Meet The One-Off TVR Cerbera Speed 12, The Car That Almost Became A Road Beast
Apparently the big boss thought the TVR Cerbera Speed 12 was too scary to be road going
On the surface, cars and movies may not seem like they have a bunch in common, but when one really thinks about it… They kind of do. Let me explain, much like movies, cars also have their fair share of success stories and failures, and just like how some movies make it all the way to pre-production only to be cancelled later, some cars suffer the same fate.
So what car am I referring to? None other than the one-off TVR Cerbera Speed 12. Now while I wasn’t very sad to hear about that infamous “Bat-Girl” movie getting cancelled, (if anything I was glad given the leaked plot), I am very devastated to know that this car may well have spawned a road-going version that anyone could legally own.
Moreover, this monster of a car was being developed as a road car, to be the basis for a new GT1 race car, but never made it to production. Apparently the story goes like this, after a test drive of one of the prototypes, the head at TVR, Peter Wheeler, thought it was way too terrifying to be a road car. So the entire project was scrapped. Sad.
As a result, the prototypes were disassembled and the parts were used in the company’s British GT race cars. In fact, it wasn’t even until a couple years later that he made the decision to rebuild one of the TVR Cerbera Speed 12 prototypes (the one shown in the main image) to raise funds for the company. Why? Who knows, perhaps he was just feeling sentimental.
Eventually, a private buyer was found for this one and only finished model that was personally vetted by Mr. Wheeler himself and they snagged this monster up. Yes, the rest of the world is extremely jealous, present company included. It was powered by a massive 7.7L V12 that made a reported 840hp, though power was said to range anywhere between 800 and 1000hp. Yes, this engine was truly something else.
On top of that, this insane engine was paired to a 6-Speed manual transmission, and yes, it is considered road legal. How? No one knows, but we are glad it is. After many years of very enthusiastic ownership by the individual that originally bought it, this beast was auctioned off at the Silverstone Auctions last year where it sold for roughly USD750k (about RM3.6 Million).
Do you consider this a happy ending or a setup to a sequel/prequel?
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