Why hasn't this sold

[Mark UB]

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/800217.htm

I know someone who has been on track in this car and in his view it would struggle in Class A, it's been de-tuned to much.

I know it needs a full cage, fire, tuned back up etc

what do you guys think?

[heightswitch]

Mark UB said:

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/800217.htm

I know someone who has been on track in this car and in his view it would struggle in Class A, it's been de-tuned to much.

I know it needs a full cage, fire, tuned back up etc

what do you guys think?

The problem with the car is 2 fold.

It is either a very expensive poorly finished and horrible to drive road car or a butchered race car which will need a good few thousand spent on it to convert it back to a race car.

If the vendor was to drop the price to a much more realistic 14k then I dare say someone would take it on.

Neil.

[ridgeracer]

[/quote]

The problem with the car is 2 fold.

It is either a very expensive poorly finished and horrible to drive road car or a butchered race car which will need a good few thousand spent on it to convert it back to a race car.

If the vendor was to drop the price to a much more realistic 14k then I dare say someone would take it on.

Neil.

[/quote]

So i assume by the above comment you have driven the car then?

[Graham]

Fairy small market for a tuscan, and an even smaller one for a modified road running one... If someone wants a chevy engined road reg'd tuscan They'll buy it. I doubt dropping the price would make any difference to the number of prospective buyers. its certainly worth the 22k its up for...

Last time I saw it which was while ago it was a nice looking motor... I'd see no reason it shouldnt be competitive in A with not much more than a mod to the rollcage maybe a tweek to the tuning... probably a mare to drive on road rubber though!!!



G

[tvrolet]

Graham said:

... probably a mare to drive on road rubber though!!!

Mine runs very nicely on the road on Toyo 888s, putting out a little more power than the one advertised. Have also ran the Toyos on wet trackdays rather than the slicks and it's fine. Only real problem on the road is the lack of power steering at slow/maneuvering speeds...but not so bad I can be bothered putting power steering on it.

Given the costs of [re]building one of these for the road, the asking price seems an absolute steal; then again, if folks aren't buying at that price then the market seems to be dictating an even lower value. It certainly isn't a profitable business putting Tuscans on the road!

[TVRinBFG]

I don't think it has sold because I've not tried too hard to sell it. It gets more hits each week on autotrader/pistonheads/tvrwebmart than the rest of my stock put together, so hopefully brings some people onto the web site; and I like having it!

Only two people have been to actually see it; although I've had numerous phone calls and emails on it. (Usually people phoning about using it for track days and for their wife to occasionally use it for the shopping run etc. But whilst it is useable on the road, it's not that sort of car, so I've put them off it; and in one case sold them a Tuscan Speed Six.) I've had five different people make offers on it without seeing it, ranging from £9k to 18k. So there is some interest, but it's a specialist thing.

I've driven this car and the Topcats Tuscan at Silverstone GP within three weeks of each other and feel that this is nicer and quicker, although I realise that is not really subjective, unless it were back to back. And I am biased. I did take Andy Race out in it and didn't drive particularly well, hence his comment. However Thorpie recons it would be competative. (With a decent driver, I guess!).

It's not going to cost much to go racing: re-weld extra bars into the cage, fit a new seat and harness, fit an extinguisher, transponder, redtop battery, buy a set of extra alloys and slicks (use the existing ones for wets). Then labour to remove the extra bolt in rear chassis and some extra brake cooling ducting. And once you've got to grips with 500 bhp, 600 bhp is fairly cheaply attainable.

[Mark UB]

you know my offer included keeping the TVRMADS stickers on it James

[heightswitch]

ridgeracer said:

The problem with the car is 2 fold.

It is either a very expensive poorly finished and horrible to drive road car or a butchered race car which will need a good few thousand spent on it to convert it back to a race car.

If the vendor was to drop the price to a much more realistic 14k then I dare say someone would take it on.

Neil.

So i assume by the above comment you have driven the car then?

No Richard and neither am I knocking your workmanship.

A Tuscan racer is not a good road car. It doesn't have a very thick double skinned body for a start. why anyone would want to convert a tuscan racer into a road car is beyond me. You would have a much more user friendly liveable package with a cerbera, Tucsan (road car) or griffith or chimaera.

A racing car and road car are poles apart and can never be successfully matched together as one.

My original post I stand by. The car is horrible as a road car and now compromised as a race car. It hasn't sold because it needs either a hardcore lunatic to drive it on the road or a dedicated racer to convert it back to a challenge car As such it's too expensive when comparing the latter costs with what is out there already.

Please note I haven't in any way stated that you haven't done anything other than the best job in converting it to a customers specification



N.

Edited by heightswitch on Friday 21st August 17:47

Edited by heightswitch on Friday 21st August 17:50

[tvrolet]

heightswitch said:

A Tuscan racer is not a good road car. It doesn't have a very thick double skinned body for a start. why anyone would want to convert a tuscan racer into a road car is beyond me. You would have a much more user friendly liveable package with a cerbera, Tucsan (road car) or griffith or chimaera.

I can give you some justification

I don't need a 'friendly' road car [got the Masser for that]. What I do want is a track day car that's open topped and that I can drive on the road whan the sun's out; that's a challenge to drive well and so not just some uber-fast gizmo controlled German/Jap; that is a 'monster', with a proper large capacity V8; that I can build, rebuild and fix myself. The Tuscan ticks all of these boxes. Plus it is the most controlable and direct car I've ever driven...far more 'catchable' than my long-gone Cerbera. And I like TVRs . You may be surprised just what a good [but admittedly 'hard core'] road car it makes with only minor changes to the geometry setup. It even rides well on uneven surfaces with standard springs and Penske shocks.

