How many Chimaeras were built?
Discussion
My info says 5,230 between '93 and '02, information supplied apparently by the factory so almost certainly not correct.
I'd also guess that of the alleged 600 factory 500's built only half are left.. 50% attrition rate sounds about right to me...
I wouldn't part with mine for less than 25K
Which is totally irrelevant because I have no intention of parting with it.
And the next imbecile that asks me about reliability, mentions kit cars, or asks me how many times I've broken down is going to get a kick in the nuts and a punch in the face.
I've had a bad day.
I'd also guess that of the alleged 600 factory 500's built only half are left.. 50% attrition rate sounds about right to me...
I wouldn't part with mine for less than 25K
Which is totally irrelevant because I have no intention of parting with it.
And the next imbecile that asks me about reliability, mentions kit cars, or asks me how many times I've broken down is going to get a kick in the nuts and a punch in the face.
I've had a bad day.
Perhaps we should also be looking at how many Griffs are left too. As Griff values increase prospective buyers who can't quite manage the 25k plus for a really decent one may well turn to the Chim market. As the pool of available Chims can never increase then each additional buyer is adding to the 'demand' side of supply/demand which can only be good for Chim values. Not that ours will ever be for sale....
ChilliWhizz said:
My info says 5,230 between '93 and '02, information supplied apparently by the factory so almost certainly not correct.
I'd also guess that of the alleged 600 factory 500's built only half are left.. 50% attrition rate sounds about right to me...
I wouldn't part with mine for less than 25K
Which is totally irrelevant because I have no intention of parting with it.
And the next imbecile that asks me about reliability, mentions kit cars, or asks me how many times I've broken down is going to get a kick in the nuts and a punch in the face.
I've had a bad day.
Chilli mate, how reliable is your kit car and how many times have you broken down in it in the last year? I'd also guess that of the alleged 600 factory 500's built only half are left.. 50% attrition rate sounds about right to me...
I wouldn't part with mine for less than 25K
Which is totally irrelevant because I have no intention of parting with it.
And the next imbecile that asks me about reliability, mentions kit cars, or asks me how many times I've broken down is going to get a kick in the nuts and a punch in the face.
I've had a bad day.
Now come and kick me in the nuts and punch me in the face!
KateV8 said:
Perhaps we should also be looking at how many Griffs are left too. As Griff values increase prospective buyers who can't quite manage the 25k plus for a really decent one may well turn to the Chim market. As the pool of available Chims can never increase then each additional buyer is adding to the 'demand' side of supply/demand which can only be good for Chim values. Not that ours will ever be for sale....
People have been turning to the Chimaera over the Griffith for years, indeed when the cars were current 2 out of 3 TVR buyers did just that.Why?
Because the Chimaera offers everything the Griffith does in a prettier & more practical package.
J400GED said:
ChilliWhizz said:
My info says 5,230 between '93 and '02, information supplied apparently by the factory so almost certainly not correct.
I'd also guess that of the alleged 600 factory 500's built only half are left.. 50% attrition rate sounds about right to me...
I wouldn't part with mine for less than 25K
Which is totally irrelevant because I have no intention of parting with it.
And the next imbecile that asks me about reliability, mentions kit cars, or asks me how many times I've broken down is going to get a kick in the nuts and a punch in the face.
I've had a bad day.
Chilli mate, how reliable is your kit car and how many times have you broken down in it in the last year? I'd also guess that of the alleged 600 factory 500's built only half are left.. 50% attrition rate sounds about right to me...
I wouldn't part with mine for less than 25K
Which is totally irrelevant because I have no intention of parting with it.
And the next imbecile that asks me about reliability, mentions kit cars, or asks me how many times I've broken down is going to get a kick in the nuts and a punch in the face.
I've had a bad day.
Now come and kick me in the nuts and punch me in the face!
N7GTX said:
According to How Many Left website, at the end of 2014 there were 2,390 taxed and a further 1,408 Sorn.
