£10k - £12k Chimaera - will this be asking for trouble?
Discussion
pwd95 said:
I bet he's pulled the trigger... 
Not yet, but...
...I could very well be leaving a deposit on one subject to a proper test drive hopefully this Wednesday.
It's been an extremely busy weekend and I've certainly covered a fair few miles- although I did share the driving of my mate's Puma for quite a bit of it, which is always good fun in itself!
I've looked at several (8 in total I think!) Chimaeras, covering everything from bottom of the budget, average mileage examples, to almost fully refurbished, ultra low mileage garage queens- well North of my budget. But it's been a good eye opener, I've seen a pretty full spectrum of "chassis in great condition"!
I did however find one that looks pretty much perfect for me- loads of recent expenditure on the important bits (including new outriggers), decent mileage, couple of choice (in my opinion) upgrades, and rather incredibly; also one of my two first choice exterior/interior colour combinations!
Annoyingly, this happened to be the first one that I looked at- so despite spending the best part of an hour looking it over, I didn't take it for a test drive there and then on the basis that it would inevitably lead to me doing the one thing I was determined NOT to do- buy the first car I looked at...
But after looking at all of the others, I was rather kicking myself for my self-imposed attempt at doing things properly! When I left, we agreed that I'd go back for a proper test drive one evening this week if I'd decided it was the one I wanted, so I'll be calling up first thing tomorrow morning and arranging this.
Granted it's not exactly been the long, exhaustive, studious search I had originally intended- and this one is very slightly more than I had intended to spend (but that's always the case right?), but the relative assurance of all of the recent work (not to mention my ideal spec/upgrades) makes it incredibly attractive verses taking an educated punt on a cheaper example and hoping for the best.
So watch this space...
Oh and thanks again to everyone who has contributed on here- it really has been insanely useful, my head is currently swimming with TVR stuff, I'm almost looking forward to going back to work tomorrow!
ClassiChimi said:
Now you've had a good look, sleep on it and tomorrow at work you'll think of nothing else
I say take your time, this thread can go on as long as it takes, don't buy unless everything ticks your boxes and more importantly it drives well.
Get the right Tvr first time and you'll want to keep it forever,,,
If I was selling my Tvr and someone showed me the colour of his money first I'd happily let them have a good 30 mins test drive.
You want everything upto temps and running for sometime so you can be sure it's working as it should, then you want to leave it running on tickover whilst it's fully upto temps again for a good 5-10 minutes, an owner with no qualms will happily let you do that.
I'm sure your aware but it's always good to be reminded of doing the basics when looking at this or any other car.
You sound like you've done some due diligence and looking at more than one car is more than most of us do
Buy the best for your money and then make it even better over time.
Thanks, all good points. Just had a look at yours in your profile- that is quite some spec list! Looks superb.I say take your time, this thread can go on as long as it takes, don't buy unless everything ticks your boxes and more importantly it drives well.
Get the right Tvr first time and you'll want to keep it forever,,,
If I was selling my Tvr and someone showed me the colour of his money first I'd happily let them have a good 30 mins test drive.
You want everything upto temps and running for sometime so you can be sure it's working as it should, then you want to leave it running on tickover whilst it's fully upto temps again for a good 5-10 minutes, an owner with no qualms will happily let you do that.
I'm sure your aware but it's always good to be reminded of doing the basics when looking at this or any other car.
You sound like you've done some due diligence and looking at more than one car is more than most of us do
Buy the best for your money and then make it even better over time.
This one certainly seems to tick all of the boxes. My usual tactic after viewing a car is a mentally list in my head all of the negative points about it, that always seems a more objective way of comparing examples to me! But in this instance I was actually struggling to find many, unlike the other examples I looked at. I think the most I came up with was that the mileage was a bit higher- around 70k, vs 50k average of most of the others. But to me the mileage is only really an issue come resale time, and with any luck I'm hoping that situation won't arise!
We had the car running for a good 20 mins or so yesterday and all seemed fine, so will see how it is after a drive.
As for keeping the thread going, I suspect that once I've got one I will be back on here asking all manner of questions anyway!
Is there anything specific to the Chim that I should be looking out for on the test drive?
