Opinions please

[ewan221]

Feeling positive that my car is going to sell soon as getting quite a bit of interest. Have noticed this very early Chimaera thats pretty close to me

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/2934253.htm

Its had a shed load of money and time spent on it but still has some cosmetic issues to sort.

It still has the SD1 gear box and will not be power steering

What's the general opinion on earlier cars (although there doesnt seem to be much left of the original car lol)

[BIGMIKE1]

Ive always prefered the full facelift cars (rear lights and different front) and thats what I bought first time round, I also planned to do the same this time round. Instead I bought a pre-facelift with no PAS does have T5 box though and I love it! Ive read that some people prefer pre=facelift looks wise and some dont, same with PAS. The no PAS isn't noticeable on the move only really low speed parking but its certainly not so heavy that you struggle-also means it won't leak!
Never driven one with rover gearbox so cant comment on that.
I think Its a lot of money for a 93 car but does look to have had a lot of money spent on it which would hopefully mean you'd have low maintenance costs for a couple of years. Hope you get sorted soon!

[Chilliman]

I'd get a bit more info about the engine, for example it states 7k miles ago but doesn't say if this was a fully rebuilt engine or a transplant from something else. If fully rebuilt I'd also want to know who did the rebuild (I'm a bit touchy about engines at the mo as mine's in bits). Also, if it's the original (not rebuilt) diff then you might want to factor this in as a potential future cost. I also notice that it's wearing different wheels in different pictures... Sounds like a genuine owner though and an honest advert....

[Andy chimaera]

mine was a non power steering model and it wasnt long until i was looking out for second hand racks etc... then i discovered they were like rocking horse sh*t, until i found one on ebay via an interesting link from this forum, the whole system was 900 quid and he wanted my manual rack for £300, so i snapped it up, i reconditioned the rack and i havent looked back, its lighter, (although as power steering goes its quite heavy) and much sharper, i found without power steering a handful, its very heavy at low speeds, BUT mine is my every day car, so parking, low speed manuvers really done my head in day after day, if its just a weekend car, this may not be a problem, is over 8 grand not a bit steep though for that year, milage and condition? i may be wrong though, all im saying is though if you use the car daily, you would probably wished you gone for a power rack model, id keep browsing if i were you, see what turns up, i payed 5 and a half grand for a 98 400 with 71000 on the clock, was in good order and very tidy apart from the brakes needed doing

[spitamenes]

Hi
i run a 93 pre serp as my everyday car. no pas, no problem(well for me anyway).also got the rover gearbox,and get along with that as well.i did a lot of reading on pistonheads before i bought my car,and was put off buying a non pas car.but when i started test driving cars with and without pas,it was no longer a deal breaker for me.go and try the car your thinking about,and then you'll know if it's the one for you.

[ewan221]

I ran a TR7 (I know ) a couple of years back without PAS and to be honest did not bother me at all. I am trying not to look too hard at the classifieds untill I the SLK sells but as this one was pretty close it caught my eye. Its possibly a bit overpriced but has had a hell of a lot spent on it by the looks of things.

Thanks for comments some food for thought

[Chris71]

On paper that's quite a lot of money, but... That 4.6 may well be producing more power than most 500s; the body-off is very useful; the big brakes and poly bushes will help if you plan to take it on track; the Gaz dampers are a step up from standard; the SD1 gearbox on the (admittedly, one) pre-T5 car I drove wasn't too bad at all and the PAS, while a useful extra, can be problematic.

I reckon that's a pretty good real world spec, and the price doesn't strike as exorbitant (certainly after some mild haggling). The sad fact is it will always be worth less than potentially inferior standard cars which are newer or larger capacity from the factory, though, so if resale value is a key thing you might want to look at a few adds to get a firm idea of the market value.

I guess what I'm saying is - I can well imagine it'd take at least the premium that car has attracted to bring a standard pre-serp car up to the apparent standard of that one (and hence it's good value). Whether or not that means it's the market value is a different matter.

[srdtvr]

Andy chimaera said:

mine was a non power steering model and it wasnt long until i was looking out for second hand racks etc... then i discovered they were like rocking horse sh*t, until i found one on ebay via an interesting link from this forum, the whole system was 900 quid and he wanted my manual rack for £300, so i snapped it up, i reconditioned the rack and i havent looked back, its lighter, (although as power steering goes its quite heavy) and much sharper, i found without power steering a handful, its very heavy at low speeds, BUT mine is my every day car, so parking, low speed manuvers really done my head in day after day, if its just a weekend car, this may not be a problem, is over 8 grand not a bit steep though for that year, milage and condition? i may be wrong though, all im saying is though if you use the car daily, you would probably wished you gone for a power rack model, id keep browsing if i were you, see what turns up, i payed 5 and a half grand for a 98 400 with 71000 on the clock, was in good order and very tidy apart from the brakes needed doing

That was a bloody good price for that 400 ?

