[pedant]
Except it isn't! Cerberus was the multi-headed guardian on the banks of the Styx. Cerbera is a genus of highly poisonous plants otherwise known as the "suicide vine".
[/pedant]

ETA [uberpedant] Wasn't "Griffith" the name of an american TVR dealer rather than a corruption of 'griffin'?[/uber-pedant]

It was the boundary between earth and the under world not a gate but a river some times known as Hades like its ruler so i stand corrected on that.

I don't know, it didn't seem to do the T440R/T400R values any harm (not that many were made)....

That, and some genuine race history. Oh, and didn't they call it Typhon when it threatened to actually be released as a production model?

Plastic pig

Ah, well, now there's a story.

Under PW they built the TuscanR race cars, these very quickly were re-named T400 after only a couple, mayne even one race car was delivered (the rear end changed).

At the same time they built 2 T400 road cars which between motor shows had their names changed as well, the red one remained a T400 and the Fleetwood Bronze one was rebadged a T440.

So, by the time they came to start making the customer cars they settled on T440. They also had the idea of supercharging the car as an option and that car was called the Typhon.

They built 4 customer cars. The first one was sold under PW's tenure as a T440 to LNT. Then PW sold the company to NS. NS held onto the 3 remaining cars for a couple of years, taking a customer's car for himself and leaving TVR to quickly set the second one up to the original customer spec (this is why there are two in the same Reflex Charcoal colour scheme). These two cars were built to T440 spec. The orange one was built to Typhon spec but never delivered to the customer as the SC generated far too much heat and the in house sequential box had a habit of locking up at speed.

In the end NS dropped the T440 name and called them all Typhon and sold the 2 Reflex Charcoal ones to customers. They retained the orange one and it moved to the new shed where they built the MkII Sag. During this time they continued to try and get the SC to work as it was being used as the development mule for NS' first new car the Typhoon.

As we know the company then folded and much of what was left over was I believe taken by Multipart in liue of a rather big bill TVR owed.

Typhon:

Typhon was the last son of Gaia, fathered by Tartarus, and the most deadly monster of Greek mythology. He was known as the "Father of all monsters"; his wife Echidna was likewise the "Mother of All Monsters."

Typhon was described in pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheke, as the largest and most fearsome of all creatures. His human upper half reached as high as the stars. His hands reached east and west and, instead of a human head, he had a hundred dragon heads; some however depict him as having a human head and the dragon heads being attached to his hands instead of fingers. He was feared even by the mighty gods. His bottom half was gigantic viper coils that could reach the top of his head when stretched out and made a hissing noise. His whole body was covered in wings, and fire flashed from his eyes.

Typhon attempts to destroy Zeus at the will of Gaia, because Zeus had imprisoned the Titans. Typhon overcomes Zeus in their first battle, and tears out Zeus' sinews. However, Hermes recovers the sinews and restores them to Zeus. Typhon is finally defeated by Zeus, who traps him underneath Mount Etna.

It does sound a little more intimidating than a shrub.

I'm sure its what the Knights of Ni had in mind.

I like Tasmin & Tamora - if I ever have girl children this will be their names

I also love Cerbera, Vixen, Chimaera & Typhon but think the school bullies would have a field day with these

They all have epic names tbh for an epic make of cars

It was Valhalla.

"His human upper half reached as high as the stars. His hands reached east and west and, instead of a human head, he had a hundred dragon heads; some however depict him as having a human head and the dragon heads being attached to his hands instead of fingers. He was feared even by the mighty gods. His bottom half was gigantic viper coils that could reach the top of his head when stretched out and made a hissing noise. His whole body was covered in wings, and fire flashed from his eyes."

I completely sympathize. I've had a couple of violent vindaloos too!

Also, Vixen doesn't translate into German very well. You'd be driving something implying manual sexual relief.

I do like it that many TVR models have names, even if they don't always translate favourably (French MR2 anyone?). But a car sounds better with a name which is why American muscle cars sound so cool - Mustang, Charger, Firebird, Cobra, Viper etc. I work for BMW and the model list sounds like a computer programme. Good cars, but 320d..zzzzzzl!