Returning to the fold

[redleicester]

Chaps, you may have seen my other thread in General TVR rantings - www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=230612&f=13&h=0

After much deliberation and soul searching I am holding up my hand and admitting that I didn't get the TVR bug out of my system properly, thus the M5 has to go, and I'm back in the market for a Chimaera. I used to run a 98 4.0l which was wonderful (see profile) and am now hunting for something similar. Yes, it's a come down from the Cerbera as my ertwhile stablemates have pointed out, but I want a V8 open top, so the coupe Cerb is out, and a Tuscan not really an option.

Can you possibly help remind me of the differences between the pre and post facelift cars, and any other pointers I should keep in mind? I'm looking in general at blue or "fun" colours - not yellow or the like, but Rolex Blue or Halcyon Atlantis would be lovely - and a light contrasted interior, preferably magnolia/biscuit with dark carpets and panels (not much then really!)

Don't suppose anyone has a craving for a 400Bhp saloon and wants to swap plus a bit of cash?!

Thanks in advance for your help, and sorry for letting the side down by deserting (first to the Cerbie, and now to my heap of teutonic engineering!)

Cheers, and Happy Christmas to you all.

[kslett]

Welcome back (well soon any way!) I've got a 95 400 - the cosmetic differences that I can remember are:
1. Front grill on pre- , no grill on post
2. Many dash changes; pre- had 3 plastic buttons for lights but post- had rotary ally knobs for lights and fan speed; also ally button for hazards instead of plastic. Warning lights (MIL, etc) moved from above the lights buttons to between rev counter and speedo
3. Very early cars (Rover box I think) had door opener in the same recess as handbrake and gearshift.
4. Door openers were silver buttons on body aft of the doors, moved to bottom of door mirrors later.
5. Bootlid hinges were more hidden post-.
6. Rear light clusters changed from Fiesta type to TVR design with 4 circular lights.
7. Rear number plate changed from flush and backlit to angled, recessed and downlit (not as cool IMHO).

That's what I can recall at the moment, and if any of you are wondering why I'm writing this when I should be doing something better on Xmas day, it's because I'm a doctor on call...hope everyone's having more fun than I am today.

[alex.tvr]

Hi H,
Good to hear you've made the right choice to come back to a Chim. I was at David Geralds last week, they have a early Chim there for just under 10k [www.davidgeraldtvr.com/]. You could have mine if you want to blow the budget out of the water