According to thelastcerbera.com, the website that TVR created especially for the auction, TVR's owner and chairman, Nikolay Smolensky (spelled "Nikolai Smolenski" on thelastcerbera.com site), brought the design out of retirement for one more unit as an homage to the "beautiful but brutish bygone British sports car."
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The result was dubbed the "Speed Eight" (official designation 'AJP8') after Al Melling, John Ravenscroft and Peter Wheeler, a 4.2 L V8 producing 360 horsepower (268 kW).
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Enthusiasts still argue about whether this was a typical example of Wheeler's legendary frankness, or an equally typical example of his PR chief Ben Samuelson's knack for saving on advertising costs by creating a story.
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The Wildcat has a variety of engine choices, but the standard fit is a 4.5 litre Melling V8; a modern, redeveloped version of the AJP8 used in the TVR Cerbera.