How much to completely re-furb a Griff?
Discussion
What I am getting at is, how much would it cost a professional outfir to buy in old Griffs and completely re-build them?
Maybe stick with the RV8, maybe add an edge to the package and stick in something different.
But, assuming that it could be done for about £15K and that many Griffs can be sourced for about £10K or less, would you pay £35-£40K for what would basically be a brand new and in theory fully sorted Griff or Chimp?
If so, why hasn't a dealer started doing this on a formal basis?
Maybe stick with the RV8, maybe add an edge to the package and stick in something different.
But, assuming that it could be done for about £15K and that many Griffs can be sourced for about £10K or less, would you pay £35-£40K for what would basically be a brand new and in theory fully sorted Griff or Chimp?
If so, why hasn't a dealer started doing this on a formal basis?
I thought this approach would work for a long time now. Basically do what TVR should have done back in the late 90s - improve the quality and remove some of the shortcomings such as the shunty 5 litre by improving the 450 cross-bolted engines with fully mapped ignition and fuelling. A refined but more potent Griffith with improved heating/air con, improved hood, improved lighting, fine-tuned chassis, upgraded brakes, better chassis protection, etc. would IMO be a real winner and easily worth 35K+.
Someone's got to do it.
Ricardo
Someone's got to do it.
Ricardo
Pay £40k for an 'in theory' fully sorted Griff?
No chance. I love my pain in the arse Griff and the only thing I'd swap it for would be an SE. Purely for the fact they are more collectable.
So for that £40k I'd tinker with the one I have and sort out its own problems for less than £5k and keep the true character of my Griffith in tact. The other £20k would sit in the bank so I could afford to join those lucky few who go on Eurohoon and the like.
edited because barreti karnt speel
No chance. I love my pain in the arse Griff and the only thing I'd swap it for would be an SE. Purely for the fact they are more collectable.
So for that £40k I'd tinker with the one I have and sort out its own problems for less than £5k and keep the true character of my Griffith in tact. The other £20k would sit in the bank so I could afford to join those lucky few who go on Eurohoon and the like.
edited because barreti karnt speel
Edited by barreti on Monday 20th November 17:50
It might not appeal to some of the current belt-and-braces secondhand Griffith owners BUT that's the point - it would appeal to a whole new market of less hands-on customers - IMO if TVR had done this in the late 90s a whole new market would have opened up and so many sales wouldn't have been lost to German sports cars.
Better late than never - Eagle have done it with E-types BUT they are too expensive partly because of the starting price for old E-types.
There has to be a market for up to 100 revamped Griffiths a year - a good four man operation giving around 10k profit per car.
Ricardo
Better late than never - Eagle have done it with E-types BUT they are too expensive partly because of the starting price for old E-types.
There has to be a market for up to 100 revamped Griffiths a year - a good four man operation giving around 10k profit per car.
Ricardo
I'll let you know how much my restoration comes to... I had considered what you're discussing if the numbers come out favourably.
My plan was for completely rewiring the car, new ECU with decent mapping to run a mildly tuned (optional how far to go) engine, uprated brakes and suspension along with the chassis and stuff already mentioned.
All I need is the time to finish it now.
My plan was for completely rewiring the car, new ECU with decent mapping to run a mildly tuned (optional how far to go) engine, uprated brakes and suspension along with the chassis and stuff already mentioned.
All I need is the time to finish it now.
I'm not sure you would see many takers when you can get an SE for anywhere from £22k to £28k.
Would people rearly pay £35k for what is Still a circa 1992 - 1997 restored car? or are you hinting at something a little bit more special than a restored original?
I know from experience that your figure is about right tho, having nearly finished restoring my griff - new engine, suspension, uprated brakes, cooling system etc...and thats without a body off chassis restoration nor the upholstery/carpets and a new paint job. So any profit is going to be very marginal.
Would people rearly pay £35k for what is Still a circa 1992 - 1997 restored car? or are you hinting at something a little bit more special than a restored original?
I know from experience that your figure is about right tho, having nearly finished restoring my griff - new engine, suspension, uprated brakes, cooling system etc...and thats without a body off chassis restoration nor the upholstery/carpets and a new paint job. So any profit is going to be very marginal.
you could offer the restoration in stages, chassis, engine, interior. With prices going further south seems a better idea to keep and modify/restore your Griff than to sell. I have to say there are certain engine mods you can do that will significantly increase the drivability of the Griff with not that much outlay. But having spent the afternoon and evening taking the engine out and stripping the suspension down, its not much fun
It's been looked into, but the problem is people actually putting their money down (or rather not putting their money down). I think £15k is optimistic too. A body off chassis refurb is reckoned to be £2-£4k, full panels off repray £3-£5k (some have paid more), interior retrim £2k. Then there's a whole engine to build, gearbox to mate to, brakes to refurb/replace. I think costs would get prohibitive pretty quickly.
But if I won the lottery, a sweet precat with big brakes, 18" spiders, stack dash, alcantara retrim with slim bucket seats and a BMW 4.4 V8 would do it. Or maybe the twin turbo V8 out of the new S4...
