TVR Tasmin vs AC 3000ME: points to prove

By Simon Hucknall

| 19 Jun 2026

Classic & Sports Car – AC 3000ME vs TVR Tasmin: points to prove

A new world order was emerging in the British sports-car industry by 1980.

British Leyland had failed to replace many of its long-playing favourites, such as the Jaguar E-type, MGB and Triumph Stag, leaving the door open for smaller, leaner companies to adopt a fresher and more radical approach to product design.

Lotus was perhaps at the vanguard in this respect, with the Elite, Éclat and Esprit.

But AC’s 3000ME and TVR’s Tasmin represented even bigger departures from their predecessors – although each brought huge commercial risks for their respective makers.

The AC 3000ME threatens wayward responses

In 1980, these glassfibre-bodied, two-seater, V6-powered GTs went head to head in the market, with the Tasmin costing £12,800 and the 3000ME £501 on top of that.

In the case of our test cars, they have something else in common: each was originally owned by its manufacturer’s boss, with Peter Wheeler the first keeper of the Tasmin (albeit just before he acquired the Blackpool concern) and Derek Hurlock adopting ‘our’ 3000ME after it had been used as AC’s factory demonstrator.

Alas, in Hurlock’s case, his ownership of the car from 1983 coincided with the beginning of the model’s demise, and as AC Cars itself was floundering.

But rewind to the start of the 1970s, and the car for which AC was renowned – the Cobra – was a distant memory, leaving the ultra-low-volume and loss-making 428 as its sole offering.

The TVR Tasmin 2.8i S1 responds better to a firm hand

Hurlock could see that a smaller, lighter and less expensive model was needed to build volume and sustain AC’s finances.

Lacking the in-house design resource to start from scratch, Hurlock was persuaded by colleague Keith Judd to consider a prototype that had just appeared at the ’72 British Racing Car Show.

Known as ‘Diablo’, it was created by ex-Ford AVO and Lola designer Peter Bohanna and former Lola man Robin Stables.

With its transverse, mid-mounted 1.5-litre ‘four’ (from an Austin Maxi), the Diablo was bang on message at a time when cars such as Fiat’s X1/9 and Ferrari’s Dino were grabbing attention for their Formula One-derived configurations.

The ‘Diablo’ show car turned into the AC 3000ME

With Hurlock on board, the rights were purchased to the Diablo’s design and AC set about re-engineering the prototype to cater for more power.

That came in the form of Ford’s all-iron, cam-in-block Essex V6, displacing 2994cc and making 138bhp and a generous 174lb ft out of the box.

Transmission to the rear axle did away with the prototype’s five-speed Maxi transaxle, replacing it with a transversely located gearbox of AC’s design sitting below the engine, taking its drive through a Renold Triplex chain.

Its aluminium casing contained a set of Hewland gears running in a separate sump of oil (the unit has its own dipstick), and it was operated from the cabin by a Ferrari-like, open-gated lever.

The AC 3000ME’s mid-mounted Essex V6 musters 138bhp

The new car’s chassis comprised a central steel monocoque tub with a built-in roll-over bar, plus tubular steel subframes front and rear.

All-round independent suspension was by double wishbones and coils incorporating anti-squat and anti-dive geometry, but no anti-roll bars.

The whole was enclosed by a svelte glassfibre body, the design of which marked a departure from anything seen before from AC.

Unveiled as the ‘AC 3 Litre’ at the 1973 London Motor Show, it was a compelling package.

The AC 3000ME has a great driving position

While relatively compact at less than 4m in length, the show car was impressively practical, with luggage compartments fore and aft – its rear boot being particularly generous, while its ‘frunk’ could hold a removable roof panel that would become standard in production.

Pricing would be between £3000 and £4000, AC predicted, but that turned out to be wide of the mark.

Beset by tooling issues and faced with new type-approval regulations (resulting initially in a failed 30mph crash test), it was another six years before the car – by then badged 3000ME, for 3-litre Mid-Engined – was delivered to its first customer, in 1979.