If there were 5,230 made then 3,798 are left. That's an attrition rate of around 28% ??? (its a long time since I went to school).
So 72% of all Chimaeras have survived to date, actually that's not bad for a sports car that for a while was being sold too cheaply for its own good.If there were 5,230 made then 3,798 are left. That's an attrition rate of around 28% ??? (its a long time since I went to school).
Edited by N7GTX on Wednesday 15th April 23:43
Lets compare the TVR Chimaera with the Lotus Elan which actually makes an excellent comparison as it was also a low production hand built sports car with a separate fiberglass body bolted to a backbone type rolling chassis.
Similarly to the 9 year run of the Chimaera the Elan was in production for 10 years, however the Elan was more successful as it was sold in a broader range of variants and in the US, a market which was closed to TVR due to the much stricter North American safety legislation in place by the time the Chimaera was conceived.
A total of 15,524 Elans were made if you include all variants (Mk1, Mk2, Sprint, closed & open cars and the Plus 2), but if we say approximately two thirds were sold new overseas around 5-6,000 Elans would have been sold to the UK market which again is more or less the same as the Chimaera production numbers.
It's hard to believe it now but even in the classic car boom years of the early/mid 1990's the Elan was still treated with some disdain by the market, the car was seen by traditionalists as unreliable and a little too kit car to be of any real value, indeed at the time there was a lot of snobbery around anything with a fiberglass body.
There was also a big fear of the chassis corrosion that plagued all Elans which put a lot of buyers off, the solution was that pretty much every Elan had a body off restoration by the time it had reached 25-30 years old. New chassis' were made and transplanted, solving the problem in a stroke.
Does all this sound familiar?
The TVR brand still carries all the same stigmas today as Lotus did 20 years ago, but as the fortunes changed rapidly for the little Elan so it's already started to happen for the Chimaaera & many other TVRs come to that.
In last 20 years we've seen all the negative snobbery around the Elan completely disappear and values rocket from £8k to £40k during this period for a car in the same condition. The Elan is now seen as a true classic even by those that consider themselves elite classic car connoisseurs.
With the comparisons and body of evidence so strong I believe looking at the rise in Elan values over the last 20 years is the best way to demonstrate what will happen to Chimaera values in the future, indeed as we can all see the rise in TVR values is already well & truly under way.
Of course Lotus has a far stronger racing pedigree than TVR and any British sports car from the 60's will always carry a certain cachet, but the focus in the classic car world is very much shifting towards usability on modern roads as people realise the truth is a lot of cars from the 50's & 60's aren't actually all that good to drive, especially in the modern world.
In the usability stakes the Chimaera's more polished ergonomics, modern brakes & exhilarating performance scores very strongly while still offering all the charisma & old school thrills of the default choice traditional classics making it the clever man's choice.
Of all the Elans originally sold in the domestic market only 50% or so survive compared with 72% of all Chimaeras, and rarity always pushes values up because of the unavoidable rules of supply and demand. Of course the Elan is a much older car, anything from 30-40 years older, so the number of cars lost to fire and accident is always going to be higher just by virtue of how many more years the car has existed.
But to my mind the 60's Elan definitely stands as the best barometer for future Chimaera values, and if the Elan has gone up 500% in the last 20 years I don't see the same won't happen to the Chimaera.
Actually with the way things have been going in the classic car market during the last five years I don't see why we wouldn't see an even steeper climb over a shorter period for the still massively undervalued & very usable classic that is the TVR Chimaera.
People who talk down the value of our cars or sell them too cheaply are stupid, we should all be talking up the values and if we have to sell pitching them strongly just as the specialist TVR car dealer community is.
But at the end of the day whatever we do the rise in values of our cars is inevitable, just look at the rest of the market and that little Lotus Elan, then try and find something else that matches what the Chimaera offers for the same money.
If prospective classic sports car buyers have got any sense they'll see that even though the Chimaera has already gone up by 25% in the last 5 years it's still remains the bargain of the century.