But if I won the lottery, a sweet precat with big brakes, 18" spiders, stack dash, alcantara retrim with slim bucket seats and a BMW 4.4 V8 would do it. Or maybe the twin turbo V8 out of the new S4...
bluebottle said:
I'm not sure you would see many takers when you can get an SE for anywhere from £22k to £28k.
Would people rearly pay £35k for what is Still a circa 1992 - 1997 restored car? or are you hinting at something a little bit more special than a restored original?
I know from experience that your figure is about right tho, having nearly finished restoring my griff - new engine, suspension, uprated brakes, cooling system etc...and thats without a body off chassis restoration nor the upholstery/carpets and a new paint job. So any profit is going to be very marginal.
Would people rearly pay £35k for what is Still a circa 1992 - 1997 restored car? or are you hinting at something a little bit more special than a restored original?
I know from experience that your figure is about right tho, having nearly finished restoring my griff - new engine, suspension, uprated brakes, cooling system etc...and thats without a body off chassis restoration nor the upholstery/carpets and a new paint job. So any profit is going to be very marginal.
Was thinking that the end product would need to be a real step on from the original product, but retain the original ethic.
The simplest way to do this would be to drop in an all new drive chain along the lines of a modern V8 that would get people excited.
Sorting the suspension and chassis has already been done, the interior would need to change much but just be a little fresher.
Then just stick a new badge on the back.
The idea of being able to send your own Griff in for staged work would add coffers to the enterprise, but the essence of the concept would be to deliver a spanking 400bhp retro classic at a price that would allow new buyers to take the plunge as a great second car.
I really think you could turn out a fair few each year with a minimal work force.
Body off, chassis goes off to be treated and have all new drive train fitted. Body sent off to be painted. Put back together in workshop and general cosmetics carried out. Delievered to exstatic loony.
Personally think its a great idea.use a 4.0 as a base. Body off, chassis recoated and waxoiled, poly bushed rose linked Gaz or Nitron suspension, full leather interior, five stud conversion with a choice of more wheels, a 4.6 JE or V8D engine. If you ve got the trade contacts, money and a big garage....Why not 
jester7 said:
Personally think its a great idea.use a 4.0 as a base. Body off, chassis recoated and waxoiled, poly bushed rose linked Gaz or Nitron suspension, full leather interior, five stud conversion with a choice of more wheels, a 4.6 JE or V8D engine. If you ve got the trade contacts, money and a big garage....Why not
I'm just surprised that one of the main dealers hasn't started offering this service as a way of generating revenue. Give it their own slightly altered brand, ie Range Rover Overfinch kind of thing.
You can either hand over your Griff and get the new one back in 6 months or just buy one already done.
I have to say that a 'new' Griff as smart looking as the SE with a couple of 'extras' priced at £40K would probably find a fair few buyers. Especially if a new engine was dropped in that met all regulations going forward.
Quinny said:
Horse_Apple said:
would you pay £35-£40K for what would basically be a brand new and in theory fully sorted Griff or Chimp?
If so, why hasn't a dealer started doing this on a formal basis?
If so, why hasn't a dealer started doing this on a formal basis?
No way, if I were in that kind of market, I'd just add another 5k in and get a brand new Marcos TSO
The Marcos might be a good car (not convinced myself because it's naff inside) but it's no substitute for a TVR Griffith! Anyway I echo what most people have said, if there was a market for this people would be already doing it themselves. It's not much of a process to take a £10k Griff and throw money at it to do it up to one's own spec but I'd bet it would cost the best part of another £10-£15k 
Edited by richb on Tuesday 21st November 17:46
Hi boys...err....we already do this....we've rebuilt several Griffs now to standard spec but are now starting to get more enquires for bespoke projects currently re-building an early 500 from the ground up, body off chassis, for a customer which will look like a standard Griff (as I dont believe you can improve on perfection!) but will have a bullet proof coated chassis for all year round protection, polybushed and GAZ suspension, our own 5 stud conversion to take 18" Spiders,Wilwood brakes, 7" Hella headlamp (SE) conversion and a rear lamp conversion (still in production!) which will be a similar approach to the later Chimaeras and Cerbs ie. a four round lamp arrangement with polycarb cover which will be the same shape as the original cav lights and not blended in so as to maintain the original lines of the car...oh and powered by a corvette motor through a ZF 6 speed which is currently sitting in a crate on the other side of the atlantic awaiting despatch! The project should run at around the £25k mark depending on how mad my customer goes on paint and interior re-trim when we get to that stage.We feel this is a pretty good price for a fully rebuilt, sorted car but in keeping with the original. Any other interested parties please contact us!we are Griff mad and will build you anything you want as long as it looks like a Griff at the end! Ian.
While we are on the subject this may be really controversial but if any of you guys that live in Blackpool that used to work at a well known sportscar manufacturer fancy "re-manufacturing" a quantity of a certain tubular frame chassis and a fibreglass bodyshell to supply us as parts we could DEFINATELY provide the orders....oh to build new Griffs again....!
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