By that stage, increased production costs and soaring inflation had pushed the price to £11,300 – the same ballpark as Lotus’ much-lauded Esprit.

The AC 3000ME’s open-gated lever brings to mind classic Ferraris

With the UK still reeling from an economic malaise, the market for non-essential toys was at an all-time low: AC’s predicted 250 sales per year started to look highly optimistic.

And that was a shame, because the 3000ME enjoyed a guardedly warm welcome from the motoring press, which praised its refinement, build quality and design (although Autocar’s road test subhead, ‘So nearly there,’ summarised many concerns about the car’s on-limit handling).

Christopher Bailey has owned this ex-Hurlock 3000 for a year.

It was the 54th ME to be built at Thames Ditton and remains highly original, with only 25,000 miles recorded.

The AC 3000ME grips well, but the steering lacks feedback

I’m still just as beguiled by the ME’s design as I was in 1978 when I attended the NEC show and saw the first production car on AC’s stand.

It looks petite by today’s standards, but the proportions are neat and the styling not at all derivative, and with its flared arches over standard 14in Wolfrace slot-mags, it almost resembles a life-sized Hot Wheels model.

Drop down over the broad sill, which carries the coolant hoses from the front-mounted radiator to the engine, and you find yourself in a cosy but ergonomically efficient cabin.

Wide, cloth-trimmed seats are only separated by the width of the Ford-sourced handbrake and the chunky, chromed gate for the AC/Hewland transmission.

This AC 3000ME’s ‘frunk’ holds a spare Wolfrace wheel

A deep black slab of an instrument binnacle faces you, incorporating six Smiths clocks and a plethora of ventilation sliders and Leyland-sourced controls.

Unusually for a low-volume, mid-engined car, the driving position is perfect behind the small, three-spoke wheel.

It’s raining hard as we fire up the ME’s V6 to leave our base, so there will be no on-road heroics – especially bearing in mind what I’ve heard about the ME’s propensity for off-throttle oversteer when driven hard.

The unassisted rack lightens as you move away, and in general the controls are user-friendly and require no great effort.

‘Increased production costs and soaring inflation pushed the AC 3000ME’s price to £11k – the same ballpark as the Lotus Esprit’

The five-speed gearshift is another matter: the small gate in which it moves results in a short throw, but the mechanism isn’t spring-loaded, so you have to think your way through the ratios.

It is also occasionally recalcitrant in the third-fourth plane (I’m told some adjustment should cure it).

The V6 is quite vocal at first, but soon settles to a distant hum as you pick up speed; gear whine actually dominates the soundtrack, unless you’re really on it.

You’d never call the AC’s performance blistering (though Autocar did manage a 6.5 secs 0-60mph time), but there’s a deep well of torque on tap at most speeds, and that’s what you feel most when you flex your right foot.

The AC 3000ME’s radiator channels coolant aft via pipes in the sills

Structurally, this ME feels stiff and well screwed together, with no annoying rattles as we travel along Oxfordshire’s B-roads.

The primary ride is excellent on 195/60 Michelins (205-section tyres came later), with only the secondary ride slightly nuggety on poorer surfaces.

But this is a car you should respect. The steering is relatively quick off-centre but curiously numb in terms of feedback; it also feels more pendulous the faster you travel, requiring constant small adjustments.

The TVR Tasmin (closest) and AC 3000ME were bold departures for their respective makers

While grip is strong when you commit to a bend, with only a trace of understeer, you always sense that the mass at the rear of the car (Autocar quoted 40% front, 60% rear weight distribution) could easily be convinced to swap ends with the front.

But respect these inherent traits and the ME is an excellent GT: refined, potent in the mid-range, effortless at regular speeds and, I’m guessing, a fine long-distance companion.

Which could also have been the brief to TVR’s design team for the Tasmin.

By 1976, Martin Lilley had been in control of the Blackpool company for a decade.

The TVR Tasmin is quick – and raucous – but not rapier-fast

Its staple products had been the 3000M and Taimar, with a last hurrah planned for the series in the shape of a visually revised 3000S two years later.

