TVR Cerbera 4.2

Probably the most dramatically styled car of the 1990s, the TVR Cerbera was certainly one of the quickest. Long, low and cartoonishly menacing, it was faster than a Porsche 911 Turbo to 100mph and had the most terrifying engine ever heard on a public highway. Totally brutal and bonkers in the finest TVR tradition, it also had a wildly outlandish interior yet with room for all the family.

In production from 1996 to 2003, the Cerbera (named after the three-headed dog that gurads the gates of Hades) was the third TVR manufactured under the leadership of Peter Wheeler after the Griffith and the Chimaera. The first TVR to come as a hardtop, it was also the first to have rear seats and the first to use an entirely in-house designed engine. Dubbed the ‘Speed Eight’ or AJP8, this astonishing 4.2-litre V8 was designed by race engineer Al Melling and was effectively a race engine for the road with a flat-plane crank and a power output of some 360bhp.

In a car weighing just 1,100kg, this resulted in a 0-60 time of 4.2 seconds, 0-100 in 8.8 seconds and a top speed of 170mph. Jeremy Clarkson famously pitted the Cerbera in a standing mile drag race against the best that Italy and Germany had to offer and it wiped the floor with the lot of them. And all this with no power steering, no traction control and no ABS! The engine later grew to 4.5-litres and a claimed 420bhp but actually proved slower that the 4.2 when tested by Autocar.

Firts registered in January 1997, this particular 4.2 comes in Starmist Metallic with a blue/grey leather interior. Said to be ‘superb in every respect’, it has been in the current ownership for the last five years, has only covered 45,500 miles from new and comes with a comprehensive specialist service history. Fitted with the essential option of air conditioning (you wouldn’t want to drive one of these without it), it also has the optional TVR Spider 18-inch alloys and a Pioneer 6-stack CD system. With an MOT until April 2011, this hooligan of a car is a sure-fire classic of the future and looks huge value at the guide price suggested today. Go on, you only live once…