Chimaera Prices
Discussion
schmokin1 said:
Ok, so no one went to see it, so the condition is somewhere between needing recommissioning to total basket case. Could be a money pit, or the bargain of the month....!
It's a TVR that hasn't been used in several years, left outside....What end of the spectrum shall we put our money on???
rockits said:
Sorry....always wanted one and am still keeping an eye out for one. Have had 2 E39 540i M Sports and an E60 M5 but never an E39 M5.
Was just comparing how well prepared it was as a private sale compared to that 430. If they had spent a few hours on that 430 with some elbow grease it would have looked a ton better.
I had an E39 535i and last year an E39 525d M Sport - I need to own the E39 M5 at some point in my life. The E60 M5 doesn't interest me.Was just comparing how well prepared it was as a private sale compared to that 430. If they had spent a few hours on that 430 with some elbow grease it would have looked a ton better.
All I can think about these days is owning a TVR Chimaera! The M5 does have an addictive V8 tone but the Rover V8 is in a league of it's own and that's what I'm looking forward to starting up every morning and annoying the neighbours
I understand the TVR thing & the Rover V8 & love it. It is why I have one & would like another.
Don't dismiss the amazing engine that is in that E60 M5 though. It is one amazing piece of engineering & a real amazing experience. That V10 at full tilt is a sound that will stay with me forever. A real screaming banshy sound of beauty. The only reason it is flawed is it only best at 9-10/10ths & is amazing at that point. The brakes, the turn in, the handling, the balance for a big comfy saloon is not short of a miracle.
However to own, run & drive at 8/10ths & less is dull & flawed for that reason. You are at license losing speeds & jail speeds to enjoy it where it wants to be. With a Maser or a TVR you don't need to be at 10/10ths or anywhere need to enjoy it. I enjoy the TVR & Maser just looking at them in the garage standing still. You don't do that with an E60 M5!
The TVR & Maser cover the two V8 bases nicely. The TVR being more masculine with low down power, torque & a hairy chest. The Maser is an amazing free revving awesome sounding engine (after a few exhaust mods!) that is a pure balanced ballerina style engine. The E55K sits somewhere in between and carries lots of gear. I can't complain!
Don't dismiss the amazing engine that is in that E60 M5 though. It is one amazing piece of engineering & a real amazing experience. That V10 at full tilt is a sound that will stay with me forever. A real screaming banshy sound of beauty. The only reason it is flawed is it only best at 9-10/10ths & is amazing at that point. The brakes, the turn in, the handling, the balance for a big comfy saloon is not short of a miracle.
However to own, run & drive at 8/10ths & less is dull & flawed for that reason. You are at license losing speeds & jail speeds to enjoy it where it wants to be. With a Maser or a TVR you don't need to be at 10/10ths or anywhere need to enjoy it. I enjoy the TVR & Maser just looking at them in the garage standing still. You don't do that with an E60 M5!
The TVR & Maser cover the two V8 bases nicely. The TVR being more masculine with low down power, torque & a hairy chest. The Maser is an amazing free revving awesome sounding engine (after a few exhaust mods!) that is a pure balanced ballerina style engine. The E55K sits somewhere in between and carries lots of gear. I can't complain!
This one has been for sale for a when now & been relisted a few times with price gradually moving down over time.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/263899602747?ul_noapp=t...
Anyone on here?
Seems decent enough & getting to what price it should be as I think it was a bit high to start with.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/263899602747?ul_noapp=t...
Anyone on here?
Seems decent enough & getting to what price it should be as I think it was a bit high to start with.
Edited by rockits on Sunday 26th August 14:40
Edited by rockits on Sunday 26th August 19:45
Like this red especially in the sun.
Reminds me of Rover 100/ Metros from the 90s
https://picclick.co.uk/96-P-ROVER-114-14-SLi-5DR-2...
Reminds me of Rover 100/ Metros from the 90s
https://picclick.co.uk/96-P-ROVER-114-14-SLi-5DR-2...
pwd95 said:
Chris71 said:
That shows how far things have moved on. When I bought mine in late 2010, £6.5k was about the going rate for a 430, £8k to £10k bought you a 450 and anything beyond that was reserved for 500s and absolute minters.
The insurance company thought I was significantly undervaluing my 500 when I phoned up to renew, but I do wonder how many sell at the listed prices. So, OP, don't be afraid to try a cheeky offer. I suspect your budget will go further than you think.
These figures are spot on. Go back 4-5 yrs & there was a good choice of Chims for under £10k.The insurance company thought I was significantly undervaluing my 500 when I phoned up to renew, but I do wonder how many sell at the listed prices. So, OP, don't be afraid to try a cheeky offer. I suspect your budget will go further than you think.
I've never paid more than £7k for any of mine..........
My three.....
Beautifull 430
Tyre Smoke said:
It's a TVR that hasn't been used in several years, left outside....
What end of the spectrum shall we put our money on???
I almost went to see it. I e-mailed him asking about outrigger / chassis condition. He replied that the chassis and outriggers must be OK because they had been undersealed. It wasn't clear whether they had recently been undersealed or a long time in the past.What end of the spectrum shall we put our money on???
