{"id":35841,"date":"2014-05-15T09:40:24","date_gmt":"2014-05-15T08:40:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.influx.co.uk\/wordpress\/?p=35841"},"modified":"2022-06-14T20:06:00","modified_gmt":"2022-06-14T19:06:00","slug":"interview-chimaera","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/features\/interview-chimaera\/","title":{"rendered":"An Interview with a Chimaera"},"content":{"rendered":"

During TVR\u2019s glory days in the 1990s the Chimaera was the British manufacturer\u2019s most successful model.<\/strong><\/p>\n

We caught up with a Chimaera recently at Silverstone and got the inside track straight from the mouth of the fire breathing beast.<\/p>\n

Influx<\/strong>: So first off what\u2019s with the name?<\/em><\/p>\n

Chimaera:<\/strong> Well it\u2019s from a Greek legend about a beast that is composed from bits of other animals. I guess that\u2019s what the marketing boys were getting at, I\u2019m made up of the best bits of others that were in our stable at the time.<\/p>\n

\"Chimaera-1\"<\/a><\/figure>\n

Influx<\/strong>: Ok, specifically which others and which bits?<\/em><\/p>\n

Chimaera:<\/strong> For the most part Griffith, that is I\u2019m from the same basic chassis, except I was designed as a tourer so i\u2019m a bit longer than old short stuff Griffith and I\u2019ve got a roomier cockpit. I also share the V8 engine with him.<\/p>\n

Influx<\/strong>:A bit more about your engine please.<\/em><\/p>\n

Chimaera:<\/strong> You can get me in five different engine sizes from a standard four litre right through to the big Daddy five litre. With the five you get 340 bhp which will rush you to 60mph in just over four seconds and if you keep your foot down you\u2019ll push a cool 178mph out of me at full tilt.<\/p>\n

\"Chimaera-100\"<\/a><\/figure>\n

Influx<\/strong>: Impressive speed, so you can\u2019t be too heavy?<\/em><\/p>\n

C: Nice of you to notice. But no, like all the TVR stable, I\u2019m fibreglass over a tubular steel frame. Keeps us all lean and mean, even as a tourer with a bigger boot than the Griffith my curb weight is still a slight 1060kg<\/p>\n

Influx<\/strong>: So how did the GT improvements play out in your sales figures?<\/em><\/p>\n

Chimaera:<\/strong> Without banging my own bonnet, pretty bloody well. I outsold the Griffith three to one. In fact between 1993 and 2003 I\u2019d done 6000 units making me the most successful TVR ever, and you can check that with Norris McWhirter.<\/p>\n

\"Chimaera205\"<\/a>Influx<\/strong>: I\u2019m afraid Norris is no longer with us but point taken. I read that you\u2019ve had some work done over the years to keep you fresh and up to date, do you mind talking about that?<\/em><\/p>\n

Chimaera:<\/strong> Not at all. It\u2019s par for the course if you\u2019re in production for ten years. The first was way back in \u201994 when they swapped my old rover SD1 gearbox with a Borg-Warner T5. I think it was in \u201996 that my wire front grill was replaced by a split intake model.<\/p>\n

Influx<\/strong>: Like on the Cerbera?<\/em><\/p>\n

Chimaera:<\/strong> Yeah , then in 2001 they fitted me with the new fared in headlights. The thing was that at our place all the design work and most of the components were done in house so the boss could respond to trends and demands real quickly and without big tooling costs. This was pretty rare at the time in motor the industry.<\/p>\n

\"Chimaera206\"<\/a><\/figure>\n

Influx<\/strong>: By the boss you mean Peter Wheeler?<\/em><\/p>\n

Chimaera:<\/strong> Yeah sure, I never worked under anyone else. He designed me, him and John Ravenscroft.<\/p>\n

Influx<\/strong>: And the rumour is that Wheeler\u2019s dog Ned designed your front indicator recess\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

Chimaera:<\/strong> Now you\u2019re being ridiculous, it was a dog for Christ\u2019s sake, next you\u2019ll be telling me the bloody thing could talk!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Meet TVR’s best selling model: the Chimaera…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":35847,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1779,6],"tags":[953,1113,2061],"class_list":["post-35841","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cars","category-features","tag-british","tag-british-cars","tag-tvr","manufacturers-tvr"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAn Interview with a Chimaera - Influx<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"All TVR cars have a character. The Chimaera has personality! 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