2000 TVR Chimaera 4.0

The TVR Chimaera was launched at the British Motor Show in 1992 and, unusually for TVR, the show car looked as if it was actually production-ready, and so it proved. At the time, TVR were basking in the adulation heaped upon the Griffith, and the Chimaera only served to reinforce the perception that here was a home-grown manufacturer capable of mixing it with the big boys. The 'S' series of cars were, at the time, still selling well, but with the advent of the Chimaera, TVR's management knew that their immediate future was V8-powered. Both the 'S' and Griffith range were all-out sports models, and the Chimaera's emphasis was slightly softer, but it was all fairly relative and in Blackpool a 'soft TVR' was akin to blasphemy, so the power was blistering.

Legend has it that during the styling of the Chimaera, TVR boss Peter Wheeler's dog, Ned, took a bite out of one of the foam models. Wheeler decided that he liked the new styling feature and incorporated the recesses to house the front indicators! The Chimaera's underpinnings were based on the Griffith's, which were in turn based on the Tuscan racer. Different dampers and an anti-roll bar were fitted, as was a more accommodating boot to reinforce the new car's Grand Touring image. TVR’s development of the V8 engine offered a range of displacements from 4-litres to 4.5-litres and up to the range-topping 5-litres. The Chimaera’s styling is now accepted as a perfect representation of 1990s British sports car design, neither retro or bloated.

It is the interior of the Chimaera, however, that sets it apart from its contemporaries, a masterclass blend of modernity and heritage. Whilst Aston Martin’s DB7 Vantage Volante was a rival in terms of speed, the Chimaera was 0.3 seconds faster to 60mph at 4.6 seconds, and the TVR’s interior was beautifully simplistic compared to the myriad Ford parts-bin switchgear and plasticky walnut veneers of the Aston. The Chimaera was the only sports car that offered the driver the raw power, exhaust bark and blistering performance of a bum-skimming old-school sports car whilst enveloped in a world of leather and wood. The walnut dashboard is both beautifully traditional and low-key, apart from the rev-counter and speedometer. The only other dials below the hand stitched top-roll are the cream-faced clock, oil pressure, fuel and temperature gauges.

First registered on 1st September 2000, this remarkable Chimaera 400 was purchased by our vendor’s late husband on 4th January 2003. The car was put into long-term storage soon after and is yet to receive it’s first MOT. The current odometer reading is 4,282 miles at the time of cataloguing and, although running and starting, an element of recommissioning is recommended.