TVR Chimaera

Book Six of the Iliad, in the standard rendering: “a thing of immortal make, not human, lion-fronted and snake behind, a goat in the middle.”

Most people, asked to describe a chimera, will say “a mixture of animals” and stop there. That is a modern, biological usage — genetic chimerism, the chimeric antibody — and it has bleached the original of its specifics. The Chimera of Lycia was not a metaphor for hybridity. It was an animal with a snake for a tail, and the snake was awake, and it bit independently of whatever the lion end was doing.

TVR, of Blackpool, built cars on exactly this principle for fifty years.

The Chimaera was the softer, longer-legged sibling of the Griffith — a proper grand tourer by TVR standards, which is to say it had a boot and slightly more compliant damping and was still entirely capable of removing itself from the road without warning. Rover-derived V8s from 4.0 to 5.0 litres. Glass-fibre body on a steel backbone chassis. No anti-lock brakes. No traction control. No airbags. TVR’s stated position, articulated repeatedly by its then owner, was that safety systems encourage people to drive badly, and that a car which will genuinely hurt you produces a more attentive driver.

That is a serpent-tail philosophy stated in plain English. The front of the car is charming — the lion, the noise, the shape, the little electric door releases hidden under the mirrors. The middle is agreeable. The tail is where the animal lives, and the tail does not consult the rest of the car before acting.

Bellerophon killed the Chimera from above, on a flying horse, with a lump of lead on a spear that melted in the creature’s own fire. The Ophidiary notes that this is the only recorded instance of a chimera being defeated by anything other than the chimera’s own rear axle.