After a Cerbera
After a Cerbera
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Discussion

pmessling

Original Poster:

2,321 posts

232 months

Saturday 24th July 2010
quotequote all
Unfortunately i broke up with my fiancée today, thats the sad news.

The good news it i now have a budget of around £20 to £25K

You can properly tell that i'm devastated?

Two that are currently standing out to me are:

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/1813698.htm

and

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/1866477.htm

More so the second one because of the colour, but either of the two would be great.

Does any one have any further information on these cars

Would they be a good choice?

thanks

Peter

Gazzab

21,640 posts

311 months

Saturday 24th July 2010
quotequote all
I dont know either car. Personally I wouldnt go for the 2nd one. I dont think cerbs need ott paint jobs. The first one is great and James always sells the best. Saying that the 2nd is probably the last Red Rose cerb.
You really need to do some research and find the last owners.

pmessling

Original Poster:

2,321 posts

232 months

Saturday 24th July 2010
quotequote all
james has sent me a good amount of information about the blue car and hopefully will go and view it on wednesday.

The other one is about 3 hours away so although i love the colour i know with MG's with the type of paint that for insurance purposes that it is more.

James car does tick all the boxes for me at present.

ajp70

543 posts

215 months

Saturday 24th July 2010
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I didn't look at the cars but look, look and look again whenever buying or have some cash above the price. I highly advise buying one because it is a totally real experience.

philcerb

102 posts

236 months

Sunday 25th July 2010
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Do not worry about a red rose a good 4.5cerbera is as fast as most people want to go.Make sure it got aircon and a good s/h or keep looking.

Edited by philcerb on Sunday 25th July 15:46

Gazzab

21,640 posts

311 months

Sunday 25th July 2010
quotequote all
If the car hasnt had many many K's spent on it in the last couple of years (eg £4K plus) then be prepared for lots of cash output later. Its worth looking for nitron suspension.
Ideally buy from a known owner who has had an open cheque book approach.

pmessling

Original Poster:

2,321 posts

232 months

Sunday 25th July 2010
quotequote all
This is what i was sent regarding the blue LW one, what do you think. Although it hasn't had much money spent on it, it is a nice late one, low mileage, i'll be able to use my private reg on it which is good. What do you think?

Cerbera 4500c.

The Cerbera is a great colour combination in great Peter. The last owner of 5 years had later clutch slave cylinders fitted @ 15262 miles (a common fault which means one less thing to worry about) it was fully serviced up to date in April this year, the last bill in May 2010 included a new starter motor (common problem and rather than get it reconditioned like 90% do he opted for a new one, this shows it wasn’t run on a budget at any point even at the end of ownership). He swapped the car after much head scratching for a new Masserati at JCT600 Leeds which looking at their current stock list is quite shocking on the price.

It has Air conditioning which is very important and is the very latest model with angled rear number plate (post mid 2001 build) and faired in factory headlamps.

Car is fully Hpi clear.

4500cc V8

Good car and a rare late V8 in a top colour combination. Can only be very few 4500cc’s after this as they tended to be hard to sell in the last few years as they were so expensive - £51K prob list when this was sold. Any other cars registered after this bar the White last Cerbera that was sold recently for about £38K plus were all made in the last few months of 2003 from my memory and looking at the paperwork and knowing TVR this would have been completed 22/10/2003 and therefore definitely a late factory built car.

Owners are as follows

First registered 23/03/2004 @ Glenvargill TVR, Edinburgh. It shows this first owner as being till 14/05/2004 – just about the time to get a V5/logbook back from DVLA (so I can deduce that TVR would have probably given a slight extra margin in the car if the dealer registered it as their demo – a little trick with the dealer network and prob made a deal possible with the customer etc on part exchange or dare I say it discount on a new TVR)

A two private owner car I am 99% sure of but will be listed as ever as three.

Next owner in Northumberland had the car from 7 weeks old for just over the first year of its life and covered about 4000 miles looking at the service history.

The last owner bought it for £40000 in July 2005 and has had all the services done in accordance to the factory schedule at TVR service centres (with decent experience) and also had the valve clearances fully checked at one of these services (10454 miles) - (this is important to keep the car running tip top and prevent any unnecessary wear in the future)

All the service stamps are in the correct place in the supplied factory service booklet.

