Used Cerbera 4.5 - what do you advise?
Discussion
I am thinking seriously of buying a used Cerbera, preferably a 4.5 V8, and a budget of £15-16k seems to open up good possibilities without probably experiencing any more depreciation (?)
I guess every potential buyer is worried about reliability and I remember a friend of mine once gave up teh idea after I showed him the website at www.cerbera.co.uk (I bet you guys are familiar with that!)
However Cerberas have been around for a few years now and with such an enthusiast following (similar to the one I enjoyed when I owned Corvettes though now I could do with a change...) I would imagine there will always be someone who has the answers to any technical problem I may experience and there must have been updates and fixes over the years so maybe they are a more reliable buy now.
To give you some background about the kind of owner I am: I am pretty competent mechanically and have tackled a V8 engine rebuild (Pontiac 6.6 V8), countless intake, exhaust, head removals, water pumps, electrical problems, wheel bearings...in fact near enough everything bar bodywork repairs which I am just not good enough at.
So I would imagine I would make a "typical" owner, if there is such a thing, as I would enjoy working on the car (not quite as much as driving it!)
If you want to know how brave I am (!) my last car was callaway Twin Turbo Corvette and I did pretty much all the work on that (except a clutch as the gearbox was just too d*mned heavy!) and if you find old reviews of that car (made 1987-1991) all they used to do is blow up, break down, or retire early when entered in races such a Le Mans.
However my logic with that car was "if it's been on the road 12 years and covered 31k without blowing up it must be a sound car" and so it (generally..)proved to be.
So what would you advise when looking at a Cerbera? I generally prefer to buy privately as I like to see what kind of owner the car has although the kind of dealerships that sell these cars look like specialists in general. Do you advise an inspection or is it a car you could apply usual "safe buying" principles to? For example I have bought Corvettes, XJ-S V12s and other Yankee V8 cars just by giving the cars a good once-over.
Do low miles help? A lot of cars seem to have had engine rebuilds I notice which look pretty expensive.
Obviously for me, as I guess for most of you, this would be a "sunny weekend" car and I Would expect plenty of smiles from the driving experience!!!!
Cheers in advance. Malc
I guess every potential buyer is worried about reliability and I remember a friend of mine once gave up teh idea after I showed him the website at www.cerbera.co.uk (I bet you guys are familiar with that!)
However Cerberas have been around for a few years now and with such an enthusiast following (similar to the one I enjoyed when I owned Corvettes though now I could do with a change...) I would imagine there will always be someone who has the answers to any technical problem I may experience and there must have been updates and fixes over the years so maybe they are a more reliable buy now.
To give you some background about the kind of owner I am: I am pretty competent mechanically and have tackled a V8 engine rebuild (Pontiac 6.6 V8), countless intake, exhaust, head removals, water pumps, electrical problems, wheel bearings...in fact near enough everything bar bodywork repairs which I am just not good enough at.
So I would imagine I would make a "typical" owner, if there is such a thing, as I would enjoy working on the car (not quite as much as driving it!)
If you want to know how brave I am (!) my last car was callaway Twin Turbo Corvette and I did pretty much all the work on that (except a clutch as the gearbox was just too d*mned heavy!) and if you find old reviews of that car (made 1987-1991) all they used to do is blow up, break down, or retire early when entered in races such a Le Mans.
However my logic with that car was "if it's been on the road 12 years and covered 31k without blowing up it must be a sound car" and so it (generally..)proved to be.
So what would you advise when looking at a Cerbera? I generally prefer to buy privately as I like to see what kind of owner the car has although the kind of dealerships that sell these cars look like specialists in general. Do you advise an inspection or is it a car you could apply usual "safe buying" principles to? For example I have bought Corvettes, XJ-S V12s and other Yankee V8 cars just by giving the cars a good once-over.
Do low miles help? A lot of cars seem to have had engine rebuilds I notice which look pretty expensive.
Obviously for me, as I guess for most of you, this would be a "sunny weekend" car and I Would expect plenty of smiles from the driving experience!!!!
Cheers in advance. Malc
Whoops, maybe I should be looking at this: http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
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