Born in Blackpool in May 1923, Wilkinson left school at 14 and began an apprenticeship with a local garage.

He went into business for himself in 1946 aged just 23, when he bought a wheelwright’s business in Blackpool. He renamed the company Trevcar motors and began operation as a dealership and repair shop. He also undertook light engineering work.

The following year, Wilkinson built his first car – a 2-seater on an Alvis Firebird chassis.

Wilkinson then set up TVR engineering along with Jack Pickard, with the intention of building their own unique design of cars.

The first TVR was completed in 1949 and was a similar alloy 2-seater body on a multi-tubular steel chassis, with front suspension derived from a Brighton fairground car.

The company consistently maintained its ethos for building unique performance cars. Wilkinson and Pickard left in 1962 to run a engineering company which specified in fibreglass.

On retiring, Wilkinson moved to Minorca and spent much of time on his yacht.