TVR Didn't Invent Rust (Just look at the state of this MX5)
Discussion
Its no secret TVR's have always been a target for jibes in the motoring press, as we know traditionally these digs have focused on their lack of reliability.
Refreshingly & more recently we've started to see the classic motoring press pick up on the unbeatable combination of performance, old school charm & value for money these cars offer, which is nice.
But when it comes to TVRs even the classic press just cant seem to get away from playing on the negatives, in my opinion fulfilling stereotypes is too easy and ultimately very lazy journalism.
The big new TVR evil touted in these recent classic car magazine articles is chassis corrosion, listening to some of the reviews would have you believing rust is unique to TVR and they are almost not worth restoring if the chassis is showing a little rot.
The reality is tin worm is happy to eat anything made from steel, so they really should be comparing sports cars of a similar age before they start scaremongering.
I'm not saying the TVR chassis isn't prone to corrosion, we all know it is, but for a fair comparison just one look at this 90's MX5 proves rust proves my point.
http://www.pistonheads.com/xforums/topic.asp?h=0&a...
Ask yourself whats a bigger headache, a complex monocoque restoration like that or unbolting & lifting the corrosion proof body on a TVR and replacing a few tubes?
Refreshingly & more recently we've started to see the classic motoring press pick up on the unbeatable combination of performance, old school charm & value for money these cars offer, which is nice.
But when it comes to TVRs even the classic press just cant seem to get away from playing on the negatives, in my opinion fulfilling stereotypes is too easy and ultimately very lazy journalism.
The big new TVR evil touted in these recent classic car magazine articles is chassis corrosion, listening to some of the reviews would have you believing rust is unique to TVR and they are almost not worth restoring if the chassis is showing a little rot.
The reality is tin worm is happy to eat anything made from steel, so they really should be comparing sports cars of a similar age before they start scaremongering.
I'm not saying the TVR chassis isn't prone to corrosion, we all know it is, but for a fair comparison just one look at this 90's MX5 proves rust proves my point.
http://www.pistonheads.com/xforums/topic.asp?h=0&a...
Ask yourself whats a bigger headache, a complex monocoque restoration like that or unbolting & lifting the corrosion proof body on a TVR and replacing a few tubes?
I'm not going to get into an MX5 v TVR slanging match, as my sister's had 2, and they're great fun to drive
...
But despite both cars being garaged, serviced and looked after properly, both have required extensive repairs around the rear arches and sills
In fact rot was the reason she sold the first one, but then when the same thing happened to the second one (a 2003) model...
She was both surprised and disappointed.... Luckily it was found in time and sorted, but they ain't that clever when it comes to corrosion resistance, that's a fact...
I hope the latest incarnation is fairing better, as she'll be after one of those sometime soon
...But despite both cars being garaged, serviced and looked after properly, both have required extensive repairs around the rear arches and sills
In fact rot was the reason she sold the first one, but then when the same thing happened to the second one (a 2003) model...
She was both surprised and disappointed.... Luckily it was found in time and sorted, but they ain't that clever when it comes to corrosion resistance, that's a fact...
I hope the latest incarnation is fairing better, as she'll be after one of those sometime soon
The reliability thing does piss me off.
A TVR really is no worse than any other low volume sports car.
A boss of mine has a 90s Ferrari - has had to be trailered home twice.
When someone says - I've got a Porsche/Ferrari/Morgan whatever no-one goes "does it break down a lot?"
When I say TVR I get one of a few responses:
Wow - I bet it's loud
They're unreliable. (Although obviously I have never actually owned one.
They smell of glue
I blame top gear - most numptees get 90% of their motoring knowledge from Hammond, clarkson et al.
The last one always confuses me. I've looked at dozens of chims, Griffs, t cars and not one has smelt of glue!
A TVR really is no worse than any other low volume sports car.
A boss of mine has a 90s Ferrari - has had to be trailered home twice.
When someone says - I've got a Porsche/Ferrari/Morgan whatever no-one goes "does it break down a lot?"
When I say TVR I get one of a few responses:
Wow - I bet it's loud
They're unreliable. (Although obviously I have never actually owned one.
They smell of glue
I blame top gear - most numptees get 90% of their motoring knowledge from Hammond, clarkson et al.
The last one always confuses me. I've looked at dozens of chims, Griffs, t cars and not one has smelt of glue!
