A 1990s British sports car with an AJP V8 that wasn't supposed to survive. Bought rough, rebuilt on camera, every part documented. This is the long-form restoration arc — and the reason most of the other projects on this site exist.
TVR Cerbera (1996–2006). Hand-built in Blackpool, fibreglass body, steel backbone chassis, no power steering, no ABS, and either an AJP V8 or a Speed Six straight-six. Mine has the AJP — the engine the rest of the industry said couldn't be made to work reliably.
| Bought | 2025, rough but running |
|---|---|
| Trim | burgundy on grey leather |
| Plate | N800 TVR (dateless) |
| Status | actively on the lift, weekly progress |
| Series | Cerbera PT1 → PT∞ |
Each part is a stand-alone episode — but they stack into one continuous restoration story.
Buying the car, the drive home, the first list of things wrong.
Cooling, brakes, suspension, electrics, the things you can't skip before paint.
Stainless replacement, sender refurb, the kind of job no one wants to film but everyone needs to see.
Removing the original 2× 7" lamps for 4× 90mm quad lamps, fibreglassed in. The 24-min saga edit covers six weeks of failed 3D-printed bezel iterations before the final fit.
3D-printed polyurethane diff bushes, brake-line replacement, then back to bodywork. Eventually the DigiDial gauges go in the dash.
Every Cerbera episode in order, from acquisition through the current build. Best place to start.
↗ written referenceStructured restoration notes, supplier links, and per-system pages. Updated as the build progresses.
↗ interactive · voteThe wheels are going to be resprayed. Try colours on the real car, suggest your favourite, and vote — the most-popular colour is a genuine contender for the paint.