My advise to anyone thinking about buying a TVR Chimaera is to get one while you can still afford it, leave it just another year and you could be priced out of the market & living in a world of regret.
ChilliWhizz said:
My info says 5,230 between '93 and '02, information supplied apparently by the factory so almost certainly not correct.
I'd also guess that of the alleged 600 factory 500's built only half are left.. 50% attrition rate sounds about right to me...
I wouldn't part with mine for less than 25K
Which is totally irrelevant because I have no intention of parting with it.
And the next imbecile that asks me about reliability, mentions kit cars, or asks me how many times I've broken down is going to get a kick in the nuts and a punch in the face.
I've had a bad day.
We are about correct perhaps, Chilli. According to Steve Heath, page 17 of the "Griff & Chim Story", 5,676 Chims built, 2,445 Griffs built, 1,729 Griff 500s. Perhaps still half in existence. Mine is a keeper with recent insurance agreed value 20K. Perhaps I need to up it? Carol Nash Insurance. A nice yellow 1998 Griff at Burghley for sale with Agar at 24k. At Burghley parked next to Mat Smiths Chim racer. A good TVRCC turn out, my new cam and ECU relay doing the business on the A1. Awesome! Very stable in 45mph gusty side winds. I'd also guess that of the alleged 600 factory 500's built only half are left.. 50% attrition rate sounds about right to me...
I wouldn't part with mine for less than 25K
Which is totally irrelevant because I have no intention of parting with it.
And the next imbecile that asks me about reliability, mentions kit cars, or asks me how many times I've broken down is going to get a kick in the nuts and a punch in the face.
I've had a bad day.
Edited by EGB on Thursday 16th April 11:50
ChimpOnGas said:
So 72% of all Chimaeras have survived to date, actually that's not bad for a sports car that for a while was being sold too cheaply for its own good.
Lets compare the TVR Chimaera with the Lotus Elan which actually makes an excellent comparison as it was also a low production hand built sports car with a separate fiberglass body bolted to a backbone type rolling chassis.
Similarly to the 9 year run of the Chimaera the Elan was in production for 10 years, however the Elan was more successful as it was sold in a broader range of variants and in the US, a market which was closed to TVR due to the much stricter North American safety legislation in place by the time the Chimaera was conceived.
A total of 15,524 Elans were made if you include all variants (Mk1, Mk2, Sprint, closed & open cars and the Plus 2), but if we say approximately two thirds were sold new overseas around 5-6,000 Elans would have been sold to the UK market which again is more or less the same as the Chimaera production numbers.
It's hard to believe it now but even in the classic car boom years of the early/mid 1990's the Elan was still treated with some disdain by the market, the car was seen by traditionalists as unreliable and a little too kit car to be of any real value, indeed at the time there was a lot of snobbery around anything with a fiberglass body.
There was also a big fear of the chassis corrosion that plagued all Elans which put a lot of buyers off, the solution was that pretty much every Elan had a body off restoration by the time it had reached 25-30 years old. New chassis' were made and transplanted, solving the problem in a stroke.
Does all this sound familiar?
The TVR brand still carries all the same stigmas today as Lotus did 20 years ago, but as the fortunes changed rapidly for the little Elan so it's already started to happen for the Chimaaera & many other TVRs come to that.
In last 20 years we've seen all the negative snobbery around the Elan completely disappear and values rocket from £8k to £40k during this period for a car in the same condition. The Elan is now seen as a true classic even by those that consider themselves elite classic car connoisseurs.
With the comparisons and body of evidence so strong I believe looking at the rise in Elan values over the last 20 years is the best way to demonstrate what will happen to Chimaera values in the future, indeed as we can all see the rise in TVR values is already well & truly under way.
Of course Lotus has a far stronger racing pedigree than TVR and any British sports car from the 60's will always carry a certain cachet, but the focus in the classic car world is very much shifting towards usability on modern roads as people realise the truth is a lot of cars from the 50's & 60's aren't actually all that good to drive, especially in the modern world.