I paid a grand more for a 93 - with a total body off chassis refurb back in May - rest of car is in fairly good shape but not a show winner - yet

PAS not an issue for me but being an old fart I grew up owning sports cars with no PAS - kind of like the solid feel you get

[ewan221]

There was a 94 400 on ebay with again fully body off refurb,refurbed interior with new suspension and poly bushed on 77,000 miles.

It was up for £11k and owner turned down a £10k offer. So maybe the one I originally put up is not too far off the mark price wise ?

[Ribol]

Forgetting price and age for a moment is it what you want?

After looking at and driving a few I concluded I wanted a serp engined car, not a 500, with PAS, a T5, mirror door opening and the later improved boot opening with concealed hinges. If those sort of things don't matter to you then the age won't matter to you and it is all down to condition/price. If it is a keeper then even the price matters less because if you pay more for a good one then over a period of time it evens out if you end up spending out less on it. Colour schemes come down to personal taste, but may appeal to less buyers if a bit extreme.

So, is it what you want?

[graeme4130]

If it was me looking, then I'd be considering the following potential problems (based on the advert info alone)

1 general paint condition? He mentions is consistent with a 15yr old car, but silver can go very flat and start to take a Matt appearance or become grey.
2 as mentioned above- milage of 4.6 engine. Best case is fully rebuilt 7k ago by a pro and a really good engine, worst case is dropped out of a smashed 120k mile car with no service history and already on it's last legs
3 'interior needs some tlc' could mean it's a right mess of tears and stretching or needs a clean up and maybe a new veneered panel. This could mean full retrim of seats, carpets, doors and dash at £1500 or £20 of product at halforfds. I'd suggest as there's no pics, it could he the worst case maybe ?
4 the seller mentions a brake conversion. The wheels shown on pics 3&4 may be needed to accommodate this conversion and may or may not be to your taste, and this could mean you couldn't return to a standard wheel (either estoril or imola)
5 no pics with the roof up and notes a hole in the rear. Worst case is new rear and targa @ approx £500
6 price is way up there for a car of that age, milage and potential condition

This is just the potential negatives and by no means to scare you off, but they're the things I'd certainly have in my mind if I was in your shoes.
Best £200 you could spend would be to get an independent specialist to look it over and value it for you
For what it's worth, there's some nice cars out there in that 8-9k bracket if you're prepared to look at a few.

Hope this helps ?

Cheers

Graeme

[graeme4130]

Sorry, one more thing ;
Be careful of looking at other ads aaa lot of the cars remain unsold

[Grey Ghost]

This one looks better value and has a better history in my opinion:

http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/sales/2954638.htm

You could probably get it for close to £7K rather than the asking price and put any extra you have in the bank for the service and any bad news/upgrades next year.

This one also looks good value:

http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/sales/2605592.htm


I looked at several before I bought my 450 and settled for a car in good mechanical condition with a good service history that need a bit of cosmetic work at £8500. Four fully refurbished wheels, four new tyres, a new battery and a few hours polishing the paint and feeding the leather and I had a lovely car that makes me smile to this day.

I put the balance of my "pot" to one side and at the first annual service and MOT nothing came up apart from a minor weep on the original Bilstein shocks so I had a set of Gaz Gold Pros fitted and set up for fast road use. This transformed the car and it now goes round corners rather well, which is nice

[ewan221]

[quote=Grey Ghost]This one looks better value and has a better history in my opinion:

http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/sales/2954638.htm

You could probably get it for close to £7K rather than the asking price and put any extra you have in the bank for the service and any bad news/upgrades next year.

I did speak to the owner of this one when I thought I had buyer for SLK the other week and its prob top of list to go see at moment, Im actually surprised its still up for sale as it appears quite reasonable but could easily be down to the fact that its in Scotland.