But Lilley’s goal was to take the marque to a new level, competing with Porsche and Lotus rather than MG and Triumph.

There were other factors at play: tougher type approval and crash regulations meant significant re-engineering of current products to make them saleable overseas, particularly in the USA; and the Triumph and Ford componentry that had underpinned TVR’s existing range was reaching the end of its life, which would mean a major product overhaul.

The TVR Tasmin’s angular pop-up headlights

Despite meeting some resistance from within, Lilley forged ahead.

Ex-Lotus design chief Oliver Winterbottom, whose most recent work had been the Éclat 2+2, plus contributions to the Esprit programme, was brought in to head up the new project.

Winterbottom recommended that another ex-Lotus man, Ian Jones, be employed to design the chassis and suspension.

Lilley’s brief was for a radical new car, and Winterbottom delivered.

Circumstances conspired against the AC 3000ME (furthest), but the Tasmin began a new era for TVR

Believed to have been based on a design he’d previously pitched to Colin Chapman, Winterbottom’s future vision of a TVR was low, sharp-edged and unashamedly wedge-like – the diametric opposite of every production TVR that had gone before.

Sure, it would be an affront to the purists, but it would also chime with the brave new world Lilley had envisaged for TVR.

Power was to come from Ford’s 2.8-litre Cologne V6, which had replaced the outgoing 3-litre Essex.

Crashworthiness was prioritised, with Jones developing a strong glassfibre hull that incorporated the passenger cell and which was reinforced by a tubular spaceframe that provided decent side-impact protection.

The TVR Tasmin’s Cologne V6 has 160bhp, but this car’s fuel injection needs fettling

All-independent suspension used mainly proprietary parts – Ford Cortina front wishbones and Granada uprights – with the rear assembly based around that of the Jaguar XJ, using a Salisbury limited-slip diff and inboard disc brakes.

In 1978, final development moved to Bamber Bridge, near Preston, along with a dedicated team.

Wind-tunnel testing at MIRA had achieved an impressive Cd of 0.36 – almost the same as the S1 Esprit – and many thousands of miles were driven by Lilley and his staff in undisguised but unbadged prototypes during durability testing.

The new car soon acquired a moniker, Tasmin, which was an amalgam of the girls’ name Tamsin and the Australian Tasman race series.

The TVR Tasmin’s sharp lines

The plan had been for a reveal at the 1979 British Motor Show, but delays pushed this back to the Belgian show in January 1980.

There, it was the talk of the event, despite Lilley’s reservations about the design, which he felt had evolved from drawing board to full-size prototype too quickly.

Autocar noted its ‘graceful styling and impeccable finish’, although in its road test said its performance wasn’t always as strong as the 3000M’s (0-60mph in 8.2 secs versus the older car’s 7.7 secs, for example).

The Tasmin was priced at £12,800.

The TVR Tasmin is surprisingly practical

Matthew Lobb’s car was the 14th Tasmin built by the factory and one of only 122 ‘short-tail’ models produced between January 1980 and March ’81.

VCW 908V was delivered new to Peter Wheeler in March 1980, replacing his Taimar Turbo.

According to Matthew, Wheeler wrote to the factory complaining about its lack of performance; what response he received we will never know now, but a year later he had bought TVR from Martin Lilley.

The Tasmin, meanwhile, was sold and repainted red (it was originally blue) and had a body-off restoration in the early 2000s.

The TVR Tasmin’s spacious cabin is nicely finished

Matthew acquired the car in 2021, and while he admits to it being a little rough around the edges, a 200-mile round trip to our shoot proved how usable the car still is.

Viewed from outside, the Tasmin is a slice of 1980s New Wave, with hints of Alfasud Sprint and Maserati Khamsin (including its glazed rear panel), and a bonnet line so low you wonder how it manages to clear the Ford V6 beneath.

