what to look out for.
Discussion
phillpot said:
I like this one, clicky, good looking guy driving that car 
Agreed, it's probably the best basic guide there is if you combine it with the additional comments from Eric van Spelde.The only thing I'll add is to watch the electrics, Chimaera & Griffiths present far fewer complexes than the later TVR models with issues often being traced to the Meta immobilizer, or rather the way TVR wired it. Fortunately this and the other wiring maladies that can infect these cars are usually relatively easy & cheap to resolve.
A Chimaera is arguably the best way into TVR ownership; all the major components like engine, gearbox, and differential are very robust and proven as TVR sourced them from major manufactures with development budgets they themselves could only dream of. Sure, earlier TVRs like the Wedges & S models also followed this same recipe but the basic chassis & suspension designs on those cars are all rather compromised.
For instance, it wasn't until the launch of the Griffith & Chimaera that you got proper unequal length wishbone & coil over suspension all round on a more rigid central structure, essentially the Chim/Griff setup was derived from the Tuscan race car series so the chassis was pretty much right from the start.
The Chimaera was also the car TVR made in the biggest numbers, so choice when buying a used one is much better than the other models which can make finding a good one a little easier. Its parts bin nature also offers other advantages when you’re looking to source spares at reasonable cost. Ford brakes, Range Rover engine & various other components that TVR simply bought in from Vauxhall and others can all make maintenance very easy on the wallet.
Where things started to wrong for TVR was when they began introducing ever more complex in-house designed electronics into their cars, and to some degree develop their own engines. The problem for TVR was twofold:
1. They needed to keep up with ever stricter emission regulations
2. They needed to remain competitive in a market place where the competitor's cars were starting to offer customers more electronic toys and sophisticated systems
For example a Cerbera is well known to be an expensive proposition to maintain, TVRs own AJP8 engine is essentially very robust when you compare it to those fitted to other supercars, but the electrics are another story,!
Lift a panel in the boot and you'll find a bewildering array of little unreliable TVR designed black boxes that control all sorts of systems in the car. Take the steering wheel off a Cerbera & you'll discover about 8ft of wire all coiled up so the steering wheel mounted controls work in full lock, it’s comically bad.
A Tuscan isn't much better with its LCD multifunction dash pod and it’s well documented the six cylinder cars (Tuscan, Tamora, T350, Sagaris) all have an engine with a host of serious reliability issues that can easily leave you with a £8k engine rebuild bill.
In many ways therefore the Griffith and Chimaeras are the best combination of proven bought in components, electrical simplicity, fitted to a decent race proven chassis design with proper wishbone suspension. All this give old school driver appeal that you could buy new off the peg in the mid 1990's.
If only TVR had stayed true to this simple low tech old school/new school concept and I'm sure they would have survived longer, you've only got to look at Morgan for proof.
Its worth pointing out that all TVRs were hand made cars built down to a cost so their assembly was often rather slapdash compared with a contemporary Porsche for example, but look at any modern Morgan and you'll often see much worse fit & finish in areas like window to hood seal fit and many other little details. You also need to keep in mind the Chimaeras you'll be looking at will now probably be 15 to 18+ years old.
Even the youngest Chimaeras out there are still 11 years old, and you'd find faults and corrosion on any car that age so do be realistic.
The good news is most Chimaera faults are straightforward to resolve but some jobs like a chassis restoration can be costly.
As with all used cars you are far better off letting someone else pay the big bills for you, it’s extremely unlikely a vendor will get back what they've spent out on these more costly elements of maintenance, so if you're patient and manage to secure a car that's had the big ticket jobs done already you'll definitely be quids in.
Finally it's important to understand what a Chimaera truly is & isn't.
It isn't a modern high production numbers sports car from a major manufacturer, so like a classic car you should be prepared for a few rattles and to get your spanners out now and again.
It is however a rather brilliant way to get the classic car experience without all the compromises that come with a traditional classic. Poor brakes, weak performance, bad handling, challenging ergonomics ect ect ect were all pretty well sorted by TVR when they introduced the Chimaeras & Griffiths in the 1990’s.
These days there's a big movement out there sympathetically modernising classic cars, the idea being to keep all the old car charm while making it perform, handle & stop in a way that's more in keeping with modern driving. And what a brilliant concept it is too, an Eagle E-Type is the perfect example but you'll need a few hundred thousand pounds for one of them.
What a lot of people seem to miss is with the Griffith & the even more complete Chimaera package, TVR were already following this path so were well ahead of their time. The design of the Chimaera and its dynamics clearly hark back to all that was good with the sports cars we produced in the 1960’s, TVR just designed out a lot of the compromises these 60’s icons suffer from on today’s roads.
So if you hanker after a 1960’s classic British sports car but can’t face the prehistoric driving experience, why not just buy a Chimaera? It already has the modern brakes, performance & handling as standard yet is definitely very much an old school driver's car like a Big Healey, E-Type or even a Cobra.
If you want my opinion a good TVR Chimaera which can easily still be had for a criminally cheap £10k has to represent the best value for money classic British sports car available right now... bar none.
Even if you have to sort a few little niggles out on your Chimaera to get it just right, you'll be hard pressed to find anything else that comes close in the classic car world for three times the money
Buy one now before they start making the money they should
Edited by ChimpOnGas on Monday 13th October 12:47
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