Start with what the TVR 390SE is: a 2-door convertible with TVR Power Rover V8, built from 1984 to 1989, in the age of turbocharging and the first electronic engine management. What it meant takes a little longer. The shape is credited to Oliver Winterbottom.
How it came about
The TVR 390SE is a sports car designed and built by TVR. It was introduced in October 1984. It featured many novelties not found in other 'Wedge' TVRs before and was also the most powerful one yet. It never received British Type Approval, so technically speaking the 390SE was just a 350i with special equipment fitted.
The hardware
The engine is TVR Power Rover V8. Drive goes through a 5-speed manual. The layout matters: a front engine drives the rear wheels, the classic proportion — long bonnet, cabin set back — that most people picture when they picture a sports saloon or a grand tourer. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
Family and rivals
In the TVR line-up the TVR 390SE has a clear place: it handed the line to the TVR 400SE; the factory was Blackpool, England, United Kingdom. The cars a buyer would have weighed it against include the Ferrari Testarossa, the SEAT Ibiza, the Renault Espace. Its TVR stablemates include the TVR 3000S and the TVR 350SE.
Owning one today
There is no federal ownership record for the TVR 390SE — it predates the complaint database or was never sold in the United States — so MotorJury publishes no running-cost figure for it. For a car of this age the price is set by the collector market and the condition of the individual example, not by a formula.