PH Fleet: Lexus LS400/TVR Chimaera 400
TVR lives once more, Lexus carries on regardless
Straight into the studio
The battery was dead, no doubt about that, so I called Camberley Auto Factors (who just so happen to have a friendly PHer working there) and ordered a new battery which was available for collection the very next day.
Later that week I called upon a friend who provided the most glamorous jump start imaginable by using his glorious V8 Interceptor, as we planned to drive the TVR to PHHQ to fit the new battery once the car was started. Try as we might the Chimaera didn’t want to fire up and I ended up being a passenger in the Jensen as we pondered what to do next, realising that my garage was in too tight a location to consider a low-loader or trailer to move it to the workshop.
A few more weeks passed until a brainwave occurred. Every weekend I stroll past a classic car dealer called Classic Chrome and waste their time by looking at cars I can’t afford. Their premises were close to the garage where the dead TVR lay and so I asked if I could buy some mechanic labour time over at my lock up and thankfully they agreed. A week later and the CC chaps had got the car moving by disconnecting the old battery and attaching the new, this reset the immobiliser and the car started perfectly.
As with most things TVR, changing the battery isn’t easy as it lives in the passenger footwell and access is gained from underneath the car, but the mechanics did all the hard work for me after taking the car to their workshop and returned a running car back to my lock up later in the day for a very reasonable £70 (including the initial diagnosis work). Annoying that such a simple problem caused the car to be static for so long, but you live and learn.
Now full noise is restored, the sun is shining and my recently serviced Chimaera is back in business. It’s seems so long since I last drove it that I have almost ‘new car’ excitement and as a result I treated it to a few snaps at last weekends PH studio photo session too. I promise never to leave it standing for so long again, but after three months of inactivity I have all of my limited mileage allowance to play with in the sunshine, an unplanned bonus, which means I can disrupt the silence by doing more of this and yes I know I should have had the roof down...
Faults are few and far between, but the illumination behind the climate control takes a few minutes to come on after the lights have been switched on. It’s a common fault that is (so I’m told) rather tricky to fix, and as I am loathe to start dismantling the rattle-free dashboard I think I’ll live with it.
A new tyre has been fitted as it was approaching the legal limit. I’d heard good things about Camskill on the PH forums and was delighted to find my oddly sized P-Zero available at under £200 delivered, especially when I normally pay £250 a corner. The very next day a huge Pirelli arrived at PHHQ which looked more suited to a Diablo than a Lexus, but in the rush to get it fitted that lunchtime I rushed to the tyre shop forgetting to take a photo of it. Peace of mind is restored as I now have four P-Zeros in great condition and shouldn’t need to shell out for new rubber until next year. I might actually wash it before next year too, but let’s not get too carried away.
So all is well with the fleet once more, but the buying bug is starting to irritate. I have two great cars yet the urge to buy won’t leave me, but what to do?
Do I replace the TVR (I really don’t want to) or perhaps tweak it a little with upgraded suspension? Do I swap the Lexus for a Jaguar XJ, but then I’d be leaving perfect reliability for a more (ahem) characterful running experience.
While I ponder that I might just go and take a look at a cheap Rover SD1 I've heard about, just to relieve the craving you understand…
Fact Sheet:
Car: 1997 Lexus LS400
Run by: Garlick
Bought: Jan 2011
Purchase price: £1,800
Last month at a glance: Rubber, reliability and relaxation
Fact Sheet:
Car: 1999 TVR Chimaera 4.0
Run by: Garlick
Bought: December 2009
Purchase price: £12,995
Last month at a glance: It's working again and I'm very happy indeed.
MOT time for the Lexus and a reawakening for the TVR
How about a new challenge to soak up the spare pennies? You could get your bike licence and that would give you a whole new avenue for your fleet. You could float aroung the streets of London congestion free. (Note the extended mixed metaphor in the last two sentences).
Or you could build a kit or get a classic car, or take up trackdays, or get into advanced driving or better still learn how to be a home mechanic thus saving you future pennies and helping your fleet management. Just don't sell the two cars that you have now got so right!