In the usability stakes the Chimaera's more polished ergonomics, modern brakes & exhilarating performance scores very strongly while still offering all the charisma & old school thrills of the default choice traditional classics making it the clever man's choice.
Of all the Elans originally sold in the domestic market only 50% or so survive compared with 72% of all Chimaeras, and rarity always pushes values up because of the unavoidable rules of supply and demand. Of course the Elan is a much older car, anything from 30-40 years older, so the number of cars lost to fire and accident is always going to be higher just by virtue of how many more years the car has existed.
But to my mind the 60's Elan definitely stands as the best barometer for future Chimaera values, and if the Elan has gone up 500% in the last 20 years I don't see the same won't happen to the Chimaera.
Actually with the way things have been going in the classic car market during the last five years I don't see why we wouldn't see an even steeper climb over a shorter period for the still massively undervalued & very usable classic that is the TVR Chimaera.
People who talk down the value of our cars or sell them too cheaply are stupid, we should all be talking up the values and if we have to sell pitching them strongly just as the specialist TVR car dealer community is.
But at the end of the day whatever we do the rise in values of our cars is inevitable, just look at the rest of the market and that little Lotus Elan, then try and find something else that matches what the Chimaera offers for the same money.
If prospective classic sports car buyers have got any sense they'll see that even though the Chimaera has already gone up by 25% in the last 5 years it's still remains the bargain of the century.
My advise to anyone thinking about buying a TVR Chimaera is to get one while you can still afford it, leave it just another year and you could be priced out of the market & living in a world of regret.
Substitute the word Chimaera for Griffiths plus 20 percent ! Lets compare the TVR Chimaera with the Lotus Elan which actually makes an excellent comparison as it was also a low production hand built sports car with a separate fiberglass body bolted to a backbone type rolling chassis.
Similarly to the 9 year run of the Chimaera the Elan was in production for 10 years, however the Elan was more successful as it was sold in a broader range of variants and in the US, a market which was closed to TVR due to the much stricter North American safety legislation in place by the time the Chimaera was conceived.
A total of 15,524 Elans were made if you include all variants (Mk1, Mk2, Sprint, closed & open cars and the Plus 2), but if we say approximately two thirds were sold new overseas around 5-6,000 Elans would have been sold to the UK market which again is more or less the same as the Chimaera production numbers.
It's hard to believe it now but even in the classic car boom years of the early/mid 1990's the Elan was still treated with some disdain by the market, the car was seen by traditionalists as unreliable and a little too kit car to be of any real value, indeed at the time there was a lot of snobbery around anything with a fiberglass body.
There was also a big fear of the chassis corrosion that plagued all Elans which put a lot of buyers off, the solution was that pretty much every Elan had a body off restoration by the time it had reached 25-30 years old. New chassis' were made and transplanted, solving the problem in a stroke.
Does all this sound familiar?
The TVR brand still carries all the same stigmas today as Lotus did 20 years ago, but as the fortunes changed rapidly for the little Elan so it's already started to happen for the Chimaaera & many other TVRs come to that.
In last 20 years we've seen all the negative snobbery around the Elan completely disappear and values rocket from £8k to £40k during this period for a car in the same condition. The Elan is now seen as a true classic even by those that consider themselves elite classic car connoisseurs.
With the comparisons and body of evidence so strong I believe looking at the rise in Elan values over the last 20 years is the best way to demonstrate what will happen to Chimaera values in the future, indeed as we can all see the rise in TVR values is already well & truly under way.
Of course Lotus has a far stronger racing pedigree than TVR and any British sports car from the 60's will always carry a certain cachet, but the focus in the classic car world is very much shifting towards usability on modern roads as people realise the truth is a lot of cars from the 50's & 60's aren't actually all that good to drive, especially in the modern world.
In the usability stakes the Chimaera's more polished ergonomics, modern brakes & exhilarating performance scores very strongly while still offering all the charisma & old school thrills of the default choice traditional classics making it the clever man's choice.