And to put mine back to a proper racer I'd guess it just needs the diagonal put back in the roll cage, the removal of some trim and swap out the glass screen for plexiglass. It still runs the Pi data logger, has 6-point harnesses, the plumbed-in fire extinguisher, FIA kill switch, sealed batteries etc., although admittedly it's gained a few pounds with some reinforcement in the body here and there.

Personally I love it as a road/track car. I know you folks are all proper racers and I salute you for it; but for something that mere mortals can can run lap after lap on a track day without frying the brakes, be on the pace with some seriously exotic machinery, and drive to a club meet or event the next day, the Tuscan is real hard to beat. Floats my boat anyway . I actually see it as a whole lot more viable as a road/track car than any of the hot Caterhams.

[Mark UB]

tvrolet said:

heightswitch said:

A Tuscan racer is not a good road car. It doesn't have a very thick double skinned body for a start. why anyone would want to convert a tuscan racer into a road car is beyond me. You would have a much more user friendly liveable package with a cerbera, Tucsan (road car) or griffith or chimaera.

I can give you some justification

I don't need a 'friendly' road car [got the Masser for that]. What I do want is a track day car that's open topped and that I can drive on the road whan the sun's out; that's a challenge to drive well and so not just some uber-fast gizmo controlled German/Jap; that is a 'monster', with a proper large capacity V8; that I can build, rebuild and fix myself. The Tuscan ticks all of these boxes. Plus it is the most controlable and direct car I've ever driven...far more 'catchable' than my long-gone Cerbera. And I like TVRs . You may be surprised just what a good [but admittedly 'hard core'] road car it makes with only minor changes to the geometry setup. It even rides well on uneven surfaces with standard springs and Penske shocks.

And to put mine back to a proper racer I'd guess it just needs the diagonal put back in the roll cage, the removal of some trim and swap out the glass screen for plexiglass. It still runs the Pi data logger, has 6-point harnesses, the plumbed-in fire extinguisher, FIA kill switch, sealed batteries etc., although admittedly it's gained a few pounds with some reinforcement in the body here and there.

Personally I love it as a road/track car. I know you folks are all proper racers and I salute you for it; but for something that mere mortals can can run lap after lap on a track day without frying the brakes, be on the pace with some seriously exotic machinery, and drive to a club meet or event the next day, the Tuscan is real hard to beat. Floats my boat anyway . I actually see it as a whole lot more viable as a road/track car than any of the hot Caterhams.

Great Post.

Hardcore TVRs, Fast Bikes and a Ski nut.

you sound like my type of bloke, fancy a date

[heightswitch]

tvrolet said:

heightswitch said:

A Tuscan racer is not a good road car. It doesn't have a very thick double skinned body for a start. why anyone would want to convert a tuscan racer into a road car is beyond me. You would have a much more user friendly liveable package with a cerbera, Tucsan (road car) or griffith or chimaera.

I can give you some justification

I don't need a 'friendly' road car [got the Masser for that]. What I do want is a track day car that's open topped and that I can drive on the road whan the sun's out; that's a challenge to drive well and so not just some uber-fast gizmo controlled German/Jap; that is a 'monster', with a proper large capacity V8; that I can build, rebuild and fix myself. The Tuscan ticks all of these boxes. Plus it is the most controlable and direct car I've ever driven...far more 'catchable' than my long-gone Cerbera. And I like TVRs . You may be surprised just what a good [but admittedly 'hard core'] road car it makes with only minor changes to the geometry setup. It even rides well on uneven surfaces with standard springs and Penske shocks.


And to put mine back to a proper racer I'd guess it just needs the diagonal put back in the roll cage, the removal of some trim and swap out the glass screen for plexiglass. It still runs the Pi data logger, has 6-point harnesses, the plumbed-in fire extinguisher, FIA kill switch, sealed batteries etc., although admittedly it's gained a few pounds with some reinforcement in the body here and there.

Personally I love it as a road/track car. I know you folks are all proper racers and I salute you for it; but for something that mere mortals can can run lap after lap on a track day without frying the brakes, be on the pace with some seriously exotic machinery, and drive to a club meet or event the next day, the Tuscan is real hard to beat. Floats my boat anyway . I actually see it as a whole lot more viable as a road/track car than any of the hot Caterhams.

Most definitely a track car that can be road driven. and always much better than those coffins on 4 wheels

N

Edited by heightswitch on Friday 21st August 20:09

[Chuggaboom]

Mine's a pussy cat to drive on the road...yes v.impractical with low ground clearance and no roof, but an absolute blast !

Does have PAS as std. ex cerb 4.2 engine dyno'd at 350....v.quick pick up was the comment and he had to lift in the midrange coz of wheelspin even with 3 of us sat on the rear !

Since buying the truck/trailer tho it hasn't, but that doesn't mean it couldn't.

Its almost as per last race at Brands in 03 except for glass screen, passenger seat, rear fuel tank and hand brake.

[jellison]

Road converted race cars - Yuk. They belong on the track an that belongs with and AJP or a more modern light Chevy.

That is some detuning job down to 490bhp (if it ever was a Nascar lump, I doubt it - no way you go from well over 800bhp to that power), bet no C3 or D3 heads, billet crank, etc, i.e. easy to get that out of a moderately tuned SBC of that size.

And as for the 2 seet conversion lot JESUS - don't even get me started.