Are Chimaera prices in free fall ?

[v8nrg]

Are Chimaera prices in free fall ?

I’ve just checked the classifieds and found a year 2000 4.0 chim for less than i paid for my 1994 4.0 a year ago !

What has happened to the market ? This time last year there were only complete sheds for less than 9.5K - 10K and now there seem to be an ever increasing number of decent cars for less than 10K.

This is somewhat worrying as I’m looking to sell mine in the near future (to raise money for impending house purchase).

[edward1]

I know the feeling, I was considering letting mine go to help fund a house. But with prices as they are I might as well keep it. Lets face it houses may be sensible but just aint as much fun.

[bjwoods]

you don't mention difference in (if any)

mileage
chassis condition
spec
int colour
ext colour
roof condition
pas
any work done, dampers, springs, wishbones, etc,etc

JUST a popular colour combo, could make the difference between being able to sell at all, or add/subtract thousands from the price...

Try selling a white griff, vs an identical /spec/cond met blue/met black one for example

B

[SWT]

Why would you want to sell a white Griff
DRIVE IT i say PS blue /black 2 a penny

>> Edited by SWT on Friday 27th January 15:13

[PetrolTed]

They're at an age now where condition is everything. Good ones will fetch good money, tatty ones will go for a song.

When we bought ours a few years back, some of the less pristine examples were very rough round the edges.

[cerby4.5]

Seems to be a similar situation with many cars at the moment.

I made the decision some time ago to keep the Chim and make it a 'work in progress' to get it in the best possible condition. I will never recover the cost of what I have spent on it, but the 'smiles per mile' more than make up for that!

The next car we get will be 'in addition to' rather than 'instead of' the Chim! He is here to stay!

Cerby4.5

[shnozz]

PetrolTed said:

They're at an age now where condition is everything. Good ones will fetch good money, tatty ones will go for a song. When we bought ours a few years back, some of the less pristine examples were very rough round the edges.

I dunno Ted, I think the market has changed a lot since then. Mine was prestine but trying to price it according to condition just meant I had very little interest as potential buyers compared the price of mine to another chim of similar age and walked away. Also try the condition argument with someone who tells you they can buy one 3 - 4 years younger for the same price. Ok, that may be a shed, but when people are spread across the country and viewing cars is a days trip, they often simply dismiss those they see as overpriced, whetehr they are or are not.

The sports car market is depressed generally at the moment I think. Whether the seasonal adjustment will mean it recovers is another matter, although in the past that hasn't seemed to effect TVRs and specialist marques as much as the mainstream convertibles. My Lotus has seen a similar drop in the last year.

[shnozz]

cerby4.5 said:

Seems to be a similar situation with many cars at the moment. I made the decision some time ago to keep the Chim and make it a 'work in progress' to get it in the best possible condition. I will never recover the cost of what I have spent on it, but the 'smiles per mile' more than make up for that! The next car we get will be 'in addition to' rather than 'instead of' the Chim! He is here to stay! Cerby4.5

I think thats the best idea. The Chims for £7k - £8k are simply not worth selling for that money. I'd rather have a fantastic car like that sat in my garage than sell it for peanuts. There is very little out there for the same money that would be such a complete package and give you so many smiles.

[jonnyb]

shnozz said:

cerby4.5 said: Seems to be a similar situation with many cars at the moment. I made the decision some time ago to keep the Chim and make it a 'work in progress' to get it in the best possible condition. I will never recover the cost of what I have spent on it, but the 'smiles per mile' more than make up for that! The next car we get will be 'in addition to' rather than 'instead of' the Chim! He is here to stay! Cerby4.5 I think thats the best idea. The Chims for £7k - £8k are simply not worth selling for that money. I'd rather have a fantastic car like that sat in my garage than sell it for peanuts. There is very little out there for the same money that would be such a complete package and give you so many smiles.

I think there are allot of uneducated buyers out there who buy on age and mileage rather than condition. These are the buyers that will spend big money on getting the car they purchased into a half descent and reliable condition. Or they wont bother, sell it and get a Porsche, and then moan about how unreliable TVRs are!

As far as Chim prices in free fall, I would still expect to get about 10-11k for my 96HC thats about 2-3k loss in 4 years, not bad! My mates Boxter lost 8K in less time!

Just Keep drivin'

[Big Al.]

from what I can see, my old Chim has just come up for sale again, (owner now bought a Cerbie!) and it's up for the same price it was last April!

[Nuggs]

Ah, it's not important. Everyone knows that a Chimaera is for life, not just for the summer


Hi Adam - LTNS. Hope you're well mate. You doing LM again this year (and have you kept the olympic-size paddling pool?

[neejah]

It's the old chestnut of.......it's only worth what someone's willing to pay.......it's often more than you expect! Think I'd agree that condition and history is paramount with something like the Chimaera tho.....

[MikeyT]

I'm watching the prices quite keenly - yet to decide exactly what to do for the summer but I was recently offered my old Chimaera back again - just slightly at the wrong time I think otherwise I would definitely have been interested. It is/was a great car and I know I couldn't have gone wrong with it.

There is the old adage of course that says you should move onwards and upwards and that probably means a 4.5 next time (and maybe coach, even in the yellow!)

Just need to sort out a few things moneywise and I'll be ready. The uneducated buyers - not that there should be any on PH - buy on moe of a whim whereas those in the know can seek out the better bargain I think.