Of all the Elans originally sold in the domestic market only 50% or so survive compared with 72% of all Chimaeras, and rarity always pushes values up because of the unavoidable rules of supply and demand. Of course the Elan is a much older car, anything from 30-40 years older, so the number of cars lost to fire and accident is always going to be higher just by virtue of how many more years the car has existed.
But to my mind the 60's Elan definitely stands as the best barometer for future Chimaera values, and if the Elan has gone up 500% in the last 20 years I don't see the same won't happen to the Chimaera.
Actually with the way things have been going in the classic car market during the last five years I don't see why we wouldn't see an even steeper climb over a shorter period for the still massively undervalued & very usable classic that is the TVR Chimaera.
People who talk down the value of our cars or sell them too cheaply are stupid, we should all be talking up the values and if we have to sell pitching them strongly just as the specialist TVR car dealer community is.
But at the end of the day whatever we do the rise in values of our cars is inevitable, just look at the rest of the market and that little Lotus Elan, then try and find something else that matches what the Chimaera offers for the same money.
If prospective classic sports car buyers have got any sense they'll see that even though the Chimaera has already gone up by 25% in the last 5 years it's still remains the bargain of the century.
My advise to anyone thinking about buying a TVR Chimaera is to get one while you can still afford it, leave it just another year and you could be priced out of the market & living in a world of regret.
ChimpOnGas said:
People have been turning to the Chimaera over the Griffith for years, indeed when the cars were current 2 out of 3 TVR buyers did just that.
Why?
Because the Chimaera offers everything the Griffith does in a prettier & more practical package
In all seriousness that isn't the correct answer.Why?
In some cases that may well be the answer but the real reasons are:
1) On average the Chimaera was around £4k cheaper (Around £6.5k in today's money) than the Griffith not an insignificant amount when you're spending £25K+ on a what was for many a second car.
2) The Griffith wasn't available for about 9 months 92/93 in the peak of the sales as they developed the AJP Griffith. As we all know they then decided that in the Griffith's short wheelbase it was going to be a 'widow maker' so they then introduced the 500.
3) Many buyers of new cars then thought that the smaller engines 4.0/4.5 would be powerful enough and the cheaper price helped seal the deal. (I've been told that story several times by owners who bought new)
4) When the Chimaera 500 was eventually introduced (It also cost the same as the Griffith) sale numbers of the Griffith and the Chimaera with that engine reached parity.
So while it might be nice for you guys to believe it was all down to looks the reality is somewhat more mundane. Price
EGB said:
Edited by EGB on Thursday 16th April 15:15
The only bit open to question is the looks - which is a personal choice - as by end of production they were pretty much the same underneath and, for sure, the Chimaera is more practical.
So the statement should read,
"Because the Chimaera offers everything the Griffith does in a prettier & more practical package" if you prefer the look of a Chimaera,
or
"Because the Chimaera offers everything the Griffith does in a more practical package" if you prefer the look of Griffith.
:-)
For a while, I thought the Lotus Elan thread was about the late 80s / early 90s FWD version.
I remember them fetching £12k plus in the lates 90s second hand but have become unloved. They're available at £3k ish but perhaps their day will come. FWD with no torque steer.
On Chimaera values, it seems I fluked it buying one in Dec 2013. There were several usable ones at the time around the £5k - £6k mark but the minimum price now seems to be £7k - £8k (excepting that 242k miler!), even at tvrglen for a repaired one. Tasmin anyone?
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2015...
I remember them fetching £12k plus in the lates 90s second hand but have become unloved. They're available at £3k ish but perhaps their day will come. FWD with no torque steer.
On Chimaera values, it seems I fluked it buying one in Dec 2013. There were several usable ones at the time around the £5k - £6k mark but the minimum price now seems to be £7k - £8k (excepting that 242k miler!), even at tvrglen for a repaired one. Tasmin anyone?
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2015...
