Long term progression/upgrade

[oscrim]

Hi Guys,

Never really post on here as the advice and expertise is all there, just takes some searching... but been a browser for a long time now. I am 24 and have had a 93 chimaera 400 for a year and a bit now and im at a crossroads in my mind. I love the car and love driving it, but she is showing her age. Ideally I would love to spend time and money doing a full rebuild and get her like new. Unfortunately work comes first as it pays the bills and it means i spend a lot of time abroad and the car spends time in storage (i know this will disappoint and even shock many). I got a decent cash inflow with work so the question is:

-Spend 10k plus getting the interior, exterior, engine and chassis sorted?
-Sell up (at a guess its worth 7k) and put the extra 10k into getting a tuscan/t350?
-Hold on and save up for 2 years and buy a sagaris/new model TVR if it ever appears? (my brother has also thrown a Jaguar f-type into the idea pot).

Please... opinions and discussions.

[Voodoo13]

Stick with the Chimera. Make it personal, thats what TVR's are all about. If you sell it you'll regret it.

[S6OOH]

Hi

I used to have a wedge that was in great condition but I found I was improving it and each mod seemed to be bigger. In the end I sold it an got a Tamora, best thing I did. You can always then maintain, improve the next car

Richard

[oscrim]

Yeh, I realise that you can always upgrade and spend money, but its realising that for the money spend refurbing I could gain much more performance, better cosmetics and essentially more car. I've started looking at the T350 which I am increasingly interested in. Not sure if I want to give up that V8 grumble though!!

[portzi]

For a decent Tuscan I would say your looking at 18-20,000k entry level upwards with the T350 25,000 as an entry level. With your chim you could spent 3k on a full respray, ful chassis rebuild 5k, engine another 1-2k new dampners 800 upwards dependant on make, brake upgrades £500, interior retrim with new hood 3-4k ball park figure if you get leather retrimmed as well as carpets fitted and replace vinyl. So approximately 13-15k to get a good refurb, but then you will have a very well sorted car which will want for nothing for next 10 years apart from wear and tear items and servicing and fuel of course. The older tuscans and soon enought the T350 will be needing chassis and work and other wear and tear items as they will be getting on to 10-15 years old, but you will have a great looking Chim which is well sorted.

[Andy_J_G]

CentralTVR doing an offer (£11,700) at the moment

Full restoration package includes, New chassis & ancillaries, new carpet set, new roof, full interior retrim in leather, full repaint to existing color (excluding reflex), wheel refurbish, brake calipers painted and topped of with a full service. Normal price £12700.00 saving £1000.00.

Mine being done, picking it up Saturday... can't wait!

[oscrim]

This is a good point. The math just seems funny in my head... to spend 10k+ on a car worth less than that, when i could sell up and buy into one with the work already done. i guess its not the same though. Ideally i would want to get the time off work to do the restoration myself in my own workspace (not that i have one).

[oscrim]

Andy_J_G said:

CentralTVR doing an offer (£11,700) at the moment

Full restoration package includes, New chassis & ancillaries, new carpet set, new roof, full interior retrim in leather, full repaint to existing color (excluding reflex), wheel refurbish, brake calipers painted and topped of with a full service. Normal price £12700.00 saving £1000.00.

Mine being done, picking it up Saturday... can't wait!

Hi Andy,

I have seen this on Central TVRs site, was just about to look it up. I would be intrigued to hear how she has shaped up if you mind reporting back. How long have they had it for? Do they give the engine, gearbox and diff much of a going over? Did you end up adding any extras on top?

[900T-R]

oscrim said:

This is a good point. The math just seems funny in my head... to spend 10k+ on a car worth less than that, when i could sell up and buy into one with the work already done. i guess its not the same though.

The logical fallacy here is assuming that the 'new' car won't cost you anything on top of the entry ticket The reverse is true as you're buying a T-car that is at the same - lower - end of its market as the car you own now, so there will probably be a list of things that you may want to repair/improve. Then there's the prospect of a S6 rebuild looming; servicing is way more expensive and overall running costs will be 2-3x higher. OTOH a top to bottom, front to back sorted/refurbed RV8 engined car will cost you very little to maintain over a long period of time...

I think the best way of looking at this is not 20K in your Chimaera versus 20K for a T-car, but more likely 20K vs 40k for a later car brought up to a similar standard (and yes, you will get a more capable car overall in the latter case, conform expectation for doubling your outlay).