[flyingjase]

It all depends on how quickly you need / want to sell it. I just sold my 2000 4.0 Chim for £10k. It was a great car with full FSH, yes it had relatively high mileage (54k) but that’s because I used it as an every day car – it never once let me down. I sold it unseen within 2 hours of putting a free ad on this very site.

The moral – I could have sold it for more, however I needed / wanted to see it quick to finance the new Tuscan ‘S’ that I’d just bought at a seriously good price.

If I’d waited longer, I’d have probably got more cash. The Chim is a great car, and God forbid they get too cheap. The bottom line is that they are expensive to maintain, so the cheap ones will either die and go away, or get looked after and blossom in their afterlife. The long term future is good!!!

If I was a shares analyst, I would recommend ‘Buy’!

[victormeldrew]

flyingjase said:

It all depends on how quickly you need / want to sell it. I just sold my 2000 4.0 Chim for £10k. It was a great car with full FSH, yes it had relatively high mileage (54k) but that’s because I used it as an every day car – it never once let me down. I sold it unseen within 2 hours of putting a free ad on this very site. The moral – I could have sold it for more, however I needed / wanted to see it quick to finance the new Tuscan ‘S’ that I’d just bought at a seriously good price. If I’d waited longer, I’d have probably got more cash. The Chim is a great car, and God forbid they get too cheap. The bottom line is that they are expensive to maintain, so the cheap ones will either die and go away, or get looked after and blossom in their afterlife. The long term future is good!!! If I was a shares analyst, I would recommend ‘Buy’!

Thats about right. There are two types of Chim (and this applies equally to Griffs); good ones which will command a respectable price determined by condition irrespective of age or mileage, and potential restorations. Any "free fall" observed may just be the differential between these two groups.

These are too good a car to let die. Being fibreglass the shell will last, the rest can be put right and there are plenty of resources to help with this. People like these cars, they are essentially timeless, and a good one will always find a willing market. Many who have had one and "defected" eventually come back.

The only potential problem is the increasing number of parts which are made of unobtanium. It's a few years since TVR built any RV8 engines, and there were lot of TVR specific parts in there for which there is a dwindling supply, but no doubt the aftermarket will step up and fill the breach. We may see increasing numbers of engines which don't have TVR cranks or rods in there; there are other sources of stroker cranks and rods, and plenty of 5/5.2 even 5.5 engines available aftermarket. Chassis wise there are already aftermarket alternatives for much of the running gear - hubs, drop links, shocks, brakes. The chassis itself is repairable. Interior refits are DIY jobs - with care, any reasonably compentant person could rebuild one of these cars from the ground up, they are not sophisticated technology.

That munter that's up for £8k will restore, with the application of plenty of TLC and a £10k rebuild, to a pristine £18k example - no profit in it, but the satisfaction of a good restoration is reward in itself.

There is no reason why one of these cars shouldn't last 30 years or more in good serviceable condition if well maintained, and continue to command a healthy resale value. IMHO.

[redwedge5]

flyingjase said:

It all depends on how quickly you need / want to sell it. I just sold my 2000 4.0 Chim for £10k. It was a great car with full FSH, yes it had relatively high mileage (54k) but that’s because I used it as an every day car – it never once let me down. I sold it unseen within 2 hours of putting a free ad on this very site. The moral – I could have sold it for more, however I needed / wanted to see it quick to finance the new Tuscan ‘S’ that I’d just bought at a seriously good price. If I’d waited longer, I’d have probably got more cash. The Chim is a great car, and God forbid they get too cheap. The bottom line is that they are expensive to maintain, so the cheap ones will either die and go away, or get looked after and blossom in their afterlife. The long term future is good!!! If I was a shares analyst, I would recommend ‘Buy’!

I think your Chimaera must have been the bargain of the century! If I didn't already have a TVR and had a spare £10,000 I would have snapped it up. I wasn't supprised to see it sell so quickly.

[Graham]

I think Teds Right all car prices seem to be in free fall at the moment...

I've been thinking about a 996 recently ( well until i took the chimaera out of the garage today flat battery and all)

And they have lost serious money in the last 12 months... one car i looked at a 2000 car was bought for 40+ 12 months ago and is now just over 30K... and is a very nice car...



early 1998 996's are fetching just over 20k privatly...

I think the basic problem is that the ecomnomy if fecked.. there's just no feel good factor anywhere...


still could be worse you could buy a brand new mundano...

[JonRB]

I considered selling my 28k mile 1998-R 2-owner Chimaera 500 recently. When I saw the prices they were fetching I too decided that at that price I may as well keep it.

Mind you, you know what I'm like about selling cars. I probably wouldn't have gone through with it anyway.

[d50cyx]

Given the following:
<ul>
<li>they were/are made in such small quantities</li>
<li>ones that are tatty get binned</li>
<li>inexperienced owners write them off on a not irregular basis</li>
</ul>
They are an ever decreasing commodity. Don't you think that (eventually), we'll get to the point where they start appreciating again?

[v8nrg]

Hi mark
Yes, We'll be doing the LM pilgrimage again this year. Along with a few more people hopefully. We may even get a new (bigger) pool this year, especially if its as hot as last year.
It would probably be a good idea to get there before dark this year too, as trying to erect the tent by candle light (chim headlight) was a bit stressfull.

See you there!