ChilliWhizz said:
Don't floor it unless all four wheels are pointing in the same direction 
That sounds like pretty solid advice right there!
Rang them back this morning and test drive booked in for Wednesday evening, they are holding the car for me until then on the basis that if it all checks out I'll leave a deposit.
Job for today is to talk to my insurers...
Does anyone have any advice on the most painless method of insuring one of these as a second car? My ideal situation would be to get a combined policy alongside my Accord estate (insured with Sky), whereby I can mirror my no claims- if this is even possible. Only slight hitch is I am half way through my current Accord policy, so I guess I'd have to cancel and take out a new one (not really a big deal though at 10+ years NCB).
My other thoughts were on a limited mileage classic policy (5k per year), but my (limited) research suggests a lot of these require the car to be garaged and preclude any commuting use?
I'll give them a call at lunch and see what they say, but any general advice much appreciated as always!
At 31 with 13 years NCB (although Sky only record up to 10) I'd like to think I should be able to get it fairly reasonable!
QBee said:
Call Classicline to dip your toe in the classic car insurance market.
They are a broker and have a lot of us insured because they come up very reasonable and sensible.
Generally they only do limited mileage, but can be persuaded.
The don't use NCDs, but they take account of your driving history.
They also cover track days if the urge to do more than 70mph grabs you.
01455 639000
Footman James is another popular one, but I don't have their number to hand
Thanks for that, I'll give them a call first in that case. Limited mileage isn't a problem as I suspect even 5k will be plenty as a second car (I only do around 10k total at the moment anyway), it's more that it needs to cover the odd bit of commuting use too.They are a broker and have a lot of us insured because they come up very reasonable and sensible.
Generally they only do limited mileage, but can be persuaded.
The don't use NCDs, but they take account of your driving history.
They also cover track days if the urge to do more than 70mph grabs you.
01455 639000
Footman James is another popular one, but I don't have their number to hand
Will call and see what they say
ClassiChimi said:
^^^^^^ this 
Do yourself a favour Dave,,,,
Don't go and look at Phazed car,,,, and whatever you do don't go in it
I went to buy some wheels off him when I'd not had my car long and he showed me his car,, it was his olde 4.6 car but it had everything sorted,, my heart sank!!! I knew I had a long way to go but that day I opened my eyes to what a good Tvr can be,,
I didn't really need an engine re build and most certainly didn't need an MBE ECU system but I use man maths to calculate things,,,
There's nothing wrong with the Tvr engine management system but you can't get away from the fact it's old and the wiring can be an issue and it contains a number of parts which I feel need to be replaced at every service if you want to keep the car reliable.
So my man math works like this,,,,
Mbe install £2500 + vat
Now if someone was to say to me I'd garrantee your car working and starting every time over the next two years for £12 a month,,,,,, I'd bloody go for that!
I'm driving my car every day at every opportunity whilst the summers here, I've done nearly 11,000 miles since last October,
5000 miles in the last few months,,, that reliability is priceless let alone costing me about 12 quid a month spread over a period of time.
The important thing to take from such spec lists other than engine/Mbe
Is most of that is also actually cheep, done over a number of years it's Just service items in many ways,
I've got the car close to how I like it,, the cost slows down as you go,,,
More money for petrol,,
Don't get hung up over replacing everything, I've got a box of bits that could be put back on the car !
I can appreciate all of that! I had a similar thing with my Starion, over the 7 years I owned it I gradually replaced all kinds of things (PAS pump, radiator, intercooler, brake system, bushes etc)- but it was always more the mechanical side of things, anything that improved reliability was generally done at the drop of a hat, the cosmetic things less so. It's easy to get carried away with older cars, eventually ending up with a kind of trigger's broom situation. I am a big fan of anything that improves usability/reliability though.Do yourself a favour Dave,,,,
Don't go and look at Phazed car,,,, and whatever you do don't go in it
I went to buy some wheels off him when I'd not had my car long and he showed me his car,, it was his olde 4.6 car but it had everything sorted,, my heart sank!!! I knew I had a long way to go but that day I opened my eyes to what a good Tvr can be,,
I didn't really need an engine re build and most certainly didn't need an MBE ECU system but I use man maths to calculate things,,,
There's nothing wrong with the Tvr engine management system but you can't get away from the fact it's old and the wiring can be an issue and it contains a number of parts which I feel need to be replaced at every service if you want to keep the car reliable.