Inside, the cabin is light, spacious and well appointed, with six Stewart Warner dials set into a walnut-veneered dash, thick-pile carpets and deeply bolstered seats with Ambla facings.

The TVR Tasmin has a five-speed gearbox

Like the AC, it boasts decent luggage space, this time in a carpeted area behind the seats, accessed through the large, glazed hatch.

Fire up the Cologne and the loud bark from the exhausts hints at how much this drive is likely to contrast with the AC’s. It doesn’t disappoint, either.

It would be unfair to compare each car’s build integrity, given that the Tasmin has covered nearly four times as many miles as the ME, but in all the right areas this TVR still feels like a tough piece of kit.

The unassisted steering is predictably heavier than the AC’s from the off, but it’s also blessed with a commendable stability and accuracy that the Thames Ditton car lacks; where you finesse the AC, you take the TVR by its scruff and drive the pants off it.

The TVR Tasmin’s steering feels heavy at first, but it’s accurate

The high-mounted four-speed gearshift is fluid and quick, and throttle response is sharper than the AC’s – which is surprising given that it’s running Bosch mechanical injection versus the ME’s single Weber carburettor.

Accelerate hard and the car sounds faster than it is, emitting a guttural roar that doesn’t quite translate into heady velocities (Matthew reckons the Bosch system still needs some fettling).

The TVR’s chassis dynamics are more accomplished than the AC’s, although with an extra 120kg of heft (1163kg, compared with 1043kg) you sense that the suspension is having to work harder to contain its greater mass.

Grip is strong, and the servo-assisted discs are more powerful and confidence-inspiring than the AC’s unassisted discs, which are excellent but require plenty of effort.

The AC 3000ME is remarkably refined

Truth be told, I enjoyed driving both of these cars far more than I’d expected.

The AC may look like a Custom Car refugee, but its technical sophistication, well-resolved construction and bewilderingly good levels of refinement make it an exceptional GT, albeit one that lacks some aural drama and whose handling (in extremis) requires respect.

The TVR verges more towards being a sports car than a GT, despite its overall practicality and relative comfort.

It’s the car here that you can jump into and enjoy without having to think about it too much – and is all the better for it.

But the 3000ME would be my keeper, and the one I’d wager will command increasing reverence in the future.

Images: Max Edleston

Thanks to: the British Motor Museum; the TVR Car Club; Stone Cold Classics

Factfiles

AC 3000ME

Sold/number built 1979-’85/101
Construction central steel monocoque with tubular subframes, glassfibre body
Engine all-iron, ohv 2994cc 60° V6, single Weber twin-choke 38DGAS carburettor
Max power 138bhp @ 5000rpm
Max torque 174lb ft @ 3000rpm
Transmission five-speed manual, RWD
Suspension independent, by double wishbones, coil springs, telescopic dampers f/r
Steering rack and pinion
Brakes discs
Length 13ft 1in (3988mm)
Width 5ft 5in (1651mm)
Height 3ft 9in (1143mm)
Wheelbase 7ft 6½in (2299mm)
Weight 2299lb (1043kg)
0-60mph 6.5 secs
Top speed 120mph
Mpg 18.8
Price new £13,301 (1980)
Price now £22-30,000*

TVR Tasmin 2.8i S1

Sold/number built 1980-’81/122
Construction multi-tubular steel backbone chassis, glassfibre body
Engine all-iron, ohv 2792cc 60° V6, Bosch K-Jetronic fuel injection
Max power 160bhp @ 5700rpm
Max torque 162lb ft @ 4300rpm
Transmission four-speed manual, RWD
Suspension independent, by double wishbones, coil springs, telescopic dampers f/r; front anti-roll-bar
Steering rack and pinion
Brakes discs, with servo
Length 13ft 2in (4013mm)
Width 5ft 8in (1728mm)
Height 3ft 11in (1192mm)
Wheelbase 7ft 10in (2387mm)
Weight 2304lb (1163kg)
0-60mph 8.2 secs
Top speed 130mph
Mpg 21.6
Price new £12,800 (1980)
Price now £5-10,000*