New Chimaera owner

[EllipticSwerve]

Hi,

Three weeks ago I bought a 1997 non-PAS 500 Chimaera in Giallo Fly.. I’ve owned Lotus Elises and a Cerbera in the past so no real stranger to British modern classics and the need to accept they are always running restos, that’s part of the fun. Anyhow, I’m ticking off the short, medium and long term jobs,. It’s just yesterday had four new tyres (as the ones I inherited were 14 years old, no dramas as they looked like new, but always good to have peace of mind), I’m also getting it booked it with hf solutions and jools for a new alarm and remap. Finally a new dash is on the cards.

Anyhow, this post to ask advice please, the car came with a good stack of receipts going back fifteen years, however no service book documenting stuff before then. What options are available for me to piece together history from new? I have the original plate which implies it was registered in Birmingham,

1) am I correct in thinking that central tvr is the same as teamcentral tvr who would have been the brum main dealer? I’ve pinged them an email to ask if they could share any info.
2) when tvr folded following Smolensky, where did the service records end up? Tvr cc? Or was there never any centrally repository that existed?

Grateful for any help - really looking forward to contributing to the community, I went to burghley pre-covid and loved it. Also, people (in general terms) often go on about customer service, but I’ve realised if you love the marque, you have to support the industry or it will die and we won’t have any sources of expertise, hence keen to meet all the usual suspects and put work their way! (I’m close to powers and central so excited about using them). Pistonheads is like the ultimate Haynes manual to my mind, long may it continue.

James.

Edited by EllipticSwerve on Saturday 14th August 14:41

[33sport]

Hi James
How bizarre, I purchased my first Chimaera 500 1997 rosso red 3 weeks ago, and like you have a similar record going back to 2009 so I’m hopeful that someone can suggest options.
I have already re carpeted the entire inside and also fitted a new veneer dash as the old one was badly cracked.
New seat bases and seat belts etc etc.
If you need and recommendations for where to buy parts I will be happy to help.
Regards
Stuart

[Fez887]

Any pics of the new purchase ?

[EllipticSwerve]

[Fez887]

Nice - got the griff wheels same as mine. It was a factory extra I believe.

[TR4man]

Fez887 said:

Nice - got the griff wheels same as mine. It was a factory extra I believe.

Weren’t they standard on the 5 litre?

[andrew_r]

EllipticSwerve said:

Welcome to the Giallo Fly Chimaera 500 Club!

[2 sMoKiN bArReLs]

TR4man said:

Fez887 said:

Nice - got the griff wheels same as mine. It was a factory extra I believe.

Weren’t they standard on the 5 litre?

They were indeed standard on the 5 litre. I always specced mine with the Imolas though

[2 sMoKiN bArReLs]

EllipticSwerve said:

Hi,


2) when tvr folded following Smolensky, where did the service records end up? Tvr cc? Or was there never any centrally repository that existed?

I don't think there was any record kept other than the stamp in the book.

[Fez887]

TR4man said:

Weren’t they standard on the 5 litre?

Mines a 400, original sales invoice shows as an added extra, with gold badges and PAS. Didn’t realise they were standard on the 500.

[Esceptico]

EllipticSwerve said:

Hi,

Three weeks ago I bought a 1997 non-PAS 500 Chimaera in Giallo Fly..

Edited by EllipticSwerve on Saturday 14th August 14:41

About my perfect spec Chimaera.

If we move back to the UK I’m thinking of buying a fun car (at the moment I only have room for a bike). Ideally it would be easy to maintain, reliable and most of all, fun to drive. Having thought about many options an MX5 or Elise seem to keep coming to the top of my list. However whenever I see threads like this I get a hankering for a Chimaera even though at most it only ticks one of those boxes!

[Belle427]

If you take your time you may find one that has had all the problem areas sorted by a previous owner.
They make fantastic reliable cars then no matter what you read online.

[2 sMoKiN bArReLs]

Belle427 said:

If you take your time you may find one that has had all the problem areas sorted by a previous owner.
They make fantastic reliable cars then no matter what you read online.

But can also be effin' nightmares if you get a bad 'un (like every other marque though)

[EllipticSwerve]

2 sMoKiN bArReLs said:

I don't think there was any record kept other than the stamp in the book.

Hi there - not wishing to argue, but extensive research via PH going back years states that the plan originally was that any service record was stamped by dealers and carbon copied to Blackpool… if the consensus is, that this didn’t happen, then fair enough, but my Q still stands,.. what happened to the (perhaps limited] central repository that did exist?

[2 sMoKiN bArReLs]

EllipticSwerve said:

2 sMoKiN bArReLs said:

I don't think there was any record kept other than the stamp in the book.

Hi there - not wishing to argue, but extensive research via PH going back years states that the plan originally was that any service record was stamped by dealers and carbon copied to Blackpool… if the consensus is, that this didn’t happen, then fair enough, but my Q still stands,.. what happened to the (perhaps limited] central repository that did exist?

Aha! Fair enough, I didn't think TVR were that organised. I've obviously done them down!

[2 sMoKiN bArReLs]

Mind, if they did survive they'd be 15 years (ish) behind the eight ball?