So my man math works like this,,,,
Mbe install £2500 + vat
Now if someone was to say to me I'd garrantee your car working and starting every time over the next two years for £12 a month,,,,,, I'd bloody go for that!
I'm driving my car every day at every opportunity whilst the summers here, I've done nearly 11,000 miles since last October,
5000 miles in the last few months,,, that reliability is priceless let alone costing me about 12 quid a month spread over a period of time.
The important thing to take from such spec lists other than engine/Mbe
Is most of that is also actually cheep, done over a number of years it's Just service items in many ways,
I've got the car close to how I like it,, the cost slows down as you go,,,
More money for petrol,,
Don't get hung up over replacing everything, I've got a box of bits that could be put back on the car !
On a vaguely related note, does anyone have any experience of solar-powered trickle chargers? Or are they not really viable?
QBee said:
Lend me £3000 please Alun, and I will pay you back at £12 a month for two years....
You can tell Alun's not an accountant.....£12 a month is £144 a year, £288 for two years, £2880 for 20 years.
So £2500 plus VAT is 20 years and 10 months at £12 a month.
Probably still worth it for all the smiles it has given you
(stands back to await the torrent of abuse about accountants.....)
Did I mention I am also an accountant?... You can tell Alun's not an accountant.....£12 a month is £144 a year, £288 for two years, £2880 for 20 years.
So £2500 plus VAT is 20 years and 10 months at £12 a month.
Probably still worth it for all the smiles it has given you
(stands back to await the torrent of abuse about accountants.....)
I've seen various people discussing the viability of solar powered trickle charger- with mixed results. Some people say they work great, others say they aren't worth it. But it seems to depend on the specific one used, obviously because of the varying amounts of power they produce.
Not having an external power socket, this would be an ideal solution if they do in fact work.
Edited by Squirrelofwoe on Monday 18th July 12:11
QBee said:
Welcome to the world of fixed assets that you don't have to depreciate...
They seem to be appreciating if anything.
Four years ago my 67,000 mile, 1999 Chim 400 retailed from a dealer at £10,000.
You will be lucky to get one for that now.
Exactly why I am at the 'now or never' point.They seem to be appreciating if anything.
Four years ago my 67,000 mile, 1999 Chim 400 retailed from a dealer at £10,000.
You will be lucky to get one for that now.
I seriously considered buying one when I qualified 7 years ago- I bottled it (as it would have been my only car and I decided I ought to save for a house) and purchased my DC2 Integra instead. The examples I was looking at back then were £6-7k and they weren't even the bottom of the barrel... The same condition cars now are the ones I've been looking at around £11k+
QBee said:
Call Classicline to dip your toe in the classic car insurance market.
They are a broker and have a lot of us insured because they come up very reasonable and sensible.
Generally they only do limited mileage, but can be persuaded.
The don't use NCDs, but they take account of your driving history.
They also cover track days if the urge to do more than 70mph grabs you.
01455 639000
Footman James is another popular one, but I don't have their number to hand
I rang for quotes from these two at lunch, based on the car being kept on the drive, 4k miles/year as a second car, including use for commuting. 31 years old, driving 13 years, no claims or convictions to date.They are a broker and have a lot of us insured because they come up very reasonable and sensible.
Generally they only do limited mileage, but can be persuaded.
The don't use NCDs, but they take account of your driving history.
They also cover track days if the urge to do more than 70mph grabs you.
01455 639000
Footman James is another popular one, but I don't have their number to hand
Footman James came out with a very reasonable quote, pleased with that. Classicline however were just slightly over double- and with a higher excess!
S11Steve said:
Check what you get with Classicline though - my cover includes breakdown (UK & Europe) track day cover and various other bits that elude me right now.
Yeah it did include breakdown, but I have a decent RAC membership covering me for any car I am driving/passengering in (I genuinely can't fault the RAC- have been a member for 7 years and they have always been first class), and the track day cover wasn't included in the quote and is not something I am too fussed about just yet anyway. Not to mention the excess was substantially higher too.Perhaps I just spoke to the wrong person there!
plfrench said:
Try Adrianflux too. I've got mine on a 3k policy for £247 and that's only a £100 excess. No trackdays but they can be added on a pay as you go basis and no breakdown.
