Bailey Blade news - Texas star - 2009

TVR may be dead, but the spirit of weirdly styled, big-engined supercars lives on.

In Texas, to be precise. This is the Bailey Blade, a supercar prototype from Texan entrepreneur Neal Bailey which, we reckon, captures much of the TVR approach to car-building. At least, that bit before the Russian chappie took over and messed it all up.

OK, the Bailey Blade might, on the face of it, be another one of those 'bash an AC Cobra around in Photoshop, pick a bunch of big numbers out the air but never actually get round to building it’ garage fantasties, but there are a couple of things here that make us mildly optimistic.

First, it looks cool. It’s not exactly a subtle, understated piece of design, but tell us you wouldn’t be impressed if one passed you on the motorway.

Second, Bailey seems determined to bring the Blade into production – albeit a very limited production. He came up with the design a couple of years back, and now has a generous investor backing the project. He’s hoping to have three prototypes on the road by this autumn, and reckons he could deliver five customer cars next year.

The Blade is expected to be powered by a Roush-sourced 5.8-litre V8 putting out around 480bhp and 450lb ft of torque, though Bailey believes an all-electric version could follow.

Easy there, Mr Bailey. Keep it simple. And best of luck.