Edited by swallet on Monday 17th February 20:19
it`s all I can afford ! Best thing about TVR`s are there owners .Its not just mx5's Ive just brought a 2002 320se bmw. Just needed a cheap car to get around anyway after 4 weeks. The rear lights have failed cause earth lead corrosion on both rear lights melted the connectors, heater mind of its own. Drivers window stopped working cause peice of plastic snapped. The mileage is only 68k. Yet these all seem perfectly acceptable common issues when you search the bm forums.
I really do think all cars have problems its just how the masses perceive them. The uneducated can keep on believing their German barges are better built but they are not. All manufactures use the same parts suppliers to some degree so all suffer from similar issues.
I really do think all cars have problems its just how the masses perceive them. The uneducated can keep on believing their German barges are better built but they are not. All manufactures use the same parts suppliers to some degree so all suffer from similar issues.
Quinny said:
I think its a good thing that the great unwashed "think" TVR's are crap...... Those in the know can just inwardly smile, and keep the best cars for ourselves....
Spot on Quinny ..... Those in the know can just inwardly smile, and keep the best cars for ourselves....
Having come from being around Healeys, E-Types & the like it appeared on paper a Griff or Chim could offer me the same essence of old school British sports car charm at a fraction of the cost.
But things on paper often fail to deliver in the real world, and with that TVR reliability reputation I retained some healthy scepticism.
It's just something kept nagging at me, so for many years I kept returning to the classifieds confused with the prices I was seeing, it just didn't quite make sense to me why they were still so cheap.
I kept looking at the design & seeing something with the trusty old Rover V8, a tough Mustang/Cossie gearbox, a robust BTR diff and the rest of it built from mostly proven, cheap yet bullet proof Ford parts.
I kept asking myself how bad can it really be with a recipe like that, how unreliable will it truly be when the main mechanical elements are so well proven?
With those classics I love so much still fresh in my mind the only thing left to do was try one, what I wasn't prepared for is how much better a mid 90's TVR is than the usual suspects from the 60's.
Better performance, better brakes, better handling all built around a very 50's looking race car chassis with classic unequal wishbone coil over suspension.. simple purity of design just as I like it.
To me the Chimaera felt somewhere between a civilized Cobra & a uprated E-Type or a much bigger Elan, at that point I was sold and negotiated myself into a very clean late 96 facelift 4.0 litre with just 29,000 miles on it.
All that for less than £8k........... I thought "If this thing hangs together it's going to be the bargain of the century!"
Five years on absolutely nothing drastic has gone wrong with it at all, quite the opposite & a little disappointing in a perverse way as I'd expected to be working on it more given the TVR reputation.
So I've taken the opportunity to tweak it in my own twisted way while always keeping it looking the same & never interfering with it's special character, in between I've entertained myself with four epic trips to the South of France & beyond, two trips to Le Mans & countless other adventures.
Not bad for a classic old school sports car that cost me less that £8k, try all that in a Healey 3000 for the same money folks
Like Quinny wisely says, it really doesn't matter that others are mistakenly afraid of TVR reliability and stay away, & it really doesn't matter these cars are still relatively cheap to buy.
If you've got one and love it, if you can appreciate the simplistic purity of the old school design, who cares that other people haven't yet spotted its quite close to an Eagle E-Type at a massive saving.
If you've ever got into restoring a 60's classic & as an example lets say a you need a new chassis on your Lotus Elan, you'll be laughing at paying someone £4-£5k to give your TVR a full chassis restoration.
Five years in to Chimaera ownership I won't be selling mine in a hurry, & I won't be getting all penny pinching when the time comes to lift the body.
New prospective owners should get in while they can, before like Quinny says the "Unwashed Masses" cotton on.
swallet said:
I blame top gear - most numptees get 90% of their motoring knowledge from Hammond, clarkson et al.
Me too.Clarkson apparently had a falling out with Wheeler and TVR was forever after slated by the collective at Top Gear.
swallet said:
The last one always confuses me. I've looked at dozens of chims, Griffs, t cars and not one has smelt of glue!
They did smell of fibreglass resin when new.That and new leather and that particular smell associated with fresh engine gaskets 'burning in'
anonymous said:
[redacted]
Agreed.What a load of tosh to cry over something they actually assisted in the demise of.
youtube clips of the earlier shows present TVRs as fantastic world beating supercar killers.
Clarkson positively gushed about the Cerbera when it arrived on the scene.
Edited by Goaty Bill on Tuesday 18th February 14:44
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