EGB said:
ChimpOnGas said:
So 72% of all Chimaeras have survived to date, actually that's not bad for a sports car that for a while was being sold too cheaply for its own good.
Lets compare the TVR Chimaera with the Lotus Elan which actually makes an excellent comparison as it was also a low production hand built sports car with a separate fiberglass body bolted to a backbone type rolling chassis.
Similarly to the 9 year run of the Chimaera the Elan was in production for 10 years, however the Elan was more successful as it was sold in a broader range of variants and in the US, a market which was closed to TVR due to the much stricter North American safety legislation in place by the time the Chimaera was conceived.
A total of 15,524 Elans were made if you include all variants (Mk1, Mk2, Sprint, closed & open cars and the Plus 2), but if we say approximately two thirds were sold new overseas around 5-6,000 Elans would have been sold to the UK market which again is more or less the same as the Chimaera production numbers.
It's hard to believe it now but even in the classic car boom years of the early/mid 1990's the Elan was still treated with some disdain by the market, the car was seen by traditionalists as unreliable and a little too kit car to be of any real value, indeed at the time there was a lot of snobbery around anything with a fiberglass body.
There was also a big fear of the chassis corrosion that plagued all Elans which put a lot of buyers off, the solution was that pretty much every Elan had a body off restoration by the time it had reached 25-30 years old. New chassis' were made and transplanted, solving the problem in a stroke.
Does all this sound familiar?
The TVR brand still carries all the same stigmas today as Lotus did 20 years ago, but as the fortunes changed rapidly for the little Elan so it's already started to happen for the Chimaaera & many other TVRs come to that.
In last 20 years we've seen all the negative snobbery around the Elan completely disappear and values rocket from £8k to £40k during this period for a car in the same condition. The Elan is now seen as a true classic even by those that consider themselves elite classic car connoisseurs.
With the comparisons and body of evidence so strong I believe looking at the rise in Elan values over the last 20 years is the best way to demonstrate what will happen to Chimaera values in the future, indeed as we can all see the rise in TVR values is already well & truly under way.
Of course Lotus has a far stronger racing pedigree than TVR and any British sports car from the 60's will always carry a certain cachet, but the focus in the classic car world is very much shifting towards usability on modern roads as people realise the truth is a lot of cars from the 50's & 60's aren't actually all that good to drive, especially in the modern world.
In the usability stakes the Chimaera's more polished ergonomics, modern brakes & exhilarating performance scores very strongly while still offering all the charisma & old school thrills of the default choice traditional classics making it the clever man's choice.
Of all the Elans originally sold in the domestic market only 50% or so survive compared with 72% of all Chimaeras, and rarity always pushes values up because of the unavoidable rules of supply and demand. Of course the Elan is a much older car, anything from 30-40 years older, so the number of cars lost to fire and accident is always going to be higher just by virtue of how many more years the car has existed.
But to my mind the 60's Elan definitely stands as the best barometer for future Chimaera values, and if the Elan has gone up 500% in the last 20 years I don't see the same won't happen to the Chimaera.
Actually with the way things have been going in the classic car market during the last five years I don't see why we wouldn't see an even steeper climb over a shorter period for the still massively undervalued & very usable classic that is the TVR Chimaera.
People who talk down the value of our cars or sell them too cheaply are stupid, we should all be talking up the values and if we have to sell pitching them strongly just as the specialist TVR car dealer community is.
But at the end of the day whatever we do the rise in values of our cars is inevitable, just look at the rest of the market and that little Lotus Elan, then try and find something else that matches what the Chimaera offers for the same money.
If prospective classic sports car buyers have got any sense they'll see that even though the Chimaera has already gone up by 25% in the last 5 years it's still remains the bargain of the century.
My advise to anyone thinking about buying a TVR Chimaera is to get one while you can still afford it, leave it just another year and you could be priced out of the market & living in a world of regret.
Substitute the word Chimaera for Griffiths plus 20 percent ! Lets compare the TVR Chimaera with the Lotus Elan which actually makes an excellent comparison as it was also a low production hand built sports car with a separate fiberglass body bolted to a backbone type rolling chassis.