As said trying not to look to hard until the SLK sells but finding it difficult to resist :-)

[900T-R]

graeme4130 said:

4 the seller mentions a brake conversion. The wheels shown on pics 3&4 may be needed to accommodate this conversion and may or may not be to your taste, and this could mean you couldn't return to a standard wheel (either estoril or imola)

Those wheels in 3 & 4 are OE for Chims and Griffs of that vintage - they're the optional (and desirable) OZ split rims. Same sizes front and rear as the Imolas, about 1 kg lighter per corner, too. Given their deep dish I wouldn't worry - if the brakes fit under there, they'll fit whatever else you want to shod the car with...

[900T-R]

Grey Ghost said:

This one looks better value and has a better history in my opinion:

http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/sales/2954638.htm

Disagree - lovely car, but one that has had a body-off chassis restoration IMO represents better value at similar prices than something with no documented chassis maintenance regardless of year and mileage ('98 being among the worst years for chassis rust, anyway). With the first car, if they didn't just slap in any old 4.6 that was laying around there are far less 'unknowns' could (and probably would, in time) cost you loads of £££...

[Chris71]

graeme4130 said:

2 as mentioned above- milage of 4.6 engine. Best case is fully rebuilt 7k ago by a pro and a really good engine, worst case is dropped out of a smashed 120k mile car with no service history and already on it's last legs

That's a very good point. If it's a second hand engine you need to be very careful about the history.

In the end that's why I decided to rebuild mine with new bits. Although there are second hand engines on the market, very few of them are recently inspected/rebuilt second hand engines in demonstrably as-new condition!

(Of course the one in the ad may well have been built from scratch too...)

If you want to keep it for a long time and/or you're not too worried about resale value I'd still seriously consider a car that's had all the bits done already. Even a late, one owner, low-mileage example with a book full of main dealer services can need major work by now. At some stage it's likely that the chassis will rot, the bushes will perish, the cam will wear and the dampers will pass their best. If those points have recently been addressed you'll have a car that drives as well as TVR intended (or perhaps rather better).

[Andy chimaera]

the thing is, no matter how much you spend on one, you will always be spending even more sorting other stuff out and improving things to your taste including upgrades, so why dont you go for a cheaper one and do all the conversions/rebuilds yourself (or a decent garage) then you know its done and, cant you get a decent 400 for 6 grand? do the brakes yourself and get a garage to do a 4.6 conversion, i dont think thats as expesive as you may think and then its all brand new and you know its been done

[Grey Ghost]

900T-R said:

Grey Ghost said:

This one looks better value and has a better history in my opinion:

http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/sales/2954638.htm

Disagree - lovely car, but one that has had a body-off chassis restoration IMO represents better value at similar prices than something with no documented chassis maintenance regardless of year and mileage ('98 being among the worst years for chassis rust, anyway). With the first car, if they didn't just slap in any old 4.6 that was laying around there are far less 'unknowns' could (and probably would, in time) cost you loads of £££...

Good point and why it was a bit of a struggle to get my car when I bought it; balancing what I knew had been done against what could possibly need doing at first MOT and what I would like to do.

Just hoping the OP gets a car that runs well and doesn't bomb out at the MOT and service a year later.

[saml666]

Grey Ghost said:

900T-R said:

Grey Ghost said:

This one looks better value and has a better history in my opinion:

http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/sales/2954638.htm

Disagree - lovely car, but one that has had a body-off chassis restoration IMO represents better value at similar prices than something with no documented chassis maintenance regardless of year and mileage ('98 being among the worst years for chassis rust, anyway). With the first car, if they didn't just slap in any old 4.6 that was laying around there are far less 'unknowns' could (and probably would, in time) cost you loads of £££...

Good point and why it was a bit of a struggle to get my car when I bought it; balancing what I knew had been done against what could possibly need doing at first MOT and what I would like to do.

Just hoping the OP gets a car that runs well and doesn't bomb out at the MOT and service a year later.

I read the ad for this 4.6 with interest as it is almost a carbon copy of the car I'm finishing. Perhaps the only material differences are that...

My 4.6 was brand new (NOT refurbed) to me 5k miles ago.
Big valve heads from real steel (obviously these are rebuilds), typhoon cam, lifters etc etc were also brand new
I built my engine as a Serp
Always had the T5 box


Otherwise, body off rebuild (galvanised chassis), bushes, steve heath drop links, gaz gold pros, big brakes etc etc etc all as the advertised car.

I can state with confidence that £8.5k would be value for money. Obviously I would as sooner or later mine will be for sale but hey, buy a 400 for £5k and think about what you could do with the £3.5k change.

It would hardly buy the engine. A decent outrigger job would swallow much of it

My car was a £5k 400
The rebuild and upgrades come to just over £10k
I try not to think about the labour