Original Chim 500 selling price

[mdrc]

What was the original selling price of the 5.0 Chim in 1998 please? And how many are now left on the road?

[lodgey77]

https://www.howmanyleft.co.uk/vehicle/tvr_chimaera...

About 500 if you believe this. no idea on value though

[2 sMoKiN bArReLs]

I paid £38,000 in 1998 I think (ish)

[JimTC]

My year 2000 with metallic paint, half hide interior, lumbar supports for seats and leather door cards in place of carpet was £37,201 - delivery was free.

[gwentman]

Found an old copy of autocar from 1998 and there are chimaera 500 advertised as £39995

[Goaty Bill 2]

Unless all my marbles have escaped;
Official TVR base price for a factory ordered 500, with no optional extras whatsoever was £38,500.
Exactly the same price as a Griffith 500.
I also believe there may have been a price hike during the year, so it may well have been as 'low' as £38,000 at some point.

It didn't take long to get those delivered prices over £40k though.
All off the top of my head;
Metallic paint added around £800, and pearl paint around £1100. Gold badges £250, heated seats £250, hydratrack £1200, full leather £1200, aircon £1100.
And, in '98 power steering was still optional I believe at around £1000.

I think JimTC got quite a deal there


As to how many are left. I wouldn't give much credibility to the government statistics.
It's hard to imagine there could be as many as 500 remaining of just 600(ish) originals.
I wouldn't be surprised if V8 Developments has built nearly as many 5L engines for Chimaeras as TVR did


If the question relates to the additional value normally associated with a 500, I would be very careful in paying any premium for one until the owner has proven conclusively that it was originally registered as a 500, and that the engine block and heads especially are the originals.

When my 500 needed rebuilding, all of the 'usual suspects' engine builders prices went up from standard quotes (in one or two cases, quite substantially) as soon as I imposed 'must retain the original block and heads (and crankshaft)' in the build criteria.
Not everyone would be willing to pay the premium to retain the original block.

[2 sMoKiN bArReLs]

Goaty Bill 2 said:

And, in '98 power steering was still optional I believe at around £1000.

It was 98 that the power steering became standard. I had to beg Peter Wheeler to build mine without (or more accurately knock the £900 off for the deleted item!)

[mdrc]

Many thanks for all the useful replies......I was contemplating over the festive period whether people would pay the c£40k today for an updated, fully refurbished from the bottom up, concors condition car........with bespoke interior and a slightly more modern exterior paint job to ones own personal choice?!

[2 sMoKiN bArReLs]

mdrc said:

Many thanks for all the useful replies......I was contemplating over the festive period whether people would pay the c£40k today for an updated, fully refurbished from the bottom up, concors condition car........with bespoke interior and a slightly more modern exterior paint job to ones own personal choice?!

Probably not. There's a lot more competition these days.

[Grey Ghost]

mdrc said:

Many thanks for all the useful replies......I was contemplating over the festive period whether people would pay the c£40k today for an updated, fully refurbished from the bottom up, concors condition car........with bespoke interior and a slightly more modern exterior paint job to ones own personal choice?!

No need to pay £40K +

Buy a mechanically sound 500 and have one of the specialists refurb it for you. Adrian and his team have done some great work on my car and now offer a full refurb service including chassis, paint, leather trim and carpets. Might be worth considering:

http://www.centraltvr.com/product/total-restoratio...

[ianwayne]

There's no engine work at all included in that apart from a service.

And I expect you'd probably want to have new bushes, new brakes and suspension, etc.

[Goaty Bill 2]

2 sMoKiN bArReLs said:

Goaty Bill 2 said:

And, in '98 power steering was still optional I believe at around £1000.

It was 98 that the power steering became standard. I had to beg Peter Wheeler to build mine without (or more accurately knock the £900 off for the deleted item!)

Okay, then I wasn't far off. Perhaps only a couple of marbles have got away

Mine was a 'cusp' car; ordered in '97, it came with full MK2 body styling and interior updates and no PAS, delivered early '98.
I had a conversation with the dealer about trading in to order a new car in early 2000 and he told me then that PAS was now standard, so he would have to add it to my trade in. I told him he could have the PAS off of the new car
The trade-in/order never happened, but it looks like we were thinking along the same lines; PAS is a HP thief (and we were a lot younger and stronger then too ).

