Posts by twincam

The content cannot be displayed because you do not have authorisation to view this content. This is my first post. Hope someone may shed some light on some unknowns.

I have a 1966 TVR 400 V8 (Griffith). It does have its original HiPo 289 installed. Ford sold HiPo engines to manufacturers outside the Ford umbrella, and those sold to The Griffith Motorcar Co were supplied by the Ford Industrial Engines (FIE) division. Each engine was shipped with a metal ID plate with 3 fields of information - SERIAL, TYPE and OPTIONS. It's the same type of plate attached to many Ford engines used in farm equipment (tractors).

I was told by Mike Mooney, former employee of Griffith, that in the day the FIE ID plates ended up thrown in a desk drawer never to be used and most all were likely discarded. Fortunately Griffith did transfer the Ford SERIAL information onto their own Griffith Serial Number Tag, so for most Griffiths, the original engine serial number was preserved.

It turns out my car's FIE ID plate was not thrown away, one of only 2 cars I know about that still have their original FIE plate. It survived because it was one of the last 10 Griffiths built, completed entirely under TVR's control (at that point Griffith had gone out of business) and the original owner of my car was given the plate upon purchase and he was meticulous about preserving most everything.

I'd really like to decode the info on the plate but there's little information I can find online to help. Maybe someone on this forum can help me out and look at the numbers and letters and recognize their meaning. The only thing I think I can decode with certainty is the KK at the end of the serial number. I think that stands for 1966.

I have masked out the two number digits after C14 so what I think is the serial number is masked.

Appreciate any help. - Gregg

Thanks for the welcome.

Yes I've read that the Industrial engines were primarily detuned versions of automotive engines. I've had an email conversation with Mike Mooney (who was the Griffith factory test driver and author of "The Griffith Years") and after I sent him a photo of the engine number plate he said he remembers seeing them received with new engines, but they had no use for them and just threw them in a drawer and never used them in the build process. He wasn't aware of how to decode the various numbers. The 6001 meaning is a great start. I'll continue this thread in one of the subject forums and see what else comes up.

Thanks

Hello,

Happy to find this forum. Recent second owner of a 1966/67 Griffith 400 with a HiPo engine. Because the car is one of about 50 Griffith's that were produced and sold without going through the Long Island Griffith factory, it's commonly referred to as a British Griffith.

My car was shipped from England to Vancouver BC, where the Canadian west coast TVR dealer installed the HiPo engine, sourced from Ford of Canada Industrial Engine group, and then sold it to the former owner who kept it for 54 years.

It has a wonderful Ford Industrial Engine number plate that was included with the car. It is the only documentation I have that would link the engine to its original HiPo roots because Griffith and TVR didn't use VIN numbering schemes that identified the engine type. I'm wondering if anyone would have a secret decoder ring that might bring out the true meaning of these numbers.

The number plate says:

Serial: C1484H15KK

Type: CC6PW-6001-CF

Options: S0-100

Thanks!