Aside from its famous longevity, perhaps the most famous trait of the Rover V8 engine which powered Land Rovers and Range Rovers for nearly half a century was its versatility.

Whilst the earliest and most commonly applied Rover V8 models were the initial 3.5-litre model and the bored-out and highly improved 3.9-litre engine, there were several other variations which took the engine displacement all the way to five litres.

Some of these were quite unusual, only designed for certain markets such as the popular Australia-only 4.4 litre and the unusual 5.0 litre hybrid TVR engine used in the infamous Bowler 

Wildcat, but one version of the engine is much rarer than all of the others.

Whilst the 4.6 litre Rover V8 was the last mass-produced version, and was rather confusingly badged as a 4.5 litre for the TVR Chimaera, the sports car specialists did actually use a dedicated 4.5 litre Rover V8 for just 17 cars.

The TVR 450 SEAC (Special Equipment Aramid Composite) was a variation of the 420 SEAC, itself the top-of-the-line of the  “wedge” cars that TVR made in the 1980s. This made it the ultimate version of the ultimate version of TVR’s lineup of sports cars at the time.

However, replacing the 4.2 litre V8 of the 420 SEAC was a 4.5 litre example, providing 325 brake horsepower and a top speed of 175 miles per hour. This is 100 bhp more than the 4.6 litre Rover V8 despite the latter having a bigger displacement.

This new engine made the car even more expensive to build than the already expensive 420 SEAC, limiting it to just 17 examples and sparking the rumour that there are more cars modified to 450 SEAC spec on the road now than were actually put into production in the first place.