Service History

Service Record stamped in original booklet

20th March 2004 - Glenvarigill TVR - Pre delivery inspection @ Delivery Mileage

9th April 2004 - Glenvarigill TVR - 1K Running in service @ 723 miles

28th July 2005 - Harrogate Horseless Carriages TVR @ 4577 miles

24th August 2006 - Williams of Harrogate TVR @ 10454 miles

17th October 2007 - Drivestyle Horseless Carriages @ 14187 miles

30th April 2009 - Drivestyle Horseless Carriages @ 17081 miles

26th April 2010 - RT Racing TVR @ 18927 miles

Current MOT

For your records the car had is last MOT June 24th 2010 so it runs out June 23rd 2011

Gazzab

21,640 posts

311 months

Sunday 25th July 2010
quotequote all
Looks ok. Suprisingly little spent on it then! I dont agree with the comment that a new starter is such a good sign. But anyway - the car is getting on and so will need lots done to it over coming years, shame that there is no recent bills for rad, water pipes, fuel pipes, brakes, tyres etc. But ultimately so long as the engine and chassis are fine then the other costs are bearable unless they all come at once (which can happen - trust me I know).
Seems like a long long time since tappets were done. So they will prob need doing again soon.

Gazzab

21,640 posts

311 months

Sunday 25th July 2010
quotequote all
Oh and its done sod all miles in the last year. So niggles may come out once you start using it.

pmessling

Original Poster:

2,321 posts

232 months

Sunday 25th July 2010
quotequote all
what sort of mileage should the tappets be done? or how long between services

Gazzab

21,640 posts

311 months

Sunday 25th July 2010
quotequote all
They should be done every 2 years I think (or every 12K if EARLIER).

pmessling

Original Poster:

2,321 posts

232 months

Sunday 25th July 2010
quotequote all
do you think that it could be a good bargaining point or a condition of sale?

Gazzab

21,640 posts

311 months

Sunday 25th July 2010
quotequote all
To be honest the price looks ok to me to start with although the less you pay the better...?
I would want a few quid in my pocket for suspension (£1500) and niggles (£1500).

pmessling

Original Poster:

2,321 posts

232 months

Sunday 25th July 2010
quotequote all
sounds good to me. I'm happy to pay the money for it, although will see what i can get away with. is that for a suspension upgrade or just general maintenance, bushes etc

itiejim

1,822 posts

234 months

Sunday 25th July 2010
quotequote all
I'd agree with Gazab that the valve clearences could do with checking by now. See if you can get a full service in with the price, that way anything untoward should be picked up too.

Cyclone1

2,614 posts

275 months

Monday 26th July 2010
quotequote all
I'd also go with the Blue car. The second one's colour is eye catching but when parked near more classically coloured Cerbs you may find that you prefer the more understated colour combinations.

If you are already in contact with Mr Agger then just relay your thoughts to him directly as you have done on here. James does read these pages from time to time so you should have nothing to hide and he understands what potential owners go through when trying to decide on the right Cerb.

You've had some great advice on here and as always condition is key. Speak with JA and I am sure he'll compromise to a degree to accomodate you.

Best of luck
Jules.

ro_butler

795 posts

300 months

Monday 26th July 2010
quotequote all
I sold my first cerb to Mr Agger and he certainly knows what he is buying. He has been in the TVR game for a long time and only seems to stock great examples. Obviously there are no guarantees in the world of TVR but buying from him is about as good as it gets.

I would still get it inspected though just in case.

StefT

259 posts

243 months

Monday 26th July 2010
quotequote all
Can't really offer any information other than to say that I bought my Cerb from James. He serviced and MOTd it before he delivered it to my house. During the first couple of months I had a problem with the drop links which he put right at his expense as part of the warranty that was part of the deal.

From a personal point of view, I wouldn't hesitate to buy from him again not least because he does source some very nice examples.

Mr Freefall

2,323 posts

287 months

Monday 26th July 2010
quotequote all
Gazzab said:
Oh and its done sod all miles in the last year. So niggles may come out once you start using it.
^^^ + 1 What he said... Seals tend to dry out if the car is not used. Valve stem seals are one of them. if they dry and crack then you can get some oil past them into the bores. Its a PITA to change these, sometims the engine has to be removed.

Rear diff seal can be prone too.

I know, I had this with mine that did not have many miles on it before I bought it, in the end I had the whole engine rebuilt.

Mr F

Mr Completely

5,151 posts

259 months

Monday 26th July 2010
quotequote all
I've been on here for 5 years now and heard nothing but praise for the man.

The fact is that there are no absolute guarantees so at least buying 'Bluey'll ensure that you've checked most of the essential boxes.

Get a 12K service done, whoever pays, and you'll have a wonderful time.

Errmmmmm and on one small, other thing. "Black Leather Interior" am I going colour blind ???