CarBrandLogos archive · TVR · 1992

TVRChimaera

The Griffith with a boot, and the best-selling car Blackpool ever built.

Photo: SG2012 · CC BY 2.0

The story

A defining chapter in TVR history.

Explore the ideas, engineering and context that shaped the TVR Chimaera, then continue into its specifications and place in the marque's lineage.

1997 TVR Chimaera 4.0 - Flickr - The Car Spy

Origins

The Griffith sold on shock value. The Chimaera, launched in 1992, was TVR's recognition that a proportion of those buyers wanted to use the car — so it was longer, slightly softer in its suspension settings, more comfortable at a cruise, and had luggage space behind the seats that the Griffith did not.

1997 TVR Chimaera 4.0 - Flickr - The Car Spy · The Car Spy · CC BY 2.0

Design and engineering

John Ravenscroft's body kept the same organic surfacing but with asymmetric details, notably the offset front intakes and the exhaust exit cut into the rear valance. Mechanically it was familiar: Rover V8s of 4.0, 4.3, 4.5 and 5.0 litres, a five-speed manual gearbox, a tubular backbone chassis and glassfibre panels, with none of the safety electronics that the rest of the industry was fitting as standard.

1997 TVR Chimaera 4.0 - Flickr - The Car Spy · The Car Spy · CC BY 2.0

In production

It worked commercially in a way nothing else TVR made ever did. Over 5,000 were built between 1992 and 2003, making it comfortably the company's highest-volume model, and licensed assembly ran in Malaysia for several years. It remains the cheapest route into a V8 TVR, which is either a recommendation or a warning depending on how much you know about Rover head gaskets.

1997 TVR Chimaera 4.0 - Flickr - The Car Spy · The Car Spy · CC BY 2.0

At a glance

The facts that define it.

Produced

1992–2003

Units built

5,256

Engine

4.0 L Rover Group

Designer

John Ravenscroft

Technical specification

The Chimaera, in detail.

Production: 1992–2003; 5,256 produced
Class: Grand Tourer (S)
Body style: 2-door roadster
Engine: 4.0 L Rover Group; Rover V8 engine; V8 ; 4.3 L Rover Group; Rover V8 ; 4.5 L Rover Group; Rover V8 ; 5.0 L Rover Group; Rover V8
Transmission: 5-speed Rover LT77 Manual transmission; manual ; 5-speed BorgWarner T-5 transmission; BorgWarner T5 manual (500)
Designer: John Ravenscroft
Assembly: United Kingdom: Blackpool, England; Malaysia: Port Klang (TVR Sports (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd.: 1996–2003)
Manufacturer: TVR