Stealing a Cerbera (to New Zealand), evidence required.

[Redmist336]

I'm looking to import a Cerbera into NZ under special interest vehicle exemptions. In order to do so I need evidence from the manufacturer for the below.
- The vehicle is and was manufactured as a two-door coupe or convertible.
- The vehicle is and was manufactured as a high performance vehicle.
I realize that these two criteria are ridiculous in regards to the Cerbera but something from the manufacturer, press release, sale brief, etc would convince the pencil pushers of what a Cerbera is.
- The vehicles make and model has been manufactured in annual volumes of 20,000 units or less. (Omerta has some details linked in here, so this is covered)
- The vehicle is identified as being a collector’s item in one of the following magazines.
Car and driver (US)
Road and track (US)
Automobile mag( US)
Top Gear (UK) !!!
Top Gear (NZ)
Motor Mag (AUS)
Unique Cars (AUS)
However any known print material would be appreciated. I'm attempting to swamp the local authorised with evidence that the Cerbera is valuable to the collection of odds and sods cars in NZ.


Any help appreciated!!
Cheers,
Daniel.

[davidd]

Daniel,

If you look on ebay there are usually some cerbera ads for sale....

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/TVR-Cerbera-4-5-Specificatio...

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/TVR-CERBERA-ORIGINAL-ADVERT-...

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/TVR-Cerbera-Brochure_W0QQite...

If you need any help with exporting the car I'll happily drive it all the way through europe, make the sea crossing a little shorter

D

[crackedfinger]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boH0B7Dn3xc

Should help with the first 2 points

[JensenA]

And to quote from TVR's official Web site (Still stranglely workong)

http://www.tvr.co.uk/heritage.php

"TVR made use of proprietary engines, like many low-volume manufacturers, to power its cars for many years. However, there were those who opined that this somehow diminished the cachet of the Great British sports cars from Blackpool, despite the fact that the engines, by the late '80s, were very heavily modified to TVR's own unique, high-power specifications.

That began to change in the early '90s with the birth of the TVR V8 engine, which in 1995 became the world's first racing engine to be de-tuned and installed in a road car: the TVR Cerbera. The Cerbera was a rude awakening for the supercar establishment. "0-100mph in nine seconds dead," screamed Autocar magazine's front cover".

There was also an article on Cerbera's in October's(??) EVO.

Edited by JensenA on Monday 2nd November 23:26

[al 350i]

hi daniel, are there many cerb's in NZ? what about emmissions are they going to give you hassel? good luck fella you'll be the envy of all

[Redmist336]

Cheers Gents, good start! Looks like I'll have to invest in a "Cerbera brochure" or get a scan of it somehow.
The Cerb shocked the shyte out of me some time ago with my 6 year stint in the UK. Loved it's menacing gangster looks. I'm hoping it'll be a supercar that I can live with. It'll certainly be rare in NZ, I know of one road registerd in Christchurch and another two in the north island. There is also at least two currently not registered (one with an LS conversion). It'll be one of less than a dozen road registered late model (post 2000) TVR's.
In regards to Special Vehicle Interest it exempts me from both frontal impact (a strict US reg) and emissions standards (EU based I think?).
I've put a deposit on a very nice LW. Hopefully, post service, it'll be on a lenghty cruise.

Edited by Redmist336 on Tuesday 3rd November 03:01

[Omerta]

Hy Daniel, I've already got all of this somewhere (gathered for the same purpose) and I think all in digital format. I'll have a look and email through anything I find.

The guys at LTNZ are well aware that TVRs comply with all this (the frontal impact amendment rule was virtually written for TVRs) so you won't have a problem.

[gruffalo]

This may help

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TVR_Cerbera

[gruffalo]

You can also download the orginal owners manual from here I think.

It mentiones performance figures so should prove the question of being a "Performance Car"

http://www.thetvrsite.com/

[DonnyMac]

gruffalo said:

This may help

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TVR_Cerbera

Wikipedia said:

In addition, the cars equipped with the 4.5 liter engine were offered with the "lightweight" option which saw 1,200 kilograms (2,646 lb) trimmed from the overall weight through the use of lighter body panels and a slightly reworked interior.

[Jackal83]

i'm sure it says all that in the first 3 pages of the cerbera manual!!!

[Redmist336]

So far I've got,
Autocar April 95
Autocar Oct 95
Autocar July 97
Autocar June 96
CCC March 97
Evo Dec 01
Top Gear July 96
Wasn't there a couple of recent articles that Cerbies have been shot for?
I wondered if there was anyone with a scan of a Cerb factory brochure.

Cheers, Daniel.

[Google [bot]]

Don't forget to check the NZ forum mate, they'd be well placed to advise.

[JensenA]

Cerb sales brochure

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/tvr-cerbera-speed-6-4-2-4-5-...

[AJCERB]

Hi Redmist - I've got quite a lot of UK car magazine articles from over the last six years that I have owned my Cerb and which i'm sure would help you to make your point to the authorities. Give a me a few days to go through them all and make copies to get to you. My email address is [e-mail] if you want to drop me a line early next week as a prod. I'm sure that between us all we can come up with what you need. You could also show them the You Tube video from Top Gear of the Cerb creaming the field in a straight mile foot to the floor test against various perfortmance cars that got a bit of a shock when they were left for dead. Cheers AJ