It's SDP only. I could have added commuting but didn't ask how much it would be.
Funnily enough my quote With FJ was only slightly more than that, again with a £100 excess, and including commuting use. Seems a billy bargain. It's SDP only. I could have added commuting but didn't ask how much it would be.
QBee said:
For a mere yoof in a dodgy line of work, fast car and no driving experience, that's not bad
I'll take whatever age-related compliments I can get, however thinly veiled! 
I did find it amusing on the phone to Classicline when the lady asked me if I'd had any prior experience with RWD sports cars before, after listing out all those I'd owned/driven she had to go back ask me what a Starion was... Perhaps that's why my quote was so high- she thought I was making up car names!
So I'm going back to test drive the Chimaera soon, are there any particular things I should be looking out for on the drive, aside from the usual things when trying a second-hand car?
I'm making a mental list (well an actual list but I'm hoping to have it committed to memory in the next couple of hours!), so far I've only got as far as "keeping a check on how the temperature behaves, both while driving and after leaving car to idle for a bit afterwards".
It's had new outriggers, shocks, clutch, hood etc recently and all of the paperwork/history seems to stack up. MOT history is almost alarmingly clean, with just 2 fails, 1 due to incorrect number plate and 1 due to headlamp position and a couple of advisories for worn tyres and brake pads way back in 2006...
If anyone else can think of anything else I should be looking at, asking about then for the next couple of hours I'm all ears!
I'm making a mental list (well an actual list but I'm hoping to have it committed to memory in the next couple of hours!), so far I've only got as far as "keeping a check on how the temperature behaves, both while driving and after leaving car to idle for a bit afterwards".
It's had new outriggers, shocks, clutch, hood etc recently and all of the paperwork/history seems to stack up. MOT history is almost alarmingly clean, with just 2 fails, 1 due to incorrect number plate and 1 due to headlamp position and a couple of advisories for worn tyres and brake pads way back in 2006...
If anyone else can think of anything else I should be looking at, asking about then for the next couple of hours I'm all ears!
Edited by Squirrelofwoe on Wednesday 20th July 16:07
Just got home!
I had another 45mins going over the car checking stuff that I had forgot to check at the weekend- including most of the things you guys have very helpfully pointed out, then went out for a good half hour test drive. I was a bit lost for words after, I couldn't really have picked a better evening or better location to have my first proper drive in a Chimaera!
Happy to report everything seemed to work as it should, oil got up to pressure and stayed where it should, temp didn't get too crazy and the fans kicked in no problem, no noises from the diff that I could make out, it braked nice an level. All the electrics worked as they were supposed to, and boy did it sound good! It's completely standard apart from the Gaz shocks, after-burner rear lights, and carbon dash- so no exhaust/cat modifications as yet, but it's certainly not subtle
Got back from the drive and I spent another half an hour pouring over it, no sign of any fluids where they shouldn't be etc. We then went in and I spent ages going through all the paperwork- which is pretty extensive, including the fully stamped service book and old MOTs. Plus a ton of receipts including the big almost £6k bill less than 3 years (and 3k miles) ago that covered new outriggers, a new AP racing clutch, new hood, the Gaz shocks, re-trimmed door cards, carpets, plus the after-burner lights & carbon dash upgrades. Oh and the all important clear hpi report.
I don't think there was much else I could have checked to be honest, so I paid the deposit! Car is going to be serviced & prepped, and I'm due to collect a week on Friday (which I already have off work)- I just need to find some transport up there as my car mate who's done all the running about with me is selfishly off to Wales with his family that week!
This is the car in question for those that hadn't worked it out; the private plate is included, and although meaningless it does hide the age a bit I guess.
http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/t...
Although right at the absolute top of my budget, I figured considering all of the recent work (clutch / outriggers / hood etc) it was as sensible a buy as one of these can be when you've just bought a new house and haven't even bought a sofa yet
Lets hope I've chosen wisely! Cheers for all the input from everyone that's contributed on here and indeed messaged me privately, it's given me an absolute ton of info and made the whole prospect of buying one of these a heck of a lot less daunting!
