Britisch sportscars overseas??
Discussion
Maybe not the wright place to do so,but I give it a try?
here is my question;
"how do UK people feel,when all those UK-build cars leave to other countries?
do you want this to happen or not?"
we(in Belgium)have verry few cars ever build,so we have to search other countries,
but I supose there are also other issues involved with other people,
my intention is to rebuild it in its full original glory and have fun driving it,for me it has to stay a UK-car,are we all the same on that?
hope not to offend anybody on with this question,but it is going true my mind for some time now,
like to see some reply
Thanks
here is my question;
"how do UK people feel,when all those UK-build cars leave to other countries?
do you want this to happen or not?"
we(in Belgium)have verry few cars ever build,so we have to search other countries,
but I supose there are also other issues involved with other people,
my intention is to rebuild it in its full original glory and have fun driving it,for me it has to stay a UK-car,are we all the same on that?
hope not to offend anybody on with this question,but it is going true my mind for some time now,
like to see some reply
Thanks
Good question!
It was frustrating when we were looking for an M-series car that most of the good ones advertised seemed to be disappearing across the water. At the time the £/€ rate was about 1:1 so it was clearly a good time to buy if you earn in Euro's. But that's just market forces. You do tend to get doom and gloom stories about Europeans "stealing" all our cars in the press at such times, as some elements of the British press do like to stoke British xenophobia!
The flipside is that many British cars were exported when new (most 2500M's) and quite a few seem to have made there way back here.
Other than being selfish and thinking it reduces the choice for me and drives up costs I don't have a an issue with it. I'm not one to keep checking the adverts and wondering what my "investment" is worth though. I just love fixing, improving and driving it
Cheers,
Gary
It was frustrating when we were looking for an M-series car that most of the good ones advertised seemed to be disappearing across the water. At the time the £/€ rate was about 1:1 so it was clearly a good time to buy if you earn in Euro's. But that's just market forces. You do tend to get doom and gloom stories about Europeans "stealing" all our cars in the press at such times, as some elements of the British press do like to stoke British xenophobia!
The flipside is that many British cars were exported when new (most 2500M's) and quite a few seem to have made there way back here.
Other than being selfish and thinking it reduces the choice for me and drives up costs I don't have a an issue with it. I'm not one to keep checking the adverts and wondering what my "investment" is worth though. I just love fixing, improving and driving it
Cheers,
Gary
This is a difficult question really. The British have produced lots of really good sports cars. Its one of the things, historically speaking, we have done well. Many of these are well within the budgets of would-be restorers and make a great way into the classic car hobby. Things like Midgets and Spitfires, Frog eyes, the various TRs, Healeys E-types etc etc were mass produced and ended up all over the world. the more specialist cars, such as TVRs and the other speicalist manufacterers from the 50s, 60s and 70s were produced in much smaller numbers, but are now becoming very popular with "collectors". This means that, although for many years they were cheap and available in the UK, their price is now going up, and people from all over the world are interested in them. The worry is that cars that go overseas will stay there, either because they are not re advertised in a way that is accessable over here, or they are not easy to visit to check out, if they are.
All this combines to mean that specialist cars, that have a following over here, are gradually drifting abroad and fewer are available to British enthusiasts. But thats life.
All this combines to mean that specialist cars, that have a following over here, are gradually drifting abroad and fewer are available to British enthusiasts. But thats life.
Right, so this is 'the' PH question !
Few things to consider
a/ we are talking TVR (what else......)
b/ i'm 'johnny foreigner' (hi, Steve !)
c/ classic british/english cars (not italian, not german, certainly not french or anything else)
d/ TVR has a global attraction (you guys should be very, VERY proud !)
conclusion: cars in the UK are 'about' 30% cheaper than they are on the continent
- them cars are RHD (sorry Rudy) and a dog to drive in continental traffic (truth be told) as in, if you feel the need for speed, there is no single make suitable to 'fulfill' your needs as TVR does (perhaps you could make a comparison on classic Ferrari/Alfa owners, driving a LHD in the UK.......)
Please also consider that mr. Filby described correctly the turnover of TVR' american exports over the years.
Having owned a RHD and a LHD TVR(still to date), i will not (ever) own a RHD car on the continent ever again, but for foregoing reasons continental folk will purchase 'your' cars, so please....STOP IT !
Of course, and correctly stated by others, the 'market' value of classic TVR' is rocketing and will (rightly) continue to do so, like or not
All things considered, i'm a bin's sourced, build-in-shed, no nonsense car-lover, or, in other words "TVR, once bitten, forever smitten"
cheers
Frank
(please feel free to react !)
