Good first choice

[AndyDavis]

Hello all

I was wondering if anyone had some advice for me? I really want a Cerbera (as do a lot of people!!) but I have a fair few hours overtime before I can afford one!! So I was wondering what people may reccommend as a good first step on the ladder.

My requirements in no particular order are that:

It will be my only car
It must look good and sound great!!
It must be insurable (rough estimate for me was £1400 on a K reg 4.0 griff - no more than that!!!)
I want to spend an absolute max of £12,000

Any points to look out for!

Many thanks in advance

Andy

[Leadfoot]

Your budget more or less makes the choice for you. i.e. 12k = early Griffith/Chimaera or late S/wedge.
Any of these is going to be around 10 years old or have high mileage, so you need to bear this in mind when looking.
Adopt a mindset more in tune with a "classic" car than a modern maintenence free box & you won't go far wrong.
These cars aren't cheap to run, even using a specialist to look after it (or DIY) but at least depreciation shouldn't be too much of an issue.
Keep an eye on this site for a while & you'll get to know what problems keep croping up, also the TVRCC email list on Yahoo.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/tvrccmaillist/
But the most important thing is to BUY A GRIFFITH!!!

>> Edited by Leadfoot on Thursday 25th April 00:35

>> Edited by Leadfoot on Thursday 25th April 00:36
Edited 'cos I can't spell Chimp.

>> Edited by Leadfoot on Thursday 25th April 00:37

[PetrolTed]

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[AndyDavis]

Cheers guys, sort of what I had in mind! any ideas for a rough estimate of running costs for an early Griff serviced independently and are they eligible for classic car insurance yet? also although it would be great in summer what are they really like in the winter months is it possible to run one all year round realistically. Lastly for now if I got a quote for £1400 on a Grif 4.0 is there much difference between that and a 4.3 or 5.0 in terms of insurance group and is the chimera going to be any cheaper?

Many thanks again

Andy

[CleG]

For the insurance I went with Sunninghill, Manning were also competitive.

I just liked having the full RAC cover just incase

Not 100% but I think they are all group 20

>> Edited by CleG on Thursday 25th April 11:38

[Leadfoot]

Using one thru' the winter is probably not the best idea IMHO, just read all the threads about chassis & wishbone corrosion. The salt on the roads is not going to do the body any harm - but the chassis has piss poor corrosion protection (none) compared to any mainstream car from the last 15 years.
Why not buy a couple of hundred quid banger at the beginning of each winter & throw it away in the spring?
Servicing costs I've seen are from 200 (cheapest independant) to 600 quid (most expensive dealer) every 6K/1year, 12K is a little bit more & 24K is the big one.

[andyvg]

Just the same thing - Wife lost her company car so she has my '98 Almera now and I've just bought a '92 Griff with 40k on the clock to use as my daily driver.

Thought long and hard about the winter thing and decided that before winter comes I'm going to get a sub £1000 runabout - probably a Mini as I've always wanted one.

If you search around you can turn up good early Griff's for the price of excellent V8S models and I chose the Griff because I think that as there is a world of difference between the styles the Griff will hold its value (residual and stare factor) much better.

I got my insurance through A Manning whose quote was incidentally slightly cheaper that the renewal on the Nissan (1.4 Gp 6 vs 4.0 Gp 20 - Hmm....)

For cars of that age specialist servicing is a good as main dealer in the service record but speak to a few specialists before looking as they can save you ££££'s off the sale price if you know what to look for.

[Twit]

I think you will be OK running it through the winter as long as you are careful. I have run a range of old cars through winters and some of those had absolutely no rust proofing ever. The best thing to do is get the thing properly rustproofed (waxoiled etc) then religously jet wash it every weekend to get rid of salt and crap and you should be fine. The car will certainly appreciate being used thoughout the year and it seems fairly well recognised that TVRs perform best if used regularly throughout the year.

Give it a go, if it starts to suffer put it away and buy a banger!

[fraser]

IMO - buy a Griff (if you can find a good one at that price)4.0. Easy to look after as it is basically a Rover with Lucas and Ford bits added.I had one for 3 yrs and had no issues and it had 70k on it when I chopped it in against the Cerb.Personally I found the Griff more fun than a Chimeara more punch than the average S (note the average S please Peter H!!!) and held its price better than the more numerous Chim.Get something with FSH and for a car that old take it to Mark at Tower View in North London as he and Mark Adams are the guru's at V8 engines and cheap servicing....then when you have had it a few yrs buy a Cerb and look back in fondness not regret - Griff is a great intro to the marque and the voracity of TVR

[paul]

quote:
the voracity of TVR

Excellent! My new favourite word: Voracity
..even sounds good. Cheers....

[Dave_H]

I found driving my TVR through the winter quite depressing but soon as the weather picked up, the roads dried up, and the roof could come off, the experience soon changed

If your budget can streach it, I'd say as others have, buy a cheapy modern for the winter/boring driving.

If you play your cards right and buy the right "second" car to the Griff/Chim, you may find you can insure the pair of them fairly cheaply if you limit the miles on the TVR and the "second" car isn't in too high an insurance group.

Also considering limiting the miles, most TVRs need servicing every 6000 miles. So you could be saving a bit more on service bills per year by not using the TVR as an every day car.

Cheers,

Dave.

[JohnLow]

Sunninghill have quoted me £370 for a 390SE, unlimited mileage. Best quote for my Nissan Primera 2.0 is £403 Sunninghll say that for their specialist TVR scheme they effctively rate the cars at around grp 16. But the primera's grp 11!

Manning didn't even answer the phone, or return the call when I left a message. Well, if they don't want customers ... Sunninghill very helpful.

Plan is to run the 390SE whenevre I don't need to carry passengers, and hose winter salt off at least weekly. And stay at home if there's snow.

[Tony Hall]

Its a car, use it. It doesn't rain/snow every day in winter and its great to blow away a few cob webs on a nice cold day. Get it rust protected underneath and go for it. Just think how depressing it will be getting into an old boremobile. Tivvys are better for using every day. I have just sold a Caterham that i built 12 years ago, that became a shelf in the garage every winter and more recently a garage ornament in the summer. the Tivvy shouldn't be like that.

[gb61390]

Andy, if you get the car you want and it puts a smile on your face then why get 'another' car for the winter? You'll only be dissappointed every time you see another TVR and you're not in yours.
I ran my 4.0l Chimaera every day for 3 years with no problems. It was a 97P with 41K miles which I sold privately for less than £14K in January. Therefore the earlier Chimaeras are definitely in your price range.
Chimaera V Griffith will have to be your personal choice, not many people like both, it's normally one or the other!
Cheers........ Andrew