I was kind of angling to tell him it needed a full body off and if it didn't sell then I would give him a couple of £k for it, but in the end I didn't even bother going to look at it.
BIG DUNC said:
I almost went to see it. I e-mailed him asking about outrigger / chassis condition. He replied that the chassis and outriggers must be OK because they had been undersealed. It wasn't clear whether they had recently been undersealed or a long time in the past.
I was kind of angling to tell him it needed a full body off and if it didn't sell then I would give him a couple of £k for it, but in the end I didn't even bother going to look at it.
Brave man....it looked like a ton of work to me. All those painful scenarios with every nut and bolt rusted stuck. One of those where every job small or not would take ages I would have thought, I think you did well to duck out of that one.I was kind of angling to tell him it needed a full body off and if it didn't sell then I would give him a couple of £k for it, but in the end I didn't even bother going to look at it.
If you have all the tools/ skills and time a cheap Tvr makes for a great project and can be done without spending huge sums but if you have no choice but use specialists keep the heck away.
It’s not like the specialists are overly expensive but big jobs cost.
There is to my mind no question that buying a car that’s already had this work done is far far cheaper in the longer run and much less painful if all you want to do is get in and enjoy it.
If your like me, you tend to make your mind up then want it NOW,,,,, not the cleverest way of going on and if I’d had more knowledge when looking I’d have saved up more.
I seemed to think at the time I was buying that there were few cars that fitted my criteria so when one came along I had to have it.
That’s nonsense and there’s loads of good cars out there.
That burning desire to be cruising about in a dream machine gets very strong when looking at a TVR,,,, until your told it needs lots of work that is, which in my case was the very next day as I found TVR Power and Dom don’t pull punches
Keep focused on the details and Chassis condition over anything else as thsts the most expensive issue as when a body lift is done you’ll start to replace loads of things just because you’ll not want to revisit it again. 4K can become 7 or 8 very easily.
Saying that I replaced loads of stuff on mine at home and the parts didn’t come to much at all.
It took me weeks of time though so if a specialist had done it the bill would have been 3 times as much!
Try and enjoy looking at loads of them before buying is simply the best way to find the right car and that’s best done at TVR gatherings.
honest opinions set you up with the right info.
It’s not like the specialists are overly expensive but big jobs cost.
There is to my mind no question that buying a car that’s already had this work done is far far cheaper in the longer run and much less painful if all you want to do is get in and enjoy it.
If your like me, you tend to make your mind up then want it NOW,,,,, not the cleverest way of going on and if I’d had more knowledge when looking I’d have saved up more.
I seemed to think at the time I was buying that there were few cars that fitted my criteria so when one came along I had to have it.
That’s nonsense and there’s loads of good cars out there.
That burning desire to be cruising about in a dream machine gets very strong when looking at a TVR,,,, until your told it needs lots of work that is, which in my case was the very next day as I found TVR Power and Dom don’t pull punches
Keep focused on the details and Chassis condition over anything else as thsts the most expensive issue as when a body lift is done you’ll start to replace loads of things just because you’ll not want to revisit it again. 4K can become 7 or 8 very easily.
Saying that I replaced loads of stuff on mine at home and the parts didn’t come to much at all.
It took me weeks of time though so if a specialist had done it the bill would have been 3 times as much!
Try and enjoy looking at loads of them before buying is simply the best way to find the right car and that’s best done at TVR gatherings.
honest opinions set you up with the right info. Have to admit to keep thinking abut selling mine, it's just the currently deflated prices and apparent lack of interest in most things "classic" that is putting me off.
Having owned it for over 3 years ans done little more than 6000 miles, but spent a lot on it's upkeep and improvement, most of my journeys are with the family (wife, child and often two dogs) or when I'm on my own it's usually off to the builders merchant (house renovation) or the supermarket door banging park.
Latest one was yesterday when, as it was just my wife and I going on a 200 mile round trip to view kitchens I suggested taking the Chimaera.
"You'll have to park it out of the way or they'll be bumping the prices up when they see the car turn up"
We took the old Volvo Estate.....
Stuck behind the Chimaera is the Caterham I built all those years ago, it's been out twice this year and once was to the MoT station..."Head" says sell again too, it's just "heart" that says hold on to it.. The money from either car is not needed at the moment but it just seems a waste to leave them in the garage collecting dust.
Actually the TVR will be ousted from the garage shortly to make way for more building materials and kitchen units, tiles etc.
Having owned it for over 3 years ans done little more than 6000 miles, but spent a lot on it's upkeep and improvement, most of my journeys are with the family (wife, child and often two dogs) or when I'm on my own it's usually off to the builders merchant (house renovation) or the supermarket door banging park.
Latest one was yesterday when, as it was just my wife and I going on a 200 mile round trip to view kitchens I suggested taking the Chimaera.
"You'll have to park it out of the way or they'll be bumping the prices up when they see the car turn up"
We took the old Volvo Estate.....
