Buying a chimaera
Discussion
I've been offer a few chimaera is my search of the right car and I'm trying to get my priorities right in choosing and this isn't help by what looks like the same basis car s have anything up to a £4k price difference!!!!
So here is a question, what's the cost of a body off chassis repair on average and the cost of of a top end rebuild? also what is more important for a long term cost point of view a good chassis or engine.
So here is a question, what's the cost of a body off chassis repair on average and the cost of of a top end rebuild? also what is more important for a long term cost point of view a good chassis or engine.
cejsmith said:
I've been offer a few chimaera is my search of the right car and I'm trying to get my priorities right in choosing and this isn't help by what looks like the same basis car s have anything up to a £4k price difference!!!!
The price differential you're witnessing is more about what the seller is asking and what he is happy to accept than any guarantee your getting the better car by paying more. Remember a dealer is only selling to make a profit, he buys as low as he can and sells as high as he can, the bit in the middle is what pays his mortgage.Personally I don't get a big thrill out of paying a stranger's mortgage in exchange for some wooly guarantee that's likely not worth the paper it's written on. If you're shrewd & patient you can buy a car in the same condition (& often better) by buying privately, after all that's where the dealer cars come from anyway.
Dealers look for desperate private sellers prepared to take a knock on price in exchange for ready cash, my advice is operate exactly like a dealer but on behalf of yourself.
cejsmith said:
So here is a question, what's the cost of a body off chassis repair on average.
Look to budget around £5k for a proper body off restoration, but this could easily escalate depending on what is revealed during the work. Its important for prospective buyers to understand there's a huge difference between a full body off chassis restoration and a car that's just been fitted with a set of replacement outriggers.cejsmith said:
And the cost of of a top end rebuild?
A top end engine rebuild could easily end as a full engine rebuild, again a budget of £5k is reasonable for a fairly stock full rebuild including removal & refitting, with the sky being the limit if you want more powerTop tips:
1. Buy the very best car you can afford
2. Avoid the temptation to pay a stranger's (a dealer's) mortgage no mater how friendly and silver tongued they are
3. Try to buy from an honest private seller whose lavished love & money on his car over a number of years of enthusiastic ownership
4. Use real cash as a bargaining tool
5. Find that car where the previous owner has done the big spending for you already
Point five being the best tip of all, because whatever you spend improving a car you are very unlikely to get back when you sell.
To qualify that a bit more I'll use your own queries as examples:
A: Spend £5k on a full chassis restoration - see the value of the car rise by £2k = a nice £3k loss
B Spend £5k on a full engine rebuild - see the value of the car rise by £2k = another £3k loss
Total: Spend £10k on the chassis & engine - increase the value by £4k = £6k down the drain
Dealers know this so will often go to extraordinary lengths not to spend a single penny on that car they bought for a knockdown cash price from a desperate private seller. This often gets as silly as refusing to fill the petrol tank, dealers can be spotted as they nearly always run their stock on empty preferring instead to begrudgingly add a fiver of fuel every test drive. I've even seen dealers ask the prospective buyer to put fuel in the car themselves.
These are definitely the guys to avoid as you can be sure, short of dragging a wet rag over the bodywork in attempt to make it shine, they have invested nothing in preparing the car for sale.
Ok so not all dealers are as bad as that but in my experience an awful lot are, you could buy a very nice car from Fernhurst TVR and know they've prepared it properly and apparently do support their customers if things go wrong, but you'll be paying a big premium for that kind of car & service.
The perfect scenario is to find a car that's had a full chassis restoration, engine rebuild, replacement suspension, new carpets and a front end respray already, being sold by a private seller that needs to access some quick cash.
But you'll be standing in a long que of gift of the gab greedy dealers to talk with that seller.
The worst scenario is to buy a car at strong money from a dealer, only to find the car is hiding a number of expensive faults and your dealer friend suddenly isn't quite the nice bloke you thought he was, sadly this is quite common.
Because there are many unscrupulous people out there that think being an amateur car dealer is an easy way to make a few quid on the side at the weekend, lets call this guy "The Chancer".
"The Chancer" is someone that often buys a car cheap because it has faults, many of them actively seek out such dogs as enthusiastically as they seek out naive buyers. He then spends as little money as possible to cheaply disguise those faults so he can sell on for an inflated profit margin.
Look out for "The Chancer", there's loads of them out there and many masquerade as honest private sellers not the dealer they really are.
Avoid the car being sold by someone who's only owned it a few months, it's almost certainly a "Chancer" dealer no matter what cock & bull story he tries to sell you.
And remember the best value TVR is seldom the cheapest, it's the one someone else has already paid for the big bill jobs before for you take the car on yourself.
Happy hunting
Hi Colin, I think you have put a few posts up on the subject? I suggested you go along to Fernhursts and be up front that you want to learn, not buy. See what good looks like, try a couple and they might even have a car they don't want to retail with full warranty etc at £10k ish. Chuffmeister did this and they had a nice car needing some paint when I passed by last time.
Thanks for the info, I have brought many cars before and I'm aware of the pitfalls , I tend to buy privately but I do like having as much info as possible, that why I like to ask lots of questions.
Buying a chim is different from when I brought a tamora because, there where so few for sale but as we know there are loads of chimaera and as I've said the prices are all over the place.
Buying a chim is different from when I brought a tamora because, there where so few for sale but as we know there are loads of chimaera and as I've said the prices are all over the place.
cejsmith said:
sorry tvrchimp which one is yours, there are so many!!!
Blue one in classifieds based in Essex
was in at central TVR last week to have any chassis work done prior to selling (as we all know one of the most important things), passed with flying colours, no work needed and Adrian stated it was solid with big thumbs up- had it waxoyled while in there so nothing to worry about for years on that front. Also engine has had considerable work done too so thats also good.
only issues with mine are slow windows, boot latch is tempremental and this morning the door locks have stopped working. I think just a fuse but havent had time to look at it.
had rear end respray last week, front end a few years back so paint is also pretty good and the hood is fairly new, interior has also been replaced.
Edited by tvrchimp on Thursday 9th July 11:45
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