Regards, Pilch
How about a new challenge to soak up the spare pennies? You could get your bike licence and that would give you a whole new avenue for your fleet. You could float aroung the streets of London congestion free. (Note the extended mixed metaphor in the last two sentences).
Or you could build a kit or get a classic car, or take up trackdays, or get into advanced driving or better still learn how to be a home mechanic thus saving you future pennies and helping your fleet management. Just don't sell the two cars that you have now got so right!
Regards, Pilch
Mechanics is a good idea, track days too but then I'd start to consider buying an E36 M3 as a track car
A couple of years ago I went to the Le mans classic with my usual eclectic bunch of mates, which included another Chimaera albeit with a driver that wasn't too technically savvy.
On the Saturday I noticed a crowd around said Chimaera. The owner had tried to start it but was just getting clicking and all sorts of odd alarm problems. As the "other" TVR owner I got asked to have a look and within 5 minutes or so it was clear his battery was dying. So I did the footwell bit (with the secret "how to get it back together easily" trick), unbolted the case from underneath, got the battery and rats nest of wiring out and tested it. One of our French friends agreed to go off with the owner to a French battery emporium and buy a new one. I left the bits as they were, grabbed a beer and headed for the circuit.
A couple of hours (and several beers) later I returned to find a new battery next to the old one. So I got another beer and refitted the new battery without bolting it in, only to find exactly the same problem. I was perplexed that my diagnosis was wrong and embarrassed that my mate had wasetd money on a new battery.
By this time everyone else had turned up (with beers) and was watching with ill concealed glee as I tried to work out why the new battery hadn't fixed it. Eventually one said "you did fit the NEW battery didn't you?" to which I scornfully replied "of course". This went on for about half an hour before it clicked. In my absence they had moved all of the stickers between old and new batteries, cleaned up the old posts and moved the plastic post caps, polished the plastics etc. so that the old one looked like the new one (which had been wiped witha greasy rag). To make matters worse during, the re-fitting someone asked what about the old battery as the bin men were going past, and I'd said "chuck it". They were all in on it the bar stewards.
Afetr the laughter had died down (which took some time) I had another beer and then refitted the real new battery (which they hadn't chucked, of course) only to find they had adjusted my "secret method" so I had to jack the car up to both the battery box back in.
At least the new battery did fix the problem, but of course I never have lived it down...... :-)
I did get my own back, but that's another story
A few years ago I had what has to be 'THE' moment when it comes to TVRs. I was walking through town when I heard this noise - it was clearly a TVR and it was being used. Then I saw it.
Silver Tuscan, black wheels, roof off and it's being caned towards a sharpish right-hander - but he's not slowing down! He turns it in, it steps out a bit - he corrects it and buries the throttle and it cannons off making an unholy noise.
The driver was a bearded man with a crazy grin - and as he passes the music he's playing in the car drifts out and for all the world sounds like the theme from a 70s porn film.
You'd think I'd dreamt it - but I saw that car a few more times over the next few weeks and it was always the same - being driven 10/10ths by a bearded loon with funky 70s 'doo-dee-doo' music playing.
Then he was no more...
Also - the local mobile phone shop owner ran a Tuscan for at least 10 years as a daily but has recently swapped that for a Conti GT which, I suspect, is a disappointment to him and everyone else around him.
It also sounds much louder that it does on the clip too.
But the LS CAN zoom when asked, albeit pretty quietly! I've had 2, a Ser 3 (yours) and a Ser 4. Am suffering post-sale blues currently!
After owning a Lexus, just about anything else is a backwards step, and that would include a Jag! (Or a Merc/BMW.....)
They may be a bit dull to look at, but to cruise in they are wonderful Passengers love them. Setright even wrote a whole piece on how relaxed passengers felt-or not - in different cars. Lexus scored highly, as did Citroen XM if I recall correctly.
http://www.batterybrain.co.uk/
I love the photos I must book one of those sessions this year, they look like really good fun.
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