I had another 45mins going over the car checking stuff that I had forgot to check at the weekend- including most of the things you guys have very helpfully pointed out, then went out for a good half hour test drive. I was a bit lost for words after, I couldn't really have picked a better evening or better location to have my first proper drive in a Chimaera!
Happy to report everything seemed to work as it should, oil got up to pressure and stayed where it should, temp didn't get too crazy and the fans kicked in no problem, no noises from the diff that I could make out, it braked nice an level. All the electrics worked as they were supposed to, and boy did it sound good! It's completely standard apart from the Gaz shocks, after-burner rear lights, and carbon dash- so no exhaust/cat modifications as yet, but it's certainly not subtle
Got back from the drive and I spent another half an hour pouring over it, no sign of any fluids where they shouldn't be etc. We then went in and I spent ages going through all the paperwork- which is pretty extensive, including the fully stamped service book and old MOTs. Plus a ton of receipts including the big almost £6k bill less than 3 years (and 3k miles) ago that covered new outriggers, a new AP racing clutch, new hood, the Gaz shocks, re-trimmed door cards, carpets, plus the after-burner lights & carbon dash upgrades. Oh and the all important clear hpi report.
I don't think there was much else I could have checked to be honest, so I paid the deposit! Car is going to be serviced & prepped, and I'm due to collect a week on Friday (which I already have off work)- I just need to find some transport up there as my car mate who's done all the running about with me is selfishly off to Wales with his family that week!
This is the car in question for those that hadn't worked it out; the private plate is included, and although meaningless it does hide the age a bit I guess.
http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/t...
Although right at the absolute top of my budget, I figured considering all of the recent work (clutch / outriggers / hood etc) it was as sensible a buy as one of these can be when you've just bought a new house and haven't even bought a sofa yet
Lets hope I've chosen wisely! Cheers for all the input from everyone that's contributed on here and indeed messaged me privately, it's given me an absolute ton of info and made the whole prospect of buying one of these a heck of a lot less daunting!
Topper_Harley said:
Please tell me you just started it up, checked the indicators and gave them all your money
The way it sounded on start up, if it wasn't for my mate being there I doubt I'd have even bothered with the indicators!plfrench said:
Good work squirrel! We both did a great job of convincing each other of the man-maths behind the plan
Cheers! you've certainly got a right to share a lot of the thanks/blame for me having purchased one quite so soon Hopefully I'll get to see your 500 in the flesh at some point
pwd95 said:
Looking forward to the pics....
My mate took a couple, I'll get them uploaded asap
AdriaanB said:
Looks great! I've just bought a '63 Ford Galaxie in exactly that colour - we seem to be on a trend here!
The colour was one of my two favourites- the other being Starmist blue, so extremely happy on that front.
Word of warning to everyone, I'm due to pick up a week tomorrow so I'd advise making the most of the current weather as I can guarantee it WILL be raining then!
ianwayne said:
HC Model according to the plenum badge, which the advert didn't mention (?). The engine shot doesn't show a PAS fluid reservoir. Hope the lack of PAS won't be too much of a hindrance. Looks a nice one anyway!
I asked about the HC badge, but the seller stated it was definitely just a 400, would there be any other easy ways to tell? It wasn't a issue for me either way, I've bought it on the basis of it being a clean 400- if it did turn out to be a HC it would just be a bonus.Edit: will check the numbers when I get the car and see if it has the hc noted, it does seem to be a bit of guesswork though without checking the pistons etc. General consensus from old threads on here seems to be not to worry to much about whether it's a HC or not as engine condition can be a bigger variable on performance than the high lift cam.
Yep no PAS on this one, I was actually quite keen on a non-PAS example- I might be weird but there is something I really enjoy about a car that takes a bit of work to use! Particularly when my daily driver has the lightest steering this side of a Tractor... If it was my only car it would have been a different matter mind. I certainly had no issues maneuvering round some extremely narrow country bends/junctions last night, and once up to speed it felt superb.
Edited by Squirrelofwoe on Thursday 21st July 14:35
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