This is a 1997 TVR Cerbera that now benefits from a comprehensive series of modifications by Austrian tuning firm Königseder. It’s been converted to left hand drive and imported into the USA, and it’s now being offered for sale out of Bolingbrook, Illinois.
The Cerbera was developed by legendary British sports car manufacturer TVR as a grand tourer to better compete with the likes of Porsche, Jaguar, and Aston Martin. The car was powered by the in-house developed and Al Melling-designed TVR Speed Eight engine.
Fast Facts: A Königseder-Modified TVR Cerbera
- This is a 1997 TVR Cerbera that has been extensively modified by Austrian tuning firm Königseder and which has been converted to left-hand drive, imported to the United States, and is now for sale in Bolingbrook, Illinois. The car combines British GT origins with bespoke European tuning work.
- The TVR Cerbera was developed in the early 1990s as a more usable grand tourer, marking a shift from TVR’s traditional two-seat roadsters. It debuted as a concept in 1993, entered production in 1996, and featured a fixed roof, rear seats, a classic TVR tubular backbone chassis, and a lightweight fiberglass body.
- Power came from the Al Melling-designed AJP8 Speed Eight V8, TVR’s first in-house engine. The 75º aluminum V8 used a flat-plane crank, single overhead cams per bank, and produced up to 440 bhp while weighing roughly 121 kg, delivering extreme performance for its era.
- Königseder’s 2010 rebuild included a stripped and powder-coated chassis, widened bodywork, OZ Racing wheels, Brembo six-piston brakes, and a modified 4.2 liter AJP8 with carbon airboxes. The engine was later rebuilt in Illinois, and the car is now listed on Bring a Trailer at no reserve.
History Speedrun: The TVR Cerbera
The TVR Cerbera was developed in the early 1990s as a new vehicle for the British sports car marque that would have genuine mass-market appeal. Whereas TVRs were famous at the time for being roaring, hairy-chested sports cars with two seats, no fixed roof, and limited practicality, the arrival of the Cerbera would signal a fundamental shift – it was a car that could be used by a family (with a maximum of two kids) year-round.
This is an original TVR Cerbera brochure from the 1990s, it’s the German-language version, but it doe give a good idea of how TVR was marketing the car. Images courtesy of TVR.
Initially, the Cerbera was developed as a styling exercise by TVR’s designers. The initial sketches looked promising, and a full-scale foam mockup was approved. Once the styling was more or less locked in, it was decided that a concept car would be built and shown at the 1993 London Motor Show – just a few short months away at the time.
The car was completed and displayed on the TVR stand where it attracted a flood of attention. Pre-orders began to flood in and by 1994 the car was in the pre-production design phase, it was then displayed again at the 1994 Birmingham Motor Show which resulted in hundreds of additional orders.
The original plan had been to use the pre-existing TVR Power Rover V8 engine in the car, the same unit being used in both the Griffith and Chimaera that was based on the Rover V8, which itself was based on the Buick 215 V8 from the early 1960s.
At some point during development, the plans for the engine changed. It was decided that TVR would hire engineer Al Melling to develop an entirely new V8 for the car, a modern engine that would power the Cerbera and become TVR’s first in-house engine design.
Melling is very well known in racing circles, having designed engines for Norton on a number of Formula 1 projects for the likes of Lamborghini, Chevrolet, Leyton House, and Benetton. He would work on a number of incredible projects over the following years, nearly buying out Rolls-Royce with a consortium of investors, and he developed his own sports car – the Melling Wildcat.
The Melling-designed engine would be internally called the AJP8 after the names of Al Melling, John Ravenscroft, and Peter Wheeler. Externally it would be called the TVR Speed Eight.
The 4.2 liter AJP8 “Speed Eight” V8 has been fitted with dual carbon fiber airboxes, and it was rebuilt under current ownership at Wrapped of Northbrook, Illinois, in the 2020s. It has a custom center exit exhaust, and a series of other cosmetic changes to the interior and exterior.
The engine was a 75º V8 with a single overhead cam per bank, an aluminum block and heads, a flat-plane crankshaft, and up to 440 bhp. It weighed just 121 kgs (267 lbs) and the block was so strong it could be used as a stressed member if required.
The Cerbera entered production in 1996, it had a new tubular steel backbone chassis, independent front and rear suspension, disc brakes on all four corners, a lightweight fiberglass body, a fixed roof, and seating for two adults up front, with two smaller seats in the rear.
Over the course of the production run the Cerbera would be offered with both the TVR Speed Eight and the later TVR Speed Six engine, with displacements ranging from 4.0 liters up to 4.5 liters, and power ranging from 350 bhp to 440 bhp. The company would sell almost 1,500 of them over 10 years between 1996 and 2006, and unusually for a GT car at the time the fastest examples could reach almost 200 mph.
The Königseder-Modified TVR Cerbera Shown Here
The car you see here is a TVR Cerbera unlike any other in the world, it was modified in 2010 by Austrian tuning firm Königseder.
As part of their series of modifications, Königseder stripped the car down to its chassis and had the chassis powder-coated. The Cerbera’s fiberglass body had fender flares added to accommodate wider black-finished 18″ OZ Racing Challenge HLT wheels, and the original front disc brakes were replaced with Brembo six-piston calipers and larger cross-drilled rotors.
As part of their series of modifications, Königseder stripped the car down to its chassis and had the chassis powder-coated. The Cerbera’s fiberglass body had fender flares added to accommodate wider black-finished 18″ OZ Racing Challenge HLT wheels, and the original front disc brakes were replaced with Brembo six-piston calipers and larger cross-drilled rotors.
The 4.2 liter AJP8 “Speed Eight” V8 has been fitted with dual carbon fiber airboxes, and it was rebuilt under current ownership at Wrapped of Northbrook, Illinois, in the 2020s. It has a custom center exit exhaust, and a series of other cosmetic changes to the interior and exterior.
It’s now being offered for sale out of Bolingbrook, Illinois on Bring a Trailer at no reserve with an Illinois title in the seller’s name, and you can visit the listing here if you’d like to read more about it or place a bid.
Images courtesy of Bring a Trailer
Articles that Ben Branch has written have been covered on CNN, Popular Mechanics, Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, Autoweek Magazine, Wired Magazine, Autoblog, Gear Patrol, Jalopnik, The Verge, and many more.
Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with well over a million monthly readers from around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