Few things to consider
a/ we are talking TVR (what else......)
b/ i'm 'johnny foreigner' (hi, Steve !)
c/ classic british/english cars (not italian, not german, certainly not french or anything else)
d/ TVR has a global attraction (you guys should be very, VERY proud !)
conclusion: cars in the UK are 'about' 30% cheaper than they are on the continent
- them cars are RHD (sorry Rudy) and a dog to drive in continental traffic (truth be told) as in, if you feel the need for speed, there is no single make suitable to 'fulfill' your needs as TVR does (perhaps you could make a comparison on classic Ferrari/Alfa owners, driving a LHD in the UK.......)
Please also consider that mr. Filby described correctly the turnover of TVR' american exports over the years.
Having owned a RHD and a LHD TVR(still to date), i will not (ever) own a RHD car on the continent ever again, but for foregoing reasons continental folk will purchase 'your' cars, so please....STOP IT !
Of course, and correctly stated by others, the 'market' value of classic TVR' is rocketing and will (rightly) continue to do so, like or not
All things considered, i'm a bin's sourced, build-in-shed, no nonsense car-lover, or, in other words "TVR, once bitten, forever smitten"
cheers
Frank
(please feel free to react !)
Frank
will not show this answer to the wife as she is allready scared as hell to sit in a RHD-car!
I see it as a challenge,I like driving anything on 3 or more wheels,from liftingtruck to a 4-stroke cart(did some
good driving in my younger days)this is my first real sportscar,and I think it will be fun,
do hope more reply's will come,
Rudy
will not show this answer to the wife as she is allready scared as hell to sit in a RHD-car!
I see it as a challenge,I like driving anything on 3 or more wheels,from liftingtruck to a 4-stroke cart(did some
good driving in my younger days)this is my first real sportscar,and I think it will be fun,
do hope more reply's will come,
Rudy
Hi there across the water.
Nice to see you both back and keeping us up to date with your thaughts
I guess that as time goes buy more cars will head your way and even find that they start getting converted to LHD as well.
I know i had some annoying problems when i was over last month and i know if i was over often adding extra mirrors would have been useful when pulling out as with the hood on i had a blind spot however i would be tempted to leave off the passenger sun visor and add an extra mirror not sure but think that would be a great help also a larger than normal passenger door mirror.
Looking forward to seeing you both soon.
Nice to see you both back and keeping us up to date with your thaughts
I guess that as time goes buy more cars will head your way and even find that they start getting converted to LHD as well.
I know i had some annoying problems when i was over last month and i know if i was over often adding extra mirrors would have been useful when pulling out as with the hood on i had a blind spot however i would be tempted to leave off the passenger sun visor and add an extra mirror not sure but think that would be a great help also a larger than normal passenger door mirror.
Looking forward to seeing you both soon.
@Rudy: didn't mean to offend you, if you can live with rhd, all the better
@Andrew: its indeed merely thoughts, as i myselve got the car i wanted, as you know, an (original) lhd, blue, 3000S, so i'm catered for. And on top of that the car was originally destined for the USA, so haven't 'stolen' anything......
In actual fact your remark about the rhd on continental roads got me thinking, as in, most of you wouldn't even consider driving a lhd in the UK, and frankly i wouldn't the other way round.
@ all
Buying cars in the UK (by continentals) is born out of lust for a desirable sports car, at a low price, and then having to establish you have to live with a number of draw-backs.
All in all, this issue will not be resolved, but please do understand that TVR is a make to proud of, and a good, fun, sports car (but keep it a secret)
@Andrew: its indeed merely thoughts, as i myselve got the car i wanted, as you know, an (original) lhd, blue, 3000S, so i'm catered for. And on top of that the car was originally destined for the USA, so haven't 'stolen' anything......
In actual fact your remark about the rhd on continental roads got me thinking, as in, most of you wouldn't even consider driving a lhd in the UK, and frankly i wouldn't the other way round.
@ all
Buying cars in the UK (by continentals) is born out of lust for a desirable sports car, at a low price, and then having to establish you have to live with a number of draw-backs.
All in all, this issue will not be resolved, but please do understand that TVR is a make to proud of, and a good, fun, sports car (but keep it a secret)
WOW Thats a great idea you could then put a saddle on the centre tunnel and make it a 3 seater TVR not to sure where the steering shaft will go guess straight through the block but with all the machines you have there guess you could engineer something 
dont forget somewhere for the little 
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