Similarly to the 9 year run of the Chimaera the Elan was in production for 10 years, however the Elan was more successful as it was sold in a broader range of variants and in the US, a market which was closed to TVR due to the much stricter North American safety legislation in place by the time the Chimaera was conceived.
A total of 15,524 Elans were made if you include all variants (Mk1, Mk2, Sprint, closed & open cars and the Plus 2), but if we say approximately two thirds were sold new overseas around 5-6,000 Elans would have been sold to the UK market which again is more or less the same as the Chimaera production numbers.
It's hard to believe it now but even in the classic car boom years of the early/mid 1990's the Elan was still treated with some disdain by the market, the car was seen by traditionalists as unreliable and a little too kit car to be of any real value, indeed at the time there was a lot of snobbery around anything with a fiberglass body.
There was also a big fear of the chassis corrosion that plagued all Elans which put a lot of buyers off, the solution was that pretty much every Elan had a body off restoration by the time it had reached 25-30 years old. New chassis' were made and transplanted, solving the problem in a stroke.
Does all this sound familiar?
The TVR brand still carries all the same stigmas today as Lotus did 20 years ago, but as the fortunes changed rapidly for the little Elan so it's already started to happen for the Chimaaera & many other TVRs come to that.
In last 20 years we've seen all the negative snobbery around the Elan completely disappear and values rocket from £8k to £40k during this period for a car in the same condition. The Elan is now seen as a true classic even by those that consider themselves elite classic car connoisseurs.
With the comparisons and body of evidence so strong I believe looking at the rise in Elan values over the last 20 years is the best way to demonstrate what will happen to Chimaera values in the future, indeed as we can all see the rise in TVR values is already well & truly under way.
Of course Lotus has a far stronger racing pedigree than TVR and any British sports car from the 60's will always carry a certain cachet, but the focus in the classic car world is very much shifting towards usability on modern roads as people realise the truth is a lot of cars from the 50's & 60's aren't actually all that good to drive, especially in the modern world.
In the usability stakes the Chimaera's more polished ergonomics, modern brakes & exhilarating performance scores very strongly while still offering all the charisma & old school thrills of the default choice traditional classics making it the clever man's choice.
Of all the Elans originally sold in the domestic market only 50% or so survive compared with 72% of all Chimaeras, and rarity always pushes values up because of the unavoidable rules of supply and demand. Of course the Elan is a much older car, anything from 30-40 years older, so the number of cars lost to fire and accident is always going to be higher just by virtue of how many more years the car has existed.
But to my mind the 60's Elan definitely stands as the best barometer for future Chimaera values, and if the Elan has gone up 500% in the last 20 years I don't see the same won't happen to the Chimaera.
Actually with the way things have been going in the classic car market during the last five years I don't see why we wouldn't see an even steeper climb over a shorter period for the still massively undervalued & very usable classic that is the TVR Chimaera.
People who talk down the value of our cars or sell them too cheaply are stupid, we should all be talking up the values and if we have to sell pitching them strongly just as the specialist TVR car dealer community is.
But at the end of the day whatever we do the rise in values of our cars is inevitable, just look at the rest of the market and that little Lotus Elan, then try and find something else that matches what the Chimaera offers for the same money.
If prospective classic sports car buyers have got any sense they'll see that even though the Chimaera has already gone up by 25% in the last 5 years it's still remains the bargain of the century.
My advise to anyone thinking about buying a TVR Chimaera is to get one while you can still afford it, leave it just another year and you could be priced out of the market & living in a world of regret.
Edited by SILICONEKID345HP on Thursday 16th April 21:27
JimTC said:
"Because the Chimaera offers everything the Griffith does in a more practical package"
From the sportive drivers side of view the Griffith much more fits like a glove because of its far sleeker and lower front.As similar Chim and Griff might be technical wise, I think they feel completely different from the driver seat.
Am I the only one?
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