Newbie advise on a 1st buy

[GRynners]

It's only 1 owner, 30k miles, and seems mechanically sound (engine wise). It's certainly the best running of the 5 or so I have driven. However, it hasn't been meticullously maintained. Bonnet has the familiar chips, but the o/s rear wing has a few heavy scratches on. It also has a water leak on the n/s window (the battery area is slightly damp). I also checked the outriggers which look as if they have never been waxoiled. The surface coating has come off, though a good poke does seem to show them as solid. I have pics but no camera leads. Also, the car hasn't had a good service for nearly 2 years.

Taking into account what's been said about regular use, for £15k I wonder if it could be a heap of trouble. The extended warranty doesn't seem to cover things like looms and ecu's (thinking about the leaks).

Take a peek at: www.avenuecars.com

Advise please!

GR

[midgster]

If it hasn;t been serviced for 2 years that a good indication of how well (or badly) it has been looked after. I'd spend my £15K somewhere else. There are lots of nicely maintained cars around for that money.

[hut49]

There's so many Chims around at the moment I'm sure you can do better than gamble on that one. No idea how many other problems you'd find if you bought it and got it home when you could give it a thorough going over.

Best of luck with your search - I know how difficult it can be having made up your mind to get a TVR then to find it takes ages trying to find the right one. All you want to do is get behind the wheel. Desperation sets in and then it's easy to make a decision that you can live to regret for a long time.

[Zippee]

I'm in the same boat as you, been looking for a while now. If you have 15k there is a very nice Silver 96 P facelift at Offords. Just had a full re-trim, respray and tyres (at a cost of almost 10k) as a very bitter ex-wife decided to trash it all. That car only has 30 odd thousand on the clock as well. [url]www.offord.com[/url]
The car your looking at I reckon you could get so much better else where, especially given its a buyers market this time of year.
I'm off to look at a 98S 4.0 with 36k on it for £14 grand on Wednesday from a dealer which sounds very promising so they do exist..

[ktg1000]

I spent a long time looking for my Chim. I can honestly say I did not find better cars than those at Adrian Blyth, have a word with them if I were you. I fell in love with my Chim in their showroom but wanted the 500 alloys of another, Adrian even threw them in with new SO3's all round.

[ktg1000]

ktg1000 said:

I spent a long time looking for my Chim. I can honestly say I did not find better cars than those at Adrian Blyth, have a word with them if I were you. I fell in love with my Chim in their showroom but wanted the 500 alloys of another, Adrian even threw them in with new SO3's all round.

Here you go: www.adrianblyth.co.uk/tvr.asp There's a beauty on there for you £15,950

[Corin Denton]

I think one of the most stunning combinations I have ever seen is the Techno Violet with Portland hide Chimaera at Adrian Blyth.

£15,995 is all the money for the car you are interested in and for that money you would have thought a main dealer service for about £400 would have been done at least.

also Forest Green carpets

[Nuggs]

ktg1000 said:

I spent a long time looking for my Chim. I can honestly say I did not find better cars than those at Adrian Blyth, have a word with them if I were you. I fell in love with my Chim in their showroom but wanted the 500 alloys of another, Adrian even threw them in with new SO3's all round.

Yup, I bought mine from Mr Blyth. Impressive service and the quality of the cars has to be seen to be believed (I understand that Adrian rejects far more than he purchases).

For around £15k, you should be able to pick up a very nice example.

My advice would be to walk away from the other one you've seen. Chimaera's are awesome cars, but as with any specialist, handbuilt sports car, they need regular care and attention. 2 years no servicing is a big no no for me.

The leak also worries me - while they may seem simple to sort out at first, a search of the topics on this forum over the last few months will pick up many 'my car's turned into a bath and I've tried everything to fix it, but I still need a snorkel to drive the thing'-type threads.

Give Adrian Blyth or his man Peter a call in the New Year and they'll undoubtedly sort you out. Alternatively, one well known PHer is selling his '93 41k Chimaera for a shade under £10.5k- it's a lovely example and may be worth a look (leaving £4,500 to spend on lovely Optimax!)...

It's worth buying the right one, as it will give you SOOOOOOO much pleasure - good luck!

[flintstone]

Sounds to me like one to walk away from. There are many others around at the right price witn better history.