Chimaera 450 - Refurb & Sell or Sell As Is

[Thatman]

My first post, though an avid reader over many years. Now I need some advice.

I was planning to replace the outriggers and wishbones and attend to some nasty paint blemishes, before putting up for sale. But am in two minds, I have the funds to do so, but would it enable a better or break even, return, after that expenditure ?

It seems the summer demand is high for Chimaeras since Top Gear, and some sunshine is forecast.

Should I do the work and ask a high price to cover my outlay, or offer it out at a low price attracting those who want to start with an unmolested car and arrange the work themselves ?

Prices of Chimaeras seem to be very elastic and subject to so much sentiment.

I welcome all your thoughts

[AKA PABS]

My advice is to do the work. I think anyone who’s looking to get into TVR’s will read up before they buy, therefore without replacing your outriggers your looking for someone that wants a project.

[Supercharged5]

It depends.
I am thinking of bringing a Chimaera Hungary, this means that I have to pay customs and tax. A cheaper car fits better to my needs and It is cheaper to have the outriggers done here.
Just my opinion.
If you can price it to arround 10-12 than it will by far the cheapest 450 which is a good position on the market.

[x 7usc]

My inclination would be to have the work done, as its a 450 its more desirable anyway but with receipts for new outriggers, wishbones and obviously bushes, coupled with a paint refresh it'll be top of anyones list at the budget, although it'll look and drive so nice you'll probably change your mind about selling

having owned the car for so long you're not going to want to be told its only worth X because outriggers and wishbones are Blah Blah money and it needs paint that's another Blah Blah if you get me

Ive just bought a second Chimaera that needed lots of work, outriggers included, and i didn't pay an awful lot for it so id say to do the refresh work

[magpies]

if you are doing most of the work and don't mind the time and effort - go and refurb. Otherwise sell at the going price (will it pass an MoT without the work?

[s p a c e m a n]

Advertise for sale now as is, if you don't get offered a price that you like then do the work. Will be difficult doing it the other way around

[Thatman]

Thanks all, maybe I am overstating the project, but any Chimaera at 20 years will need outriggers and WB's replacing. There is a recent new Mot from a reputable garage and I expect a couple of years left in the O/Rs and WB's. It will sell now at the right price to someone taking such a car on. I am not able to do any work myself so it would have to be done by recognised experts.

I should add it has no performance issues and an excellent interior / hood,, so it is not a restoration

I had thought of advertising now but it is so difficult to price, given work / expenditure needed to make an excellent example.

[Classic Chim]

Thatman said:

Thanks all, maybe I am overstating the project, but any Chimaera at 20 years will need outriggers and WB's replacing. There is a recent new Mot from a reputable garage and I expect a couple of years left in the O/Rs and WB's. It will sell now at the right price to someone taking such a car on. I am not able to do any work myself so it would have to be done by recognised experts.

I should add it has no performance issues and an excellent interior / hood,, so it is not a restoration

I had thought of advertising now but it is so difficult to price, given work / expenditure needed to make an excellent example.

If your looking to clear say 12k
Sell as is as Riggers/wishbones and paint correction by specialists would easily be 3k i’d have thought.
If the car is excellent in all other areas and highly maintained incl engine bay then I’d probably get the work done and be looking at 17-20k but it would have to look very posh indeed for that kind of money.
What mileage is it on. How old are the tyres.
Has it been used regularly during the last 5 years.
When you start asking at the top end it has to have in date tyres and history and no oil leaks etc etc so it’s a difficult one as all that costs.
My view is buy one with the work done and it will save you thousands so somebody has to loose thousands,,, that’s the average owner who’s loosing that money as rarely do we get back what we put in so the sensible person in me says sell it at a fair price being as honest as you can and let someone else take it on.
Someone with a garage and skills could go the work for 1/3 the cost of a commercial garage so those are the types who would be interested as it then becomes a good buy for them.

Edited by Classic Chim on Sunday 16th May 21:55

[LLantrisant]

depends when you bought the car and for how much you bought it.

if you can sell it e.g. for 6k...and you need to invest 4-5k for selling....why do all the work for somebody else...sell it and buy a better one which you can enjoy straight away.

the next owner will most likely not honor your efforts or would things maybe have done differently ...e.g. change the colour etc.

[Classic Chim]

s p a c e m a n said:

Advertise for sale now as is, if you don't get offered a price that you like then do the work. Will be difficult doing it the other way around

^^^^ this

[x 7usc]

Classic Chim said:

Someone with a garage and skills could go the work for 1/3 the cost of a commercial garage so those are the types who would be interested as it then becomes a good buy for them.

Edited by Classic Chim on Sunday 16th May 21:55

This would be the very reason id be interested in it if you sell it as is

[Classic Chim]

x 7usc said:

This would be the very reason id be interested in it if you sell it as is

Have you been doing some work on a Tvr and showing it on Facebook?

[glow worm]

My 2001 MK3 4.5 in A! condition with 25k miles has an insurance writeoff valuation of £26.5k . The original outriggers are OK (well what you can see of them) and I only replaced the front wishbones with round tubular ones because they didn't have edges to rust. I clean and paint the chassis every year.
PS What happened to your original post ?

Edited by glow worm on Monday 17th May 06:06

[Belle427]

I'd market it as is on the Facebook group which is very active, save yourself the grief.
What is a sensible ballpark figure to get it correct, about £4000?

[Classic Chim]

glow worm said:

My 2001 MK3 4.5 in A! condition with 25k miles has an insurance writeoff valuation of £26.5k . The original outriggers are OK (well what you can see of them) and I only replaced the front wishbones with round tubular ones because they didn't have edges to rust. I clean and paint the chassis every year.
PS What happened to your original post ?

Edited by glow worm on Monday 17th May 06:06

1,100 miles a year since manufacture.
That’ll be worth a lot of money when you get new riggers on her.

Fact is if anyone’s done their homework it’s the only question you’ll have to answer these days and without a partial body lift you can’t answer it with any real confidence.
I’m sure it’s been garaged and fully maintained. Why do you re paint what you can see anyway?

There is a Griff on Facebook that has what looks like a new chassis but it’s all original and 20 years old but was wax oiled since the day it left the factory.
The rigger tops are as good as the underside which is truly remarkable.

Here’s my 2000 year chassis.







I’ve owned it 10 years, 38,000 miles when I got it. It didn’t do that in 10 years, that’s been forming for at least 18 of its 20 year life to be so badly corroded surely!

Edited by Classic Chim on Monday 17th May 06:52

[x 7usc]

Classic Chim said:

Have you been doing some work on a Tvr and showing it on Facebook?

Yeah that's me, guilty as charged

[Classic Chim]

Scaremonger alert!
I accept that my car might be a bad case scenario and it lived in Scotland for those first 10 years which if you have experience of the weather up there the road edges are pretty much wet 9 months of the year so if mine was also used regularly in the wetter months it would never really dry out.
It was never wax oiled either.

[Classic Chim]

x 7usc said:

Yeah that's me, guilty as charged

That’s really classy work.
I really like it

[Supercharged5]

Drastic methot but is it enough proof about the outriggers being good if you can use the corner of the outriggers as jacking point without problem on all four corners?

[Classic Chim]

Sadly not. I’d had mine on two post ramps many times over the years
The method of having the corner jacks in line with the chassis bolts on the corners suggest you transfer the weight through that bolt and thus the body to some extent but mostly through the diagonal outrigger tubes. Jacking on a new outrigger tube would crush it let alone one like mine which is not advised.

Edited by Classic Chim on Monday 17th May 07:50

Edited by Classic Chim on Monday 17th May 07:52