Edited by 900T-R on Tuesday 9th June 06:48

[oscrim]

This is true. In the long run its probably wiser if I spend enough that I'm happy with my current car, and save the rest for a rainy day. As you say, every car will have its issues and therefore will still cost me more on top. so now the consideration of method of restoration.

[sebhaque]

oscrim said:

I love the car and love driving it

If you truly mean this you'd put the money into fixing the old girl and improving it to the level where you'll fall in love all over again.

As alluded to earlier, spending the money on a newer TVR just puts you in the same situation as you are now, except you're £10k lighter as a result. If you get your Chim fixed, you know what's been done and you know who's done it. Spending £20k on a Tusc/T350 is towards the lower end of the market, where the cars are likely to have been put up for sale due to impending/allegedly "minor" fixes - particularly cars sold by those not on PH/TVRCC.

If it were me I'd rather put the money into a car I love and have the peace of mind that it's been fastidiously sorted. If you want a nose around a T350C in case you do consider changing, I'm Bristol-based and would be happy to take you for a spin.

[TA14]

Financially you'd be better to sell yours and buy a well sorted 500 or 460 engine Chim.

[portzi]

TA14 said:

Financially you'd be better to sell yours and buy a well sorted 500 or 460 engine Chim.

That is very true, especially if you buy it from the northwest and its been cared for by either X-works or V-trackroad, as you know it will have been serviced and maintained correctly, as you cant take it for granted that if an advert says its had chassis work carried out and new outriggers that this job has been done competently.

[portzi]

Andy_J_G said:

CentralTVR doing an offer (£11,700) at the moment

Full restoration package includes, New chassis & ancillaries, new carpet set, new roof, full interior retrim in leather, full repaint to existing color (excluding reflex), wheel refurbish, brake calipers painted and topped of with a full service. Normal price £12700.00 saving £1000.00.

Mine being done, picking it up Saturday... can't wait!

Pictures on saturday please Andy, are you going to any TVR meets soon. I would like to see your beauty.

[ray von]

portzi said:

you cant take it for granted that if an advert says its had chassis work carried out and new outriggers that this job has been done competently.

This is what I'm hearing more and more for someone looking to buy it's a nightmare. People saying they've had outriggers done and you really have no idea how they've been done. I think I'd prefer to buy a one that needs doing, or in the op's case keep his and get it done himself.
As a side note I've seen two cars that have had a FULL body off chassis job and can't say I was that impressed, I've also seen another car that had outriggers done by the same firm and they were rusting after 2 years
Sorry for drifting off topic

[N7GTX]

oscrim said:

This is a good point. The math just seems funny in my head... to spend 10k+ on a car worth less than that, when i could sell up and buy into one with the work already done. i guess its not the same though. Ideally i would want to get the time off work to do the restoration myself in my own workspace (not that i have one).

Now I'll confuse you a bit more. After selling my Cerb, decided - after a lot of swaying back and forward - I wanted a Rover V8 so found a Chim with my max budget at £10k. Chassis had to be good, not repaired because, as has been said, who knows how good the work is? My personal preference was for a car that had not been resprayed but otherwise in a reasonably tidy condition and stone chips were perfectly acceptable. Interior had to be quite decent too. So, after getting the car, I wanted a turbo upgrade and that involved a full engine rebuild which in total cost more than the car. So, on paper my maths are crazy.
Just before I chose the Chim, I viewed a Tuscan locally which was up for just shy of £20k. I drove it, liked it a lot but for me, the engine rebuild fear factor took hold (probably totally unwarranted but once its in your head...) plus it needed some cosmetic interior and exterior work which I cannot do myself. For roughly the same outlay I could have had the Tuscan for the total cost of mine.

My maths are no good. But the point is I do not think of how much I have paid out versus how much is the car worth. I didn't do this to make money (I definitely wont), I did it because I wanted a Chim with a V8, I wanted it to go faster and give me the buzz on A road driving, and, most importantly, I wanted to be able to enjoy it. That's the way I look at it.

[TA14]

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/t...

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/t...

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/t...

[oscrim]

I think having heard all the advice the way im thinking is to work on the small niggles... mainly carpet and seats... leave the plastic leather and paintwork. get the chassis inspected and go from there. An upgrade to a sorted one is tempting but no..