Stuck behind the Chimaera is the Caterham I built all those years ago, it's been out twice this year and once was to the MoT station..."Head" says sell again too, it's just "heart" that says hold on to it.. The money from either car is not needed at the moment but it just seems a waste to leave them in the garage collecting dust.
Actually the TVR will be ousted from the garage shortly to make way for more building materials and kitchen units, tiles etc.
At the moment it seems to be a buyers market as many panic or face real hardship over the economy so more people bottle it and want to sell now just in case it crashes even worse.
I’ve been looking at MK Indy cars ( Caterham based) and are usually full on track cars. You can get some fantastic stuff for not much more than 8k with high spec engines etc but similar to the Caterham I’d rarely drive it on the road so what’s the point unless I have an interest in regular trackdays, which I can’t afford so it would sit doing nothing most the time.
The sellers of these cars must be loosing small fortunes because you can’t build one at those spec levels at those kind of prices.
The bears who are snapping this stuff up should be in a good place when everything settles down again.
I’ve been looking at MK Indy cars ( Caterham based) and are usually full on track cars. You can get some fantastic stuff for not much more than 8k with high spec engines etc but similar to the Caterham I’d rarely drive it on the road so what’s the point unless I have an interest in regular trackdays, which I can’t afford so it would sit doing nothing most the time.
The sellers of these cars must be loosing small fortunes because you can’t build one at those spec levels at those kind of prices.
The bears who are snapping this stuff up should be in a good place when everything settles down again.
Matt-hi3m1 said:
Went to look at one yesterday, was a disappointment.
It was a CAT N which I wasn't going to consider but I was informed it was wrote off due to a scrape on the side. I was sent pictures of the damage which looked like no big deal and I wondered why you'd go through the rigmarole of an insurance claim.
I'd bid on it on eBay yesterday afternoon just before it ended but didn't win it because there was a reserve. I was hoping because this is the second time it was listed with no interest that if it was as good as he said, I would be able to negotiate a deal.
Went down to see it after work which was a 50 minute journey. Was really excited on the way down almost nervous as I've been looking forward to owning one for such a long time.
Had a look round the front - it had the usual stone chips which is no major issue. Went round the back and noticed a crease on the rear quarter where the paint had bubbled up down a line, also there was a few cracks on the bottom corner. Went round the other side to find exactly the same thing
. It had obviously been rear ended and that was why it was written off but the seller said he didn't know why it was like that...
Asked about the full service history with every reciept from new to be handed some paperwork which contained invoices from over the years but also insurance and tax receipts. Stuff like this doesn't need to be included and just fills the folder up. There was no bookpack and no service history book, was told cars of this year didn't have stuff like that
Was told the outriggers had been fully done within the last 12 months, looked like it had been painted underneath quite a few years ago as there was rust showing through the paint.
The log book said it had been owned since June 2018, was told it was wrote off in Nov 2017 and he only got it back in June. Also he bought it off the insurance company for £9k.
I decided it wasn't for me - best thing about it was hearing it fire up but I wasn't being blinded by that.
Oh well, the hunt goes on. But I won't be buying CAT anything. Just not worth it.
Was this a burgendy one in Gloucester? 1994 ? It was a CAT N which I wasn't going to consider but I was informed it was wrote off due to a scrape on the side. I was sent pictures of the damage which looked like no big deal and I wondered why you'd go through the rigmarole of an insurance claim.
I'd bid on it on eBay yesterday afternoon just before it ended but didn't win it because there was a reserve. I was hoping because this is the second time it was listed with no interest that if it was as good as he said, I would be able to negotiate a deal.
Went down to see it after work which was a 50 minute journey. Was really excited on the way down almost nervous as I've been looking forward to owning one for such a long time.
Had a look round the front - it had the usual stone chips which is no major issue. Went round the back and noticed a crease on the rear quarter where the paint had bubbled up down a line, also there was a few cracks on the bottom corner. Went round the other side to find exactly the same thing
. It had obviously been rear ended and that was why it was written off but the seller said he didn't know why it was like that...Asked about the full service history with every reciept from new to be handed some paperwork which contained invoices from over the years but also insurance and tax receipts. Stuff like this doesn't need to be included and just fills the folder up. There was no bookpack and no service history book, was told cars of this year didn't have stuff like that
Was told the outriggers had been fully done within the last 12 months, looked like it had been painted underneath quite a few years ago as there was rust showing through the paint.
The log book said it had been owned since June 2018, was told it was wrote off in Nov 2017 and he only got it back in June. Also he bought it off the insurance company for £9k.
I decided it wasn't for me - best thing about it was hearing it fire up but I wasn't being blinded by that.
Oh well, the hunt goes on. But I won't be buying CAT anything. Just not worth it.
Classic Chim said:
The sellers of these cars must be loosing small fortunes because you can’t build one at those spec levels at those kind of prices.
The bears who are snapping this stuff up should be in a good place when everything settles down again.
I dunno, Caterhams aside, kit cars always seem to plummet in value the moment they actually turn a wheel. It's a few years ago now, but I was looking at Sylva Strikers and the like for sub-£5k.The bears who are snapping this stuff up should be in a good place when everything settles down again.
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