Does anyone recognise this car? (ebay)

[DaveCWK]

Hello everyone

I'm currently looking to join the fold of Chimaera ownership!
This car caught my eye on ebay, mainly due to the price:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&am...

Does anyone recognise it/know of its history?
I don't mind doing a bit of mechanical repair/tidying up, and this car sounds like it might fit the bill, with only a couple of niggles to sort but in a currently useable state with solid underpinnings.

[Prizam]

Dont know the car but there is a high chance at that age, mileage and price that its rotten underneath.

[pwd95]

Prizam said:

Dont know the car but there is a high chance at that age, mileage and price that its rotten underneath.

This...... but, almost every Chim & Griff out there will be rough chassis wise now. Fact of life at the mo. I was very tempted to just buy it at that price. Bought another now so let us know how you get on.

[macdeb]

Be cautious, It will be that price for a reason. Good luck.

[Alexdaredevilz]

Looks ok, the seller is honest and its a bargain IMO

[Simon says]

You won't know if you don't look at it it could be a bargain or it may not

[Ropps]

seems to me a good description of the car, price is fair considering the very high mileage for the chimaera! (should not put you off as i believe the ones that have been driven for lengths drive really well.

as long as you have £1000 or so for repairs and what ever else might need doing then its a fair price. for a few hundred pounds it might be worth having it inspected professionally, this will give you piece of mind (especially checking the outriggers and clutch) if there is an issue with it then you have some negotiation power to chip some more money off.

The fact the guy has had many TVR's tells me he is passionate about these British beauties so im sure all will be fine and he knows a lot about them

[Nosh]

It does crack me up when Chim sellers only posts a picture of the passenger seat!

LOL!

[sheel]

Worth a look at that sort of money, seen far worse for not much less, reads as if its had a fair bit done to it already, if its not rotten then i reckon worth a punt

[roseytvr]

sheel said:

Worth a look at that sort of money, seen far worse for not much less, reads as if its had a fair bit done to it already, if its not rotten then i reckon worth a punt

+1 - sounds like a fair price to me as long as it isnt rotten but the advertiser says not. Well worth a trip if thats the sort of price you are looking at. If your thinking buy cheap and do up I would suggest buy one already done and save some money!!

[YesItsAVW]

I drive past this car's home daily. The chap has had many TVR's on his drive over the years.

It hasn't been there since yesterday lunchtime so it may have gone now.

[Andy JB]

pwd95 said:

This...... but, almost every Chim & Griff out there will be rough chassis wise now. Fact of life

Wow steady on - a somewhat sweeping supposition. Many of these cars are garaged & taxed for 6 months or taken off road in salt weather, so just because they are over 10 years old does not mean the chassis will rotten or rough.

Many were treated properly post factory so you always need to look at a car first.

A replacement chassis isn't always a good bet either as the rest of the meachnicals are liklely to have sufferred the same way as a poor chassis ie wishbones, bushes, UJ's etc.

[pwd95]

Andy JB said:

pwd95 said:

This...... but, almost every Chim & Griff out there will be rough chassis wise now. Fact of life

Wow steady on - a somewhat sweeping supposition. Many of these cars are garaged & taxed for 6 months or taken off road in salt weather, so just because they are over 10 years old does not mean the chassis will rotten or rough.

Many were treated properly post factory so you always need to look at a car first.

A replacement chassis isn't always a good bet either as the rest of the meachnicals are liklely to have sufferred the same way as a poor chassis ie wishbones, bushes, UJ's etc.

Agree, but without looking up all their skirts, we'll never know. Got a tenner on most being ropey though. (by ropey I mean visible rust on the outriggers & the bits you can't see, or treat being corroded quite badly)

Edited by pwd95 on Thursday 23 August 19:01

[portzi]

looks like the seller has gone to town on the silver paint on the wishbones and top ball joint is he trying to hide something?, and looking at the front outrigger they could do with a good scrape to get all that dirt off and find out whats underneath?

[TJC46]

Andy JB said:

Wow steady on - a somewhat sweeping supposition. Many of these cars are garaged & taxed for 6 months or taken off road in salt weather, so just because they are over 10 years old does not mean the chassis will rotten or rough.

Many were treated properly post factory so you always need to look at a car first.

A replacement chassis isn't always a good bet either as the rest of the meachnicals are liklely to have sufferred the same way as a poor chassis ie wishbones, bushes, UJ's etc.

Even if a car is only used during the summer months it will still have corrosion on the chassis. Guaranteed you might not be able to see it, but IT WILL be there.The main problem is the powder coating. When i lifted the body off my Chim there was rust on the outriggers, but what was a real eyeopener was every single weld on the chassis had rust. This would suggest that TVR did not clean/blast the chassis after welding, they just sent them off for powder coating. To this point the powder coat did not adhere as it should,especially on every weld, and although it may look ok, it will be rusting underneath.
All the above is the reason why after welding in new outriggers, i had the chassis bead blasted and painted straight after with 2 pack epoxy paint. Six coats in all.
Now because most of the welds have rust does not mean the chassis is knackered.Just the usual checks on the outriggers etc should suffice for any pre purchase inspection. But as the original OP said, most if not all of these cars will have rust on the chassis now due to there age, and i think that is a fair statement.It may be hidden under all that waxoyl [applied every year] and underneath the powdercoat, but its there.
In the past it was the wedge and S series cars, now its the chim/griff/cerbera that are having "bodyoff" chassis repairs. Just visit the various TVR forums and have a read, there is a lot of chassis repair being done across the range.
No doubt in the future, if not already, the early tuscan cars will develop chassis rust problems, although im led to beleive that the powdercoat process was better on these cars.