Perhaps the greatest TVR ever made just went for a price that makes that case even stronger. The only Cerbera Speed 12 intended for road use to still exist just traded hands for nearly three-quarters of $1 million. That’s the most money that anyone has ever paid for a TVR, publically at least, by far.
Many are familiar with the TVR Cerbera Speed 12 thanks to the Gran Turismo video games. In real life, far fewer individuals have piloted the car as this is the only remaining example. Multiple sources confirm that TVR boss Peter Wheeler deemed it too dangerous to build and sell to the public.
What could be so dangerous to a man who happily eschewed safety devices and technology? A V12 engine with somewhere in the neighborhood of 960 horsepower (715 kW). We’re not totally sure because this car broke the dynamometer during testing. To come up with a final figure, TVR dyno tested two separate inline sixes and added up the results.
Read: First Aston Martin DB12 Sells For $1.6 Million At Charity Auction
Evidently, the Cerbera Speed 12 is capable of some 240 mph when the rear wing is vacant. At this point in its life, the V12 evidently makes only about 840 hp (626 kW) after a bit of detuning. While tire technology might have been a limiting factor in the past, we get the feeling that a new set might make this monster a little more manageable.
According to Harry Metcalfe, Wheeler once told him that “within 300 yards I knew it was bloody hopeless.” That distance was the start of his trip from the factory in Blackpool to his home, and according to Metcalfe, that bad experience was the death knell. The Speed 12 never made it any closer to production. That being said, this one is off the table too… for now.
It took a final bid of £601,500 to win the Silverstone Auction for the car. That’s just shy of $750,000 depending on when exactly you do the exchange. The next closest TVR sold at auction, in terms of pricing at least, was a 1965 Griffith 400. It traded hands for $134,400 in Monterey, California just two years ago.
