It was always meant to be the Cerbera but I guess I was a chicken. Had I been more endowed in the gonad department I might well have had that seductive shape on my driveway a whole 3 years sooner; the head had overruled the heart back then and instead I had a dalliance with the more sensible, albeit still enjoyable, Chimaera. I consoled myself daily with the knowledge that the Chim would likely take 3 times as long to bankrupt me, when contrasted against the bank account pillaging tales that emanated out of Camp Cerb. Still I gawped however and felt somewhat empty inside whenever I saw "that" shape passing the other way.

Three years later, October 2005, and one fateful night in London made my decision for me. I attended a night run through some of London's tunnels with about 200 other like-minded idiots. An impressive array of cars turned up, amongst them the usual collection of TVRs flexing their audible muscle at the Chelsea Bridge start point. Now around my home town, my little Chimaera was considered pretty fruity, getting looks and smiles as I burbled past, but here I was simply outgunned and outclassed and you just know who the main culprits were. 15 minutes into the run and stuck behind a simply cacophonous 4.5 Cerb and my mind was made up, no more pussy footing around, a Cerb it had to be - accept no substitute!

So the investigations began and the knowledge increased. Engine choice was first on the list and was always going to be paramount; after only a little research any notion of opting for the 4 litre Speed Six was quickly dispatched; vast corners of the internet are dedicated to this potentially troublesome engine and I thought it best I steer well clear. Besides it had to be the V8 didn't it? Not the old Rover unit this time (it never went into the Cerbera), no this was the rather special AJP V8 designed in-house. A high revving, high power monster in comparison to the Rover lump, the Cerbera was the only road going model to get this engine. The AJP made the Cerbera what it is and goes a long way to furnishing the car with it's unique character; the pops, bangs (and flames once those pesky cats are out) are all part of the fun and I wanted in on the action. So onto engine size; choice comes in the form of 4.2 and 4.5 litres. Research suggested that, until you start modifying, there was little difference in real world performance between the two, with the 4.2 in fact often feeling the racier engine of the two. The 4.2 appealed also because the engine size (if not numbers of cylinders or configuration) has an interesting historical link back to some other special British cars that also carried a 4.2 badge on their bum, in particular the now iconic E-type. I very much see the Cerbera as a modern day E-Type, a simply stunning body with giant crushing performance yet available for everyman money. A 4.2 it would be then, the fact that they can usually be found cheaper than the 4.5 was but an added bonus.

Now comes the bit where I go slightly mad! I had noticed a vast spread of prices for similar aged cars, easy enough to explain as you buy on condition not age or mileage and these cars can go bad real quick if not cared for. However, with their GRP bodywork they can be made to look clean and smart with ease and there have been countless horror stories of people paying top dollar (even having had a professional inspection) to find they still wind up with a car which promptly drains their children's private education fund. Heck I thought, I might as well just go into this arse about face, find pretty much the cheapest car I can and then spend the money anyway; well it made sense to me at the time!

A car was duly sighted on ebay with a temptingly low opening bid price, the magical "no reserve" words singing out that this could well be my bargain. To top it all it was a late '98 model which meant it would have benefited from some modification to brakes and other bits that had happened earlier during that year of manufacture. It certainly looked tidy and boasted a well reported history file. So I bid and then bid some more, then sweated a bit and bid some more as the price slowly climbed……… finally mine for a rather unreal £10,800. For someone to let a '98 go at that price there had to be "issues" surely…

The car was dropped down to my TVR fettler of choice to give it a quick once over before I parted with the money. The car looked good, but sure enough 10 minutes in and some nasty chassis rot around the nearside front was discovered along with a leaking radiator and a couple of other minor niggles but the chassis was the concern. My fighting fund to get this car up to scratch was about £6k and if the chassis problem was isolated, then I could have myself back on the road with a decent service for well inside this. If however the problems were more widespread we could have trouble, but without lifting the body it was impossible to really know any further. Sod it, go for it and let the chips fall; I paid the money and left the car with the garage to work its magic, still not having driven the car so much as one metre.

A week later and the news is not good; the body is up and chassis is looking pretty rotten in a number of places. In the end it is decided that the whole thing might as well come out, all the rot cut out and replaced and the whole thing re-powder-coated, effectively zero ageing the chassis. Along the way and after a large number of "Well whilst it's in bits we might as well replace xxxxx" conversations, large parts of the car got refreshed, tidied or replaced. Two months and a "best lie to my wife" £9K bill later and my car was ready for collection. It was £3k more than I budgeted but knowing you have a fresh solid chassis underneath is a nice feeling when pressing on. So my £10k car became close to a £20k car, but the funny thing is, it still laughably undercuts the competition for looks, price and performance. So am I happy? You betcha.

Next time… my first drive in it.