car history will go through RM Sotheby's auction in May. This 1965 Griffith Series 200 is one of the early designs of the original Griffiths and, like its modern counterpart, combines British chassis and American power.

Following in the footsteps of Carroll Shelby, American entrepreneur Jack Griffiths founded Griffith Motors with the idea of fitting a Ford V8 engine to a TVR chassis TVR agreed to supply a modified GranTurra chassis, which was then sold under its own name in the UK, In the UK, the car was sold under its own name. However, in the US they were sold as Griffiths. These cars should not be confused with the later TVR Griffiths of the 1990s.

According to the auction list, this car - chassis number 200/5/002 - was the third car to be used as a test platform by Dick Monich, the importer of the TVR bodywork on which the Griffith sports car was based.

According to RM Sotheby's, it was the only Griffith Series 200 equipped with Ford's 260cc V8. Later models were equipped with the 289 V8 engine with a four-speed manual transmission.

In 1966, Monnich returned the car to Griffith Motors, and according to the auction listing, the original engine was replaced with another prototype 260 V8. The car was then sold to a dealer in Virginia, and Griffiths sold it to the first private owner, who sold it in 1968 to a second owner in California, who kept it for the next 50 years.

The car spent most of the following years in a garage, but remained in "good running condition" according to the ad. The car also had a few minor modifications, including an Edelbrock aluminum intake, upgraded radiator fan, high-performance ignition, and Cobra aluminum rocker covers.

The seat was rebuilt in 2018 and now features a Salisbury differential and aluminum fuel tank. According to the ad, the purchase includes a spare "several boxes."

The new TVR Griffiths had been planned for several years. The original TVR factory closed in the UK in 2006, but the name was taken over by a new owner in 2013; in 2017, he built a Cosworth-tuned 5.0-liter V8 Ford Mustang GT using Gordon Murray's iStream process. A modern Griffith with chassis was introduced. Production was originally scheduled to begin in 2019, but the launch was repeatedly delayed.