[Goaty Bill 2]

mdrc said:

Many thanks for all the useful replies......I was contemplating over the festive period whether people would pay the c£40k today for an updated, fully refurbished from the bottom up, concors condition car........with bespoke interior and a slightly more modern exterior paint job to ones own personal choice?!

Enthusiasts might, but with the other options available (as pointed out above)...
I am sure we will see cars coming out of storage in the next few years for 'silly' money; a few Griffiths already have.

Personally, I think the opportunity to buy a 'new' Chimaera for around the original price would be the bargain of the century, especially if a few of the obvious bugs were worked out, and a few things modernised as you suggest.
Would there be a real market for such a beast? I wouldn't think so myself.
A concours restoration to completely original specification would be more likely to succeed (as a business venture) I should think.

[2 sMoKiN bArReLs]

Goaty Bill 2 said:

2 sMoKiN bArReLs said:

Goaty Bill 2 said:

And, in '98 power steering was still optional I believe at around £1000.

It was 98 that the power steering became standard. I had to beg Peter Wheeler to build mine without (or more accurately knock the £900 off for the deleted item!)

Okay, then I wasn't far off. Perhaps only a couple of marbles have got away

Mine was a 'cusp' car; ordered in '97, it came with full MK2 body styling and interior updates and no PAS, delivered early '98.
I had a conversation with the dealer about trading in to order a new car in early 2000 and he told me then that PAS was now standard, so he would have to add it to my trade in. I told him he could have the PAS off of the new car
The trade-in/order never happened, but it looks like we were thinking along the same lines; PAS is a HP thief (and we were a lot younger and stronger then too ).

Was yours one of the last with the Fiesta rear lights? I remember being quite startled when I visited mine in build and the rear lights were the landy ones....

[Goaty Bill 2]

2 sMoKiN bArReLs said:

Was yours one of the last with the Fiesta rear lights? I remember being quite startled when I visited mine in build and the rear lights were the landy ones....

Nope, like I said, full MK2 specification.
Odd, because I understand that quite a few cars were delivered much later but with the older Fiesta lights, though there are others the same spec. as mine around also delivered early '98.
It was one of a pair ordered on the same day, and the cars were virtually identical aside from interior colour (magnolia/biscuit), badge colour (silver/gold) and wheels (estorils/emolas imolas).

Edit for idiot spelling

Edited by Goaty Bill 2 on Sunday 4th January 17:13

[latham91]

I'd be interested to know what my '99 400 was when new?

[Goaty Bill 2]

latham91 said:

I'd be interested to know what my '99 400 was when new?

As best as I can recall, the difference between the 400 and the 500 was about £5500 on the official base price.
Unsurprisingly, the 450 came in about half way between the two in price.

[TVRinBFG]

Pistonheads won't let me upload a picture tonight, so I've put it here from April 98:-

http://www.tvr-mads.co.uk/April98pricelist.pdf

And edited to add the rare Supplementary Price list:-


http://www.tvr-mads.co.uk/April98Suppricelist.pdf

Edited by TVRinBFG on Sunday 4th January 19:24

[2 sMoKiN bArReLs]

TVRinBFG said:

Pistonheads won't let me upload a picture tonight, so I've put it here from April 98:-

http://www.tvr-mads.co.uk/April98pricelist.pdf

And edited to add the rare Supplementary Price list:-


http://www.tvr-mads.co.uk/April98Suppricelist.pdf

Edited by TVRinBFG on Sunday 4th January 19:24

What can't speak can't lie....but that's different to my experience!

[ianwayne]

latham91 said:

I'd be interested to know what my '99 400 was when new?

According to an online valuation website, the list price of a 400 in 1999 was £31,700. Base price I expect.

Then there's extras of course like rear speakers, full leather, optional Estoril alloys (PAS might have been standard by then as mentioned above)

500 Chimaera: £35,700, and 450 Chimaera: £34,980 (!?)

Edited by ianwayne on Monday 5th January 11:25