User:Mill 1/tmp: Difference between revisions

{{Short description|British automotive engineer and founder of TVR (1923–2008)}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Trevor Wilkinson

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1923|5|14|df=yes}}

| birth_place = [[Blackpool]], England

| death_date = {{death date and age|2008|6|6|1923|5|14|df=yes}}

| death_place = [[Minorca]], [[Spain]]

| nationality = British

| occupation = Automotive engineer

| known_for = Founder of [[TVR]]

}}

”’Trevor Wilkinson”’ (14 May 1923 – 6 June 2008) was a British automotive engineer and the founder of [[TVR]], a manufacturer of hand-built sports cars.<ref name=”guardian” /><ref name=”nyt” />

== Early life ==

Wilkinson was born in [[Blackpool]], England.<ref name=”guardian”>{{cite news |last=Glancey |first=Jonathan |title=Trevor Wilkinson |url=https://www.theguardian.com/business/2008/jun/10/automotive.transport |newspaper=The Guardian |date=10 June 2008 |access-date=20 October 2025}}</ref> He left school in 1937 without formal qualifications and began an apprenticeship at a local garage.<ref name=”guardian” /> After the [[Second World War]], he opened his own workshop, Trevcar Motors, and modified an Alvis Firebird into a racing car.<ref name=”guardian” />

== TVR ==

In 1948, Wilkinson co-founded TVR Engineering (later TVR) with Jack Pickard, naming the company after a shortened form of his first name.<ref name=”guardian” /><ref name=”nyt”>{{cite news |last=Sass |first=Rob |title=Trevor Wilkinson, 85, a Maker of Sports Cars, Is Dead |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/13/sports/othersports/13wilkinson.html |newspaper=The New York Times |date=13 June 2008 |access-date=20 October 2025 |url-access=subscription}}</ref> Their first prototype, TVR1, featured a tubular steel chassis and components adapted from other vehicles.<ref name=”guardian” /> By the late 1950s, TVR had adopted a construction formula that combined a lightweight chassis with a fiberglass body and mechanical parts from larger British manufacturers.<ref name=”nyt” />

The TVR Grantura, launched in 1958, became the basis for most TVR models over the following two decades.<ref name=”guardian” /> A tax loophole allowed early cars to be sold as kits, making them popular among amateur racers.<ref name=”nyt” /> Wilkinson stepped back from daily operations in 1962, and the company was sold in 1965.<ref name=”guardian” /><ref name=”nyt” />

== Later life and death ==

Wilkinson later operated Grantura Plastics and retired to Minorca in the 1980s.<ref name=”guardian” /> He maintained ties with the TVR community, including attending events organised by the TVR Car Club of North America.<ref name=”nyt” /> He died of cancer in Minorca on 6 June 2008, aged 85. He was unmarried and survived by a sister.<ref name=”guardian” /><ref name=”nyt” />

== References ==

{{reflist}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilkinson, Trevor}}

[[Category:1923 births]]

[[Category:2008 deaths]]

[[Category:English automobile designers]]

[[Category:English businesspeople]]

[[Category:People from Blackpool]]

[[Category:20th-century British engineers]]

[[Category:British automotive pioneers]]