The big engine, little car philosophy has been the cornerstone of gearhead feng shui since the advent of the internal combustion engine. Heck, the boys with their steam-powered conveyances in the brass era likely figured out a weigh to increase displacement and reduce mass, so it’s of little surprise that brands like TVR have built a legacy on giving pistonheads what they want. The TVR Chimaera is yet another V8-powered roadster with Miata-like proportions, and this 1996″Clubman” edition is listed here on Cars & Bids with no reserve and bids sitting at $10,000.

Thanks to Barn Finds reader Jack M. for the find. The Chimaera is considered an evolution of the Griffith, another popular TVR model that gave the Brits V8 power in a vehicle that looked like it should have a puny 4-cylinder under the hood. Of course, that’s solely in terms of dimensions on paper; any TVR from the 90s performance era had the requisite bulging fenders and fat, staggered wheels and tires to leave little doubt as to the performance credentials under the hood. This particular Chimaera is a Japanese market import, which means it has silly low miles and is right-hand drive.

Mileage is listed at 21,800 kilometers, which works out to be approximately 13,600 miles. Like many Japanese market performance cars, the previous owner(s) likely spent very little time devouring open roads before the car became a tax liability, thus showing up stateside practically new in the wrapper. As you can see, this TVR hails from the era when the cockpits were improved dramatically with more upscale materials and less of a hand-built feel (though these  cars were hardly built on a Henry Ford-style assembly line), and the leather seating surfaces and dash trim is in excellent condition. There’s some separation of the stitching on the gear shift boot, but that’s an easy fix. Given the tire-smoking performance this TVR offers, best be sure you’re comfortable with RHD before lighting them up.

The 4.0-liter V8 pushes out about 240 horsepower and 270 lb-ft of torque. Those numbers aren’t particularly shocking today, but who cares? It sounds amazing and is a proven powerplant, as TVR was still using the rickety old bones of the Rover V8 to power its premier sports cars (lest we not forget how many years they squeezed out of the Cologne V6!) Like most Japanese market cars, service records are limited, but given the simple mechanicals, your list of deferred maintenance to-dos should be fairly limited. This looks like an awful lot of fun for potentially short money if the no reserve listing keeps the price in check, and way more entertaining than a contemporary Miata.