Discussion
Further to my thread regarding where have the £15000 Griffs gone I realise that £15000 isn't going to get me much, and anything at, or near, that budget is going to need work.
I've viewed a 500 that appears mechanically sound with outriggers replaced a couple of years ago but is cosmetically challenged. Hood looks ok - well, the car wasn't full of water last night.
Dashboard cracked to pieces.
Carpets peeling away at the edges.
Leather grubby and worn in places. "Bubble" in scolloped part of dash forward of passenger.
Paint orange peely and with a few stars and blemishes.
It's a ready made rolling restoration project!
What should I expect to pay to have the following carried out:
Replace dashboard?
Having read around a little this appears relatively straightforward.
Buy replacement dash from here and have a local Indy fit.
Replace carpets?
TVR Specialist or local trimmer?
Re-trim the interior leather - is all the shiny stuff leather or is some vinyl?
This aspect looks like the most specialist part (and potentially most expensive part) of the whole job.
I've had a trimmer in Southampton repair seats before but I guess a seat is pretty simple.
Respray?
I've got a local Bodyshop in Southampton who have painted GRP cars.
Is there a TVR experienced bodyshop recommended?
I appreciate that what I'm asking is like asking "how long is a piece of string"!
I'm not looking to produce a show car so don't need "The very best", but, given the cars value I don't want to skimp either.
I'm in Southampton so South of England preferred and would like to hear from those who have had this work - or aspects of it carried out.
My thinking would be to spread this over a couple of winters with the dashboard being a priority followed by carpets and either paint or leather last.
Cheers All.
I've viewed a 500 that appears mechanically sound with outriggers replaced a couple of years ago but is cosmetically challenged. Hood looks ok - well, the car wasn't full of water last night.
Dashboard cracked to pieces.
Carpets peeling away at the edges.
Leather grubby and worn in places. "Bubble" in scolloped part of dash forward of passenger.
Paint orange peely and with a few stars and blemishes.
It's a ready made rolling restoration project!
What should I expect to pay to have the following carried out:
Replace dashboard?
Having read around a little this appears relatively straightforward.
Buy replacement dash from here and have a local Indy fit.
Replace carpets?
TVR Specialist or local trimmer?
Re-trim the interior leather - is all the shiny stuff leather or is some vinyl?
This aspect looks like the most specialist part (and potentially most expensive part) of the whole job.
I've had a trimmer in Southampton repair seats before but I guess a seat is pretty simple.
Respray?
I've got a local Bodyshop in Southampton who have painted GRP cars.
Is there a TVR experienced bodyshop recommended?
I appreciate that what I'm asking is like asking "how long is a piece of string"!
I'm not looking to produce a show car so don't need "The very best", but, given the cars value I don't want to skimp either.
I'm in Southampton so South of England preferred and would like to hear from those who have had this work - or aspects of it carried out.
My thinking would be to spread this over a couple of winters with the dashboard being a priority followed by carpets and either paint or leather last.
Cheers All.
I send all my customers to a local body shop but hes a tad far away from you (essex).You don't need a particular specialist to do a good job, but I would say a good respray will cost you circa 4k.
Most of the car is not leather and just vinyl. SOME of the seats are full leather and other odds and sods, but not necessarily all. A good trimmer will do the carpets, all interoer lining in full leather in-out for around 4-5k. May seem expensive, but the hides alone cost over £1200 and will take about 3 weeks for an excellent job.
Hope that helps
Most of the car is not leather and just vinyl. SOME of the seats are full leather and other odds and sods, but not necessarily all. A good trimmer will do the carpets, all interoer lining in full leather in-out for around 4-5k. May seem expensive, but the hides alone cost over £1200 and will take about 3 weeks for an excellent job.
Hope that helps
Interior came as standard "half hide", which meant that in reality only the back and seat cushion were hide, the remainder of seats (backs, sides etc), transmission tunnel, dash top and surround, door panels used vinyl for the leathery bits.
Full hide was an option, and rather lovely as all the shiny leathery bits were leather but this was quite expensive; £1850 as i recall. Had it on my 5.0 Chimaera
From a distance the vinyl looks like leather but when you get to touch and feel it close up you can tell the difference quite easily
Full hide was an option, and rather lovely as all the shiny leathery bits were leather but this was quite expensive; £1850 as i recall. Had it on my 5.0 Chimaera
From a distance the vinyl looks like leather but when you get to touch and feel it close up you can tell the difference quite easily
Ive just completed a similar refurb to my Griff which came to me in a similar condition to how yours sounds. I agree with the previous comments made but with two further comments. FIRSTLY after having finished all of the jobs like suspension brakes CVs rad fans engine bay bling hood seats and respray - I REALLY wish I had done a body-off as the first job. Mine had newish outriggers replaced in situ by the previous owner but doing that is usually a poor second to a body off and I'm now faced with lifting the body and risking my precious new paint job. Also when the body is off most of the mechanical Jobs are so much easier to do.
SECONDLY although I agree with £4K being a realistic amount for a quality respray; once the body refresh gets underway only then do you get to see possible other GRP related issues. Mine had cracks around door hinge points and around where the nose cone joins the wings and lots of gel coat bubbling which all added quite a bit to the original estimate. My 4K went up to around 5500 with all that.
SECONDLY although I agree with £4K being a realistic amount for a quality respray; once the body refresh gets underway only then do you get to see possible other GRP related issues. Mine had cracks around door hinge points and around where the nose cone joins the wings and lots of gel coat bubbling which all added quite a bit to the original estimate. My 4K went up to around 5500 with all that.
I'm in pretty much the same boat as you, but with a Chimaera.
If you end up buying the car, I think you probably need to get it home and live with it for a while whilst you work out what needs doing and the order you need to do it in. Interior wise, my carpets are tatty and will be replaced soon, but the rest of the interior has scrubbed up reasonably well. The half hide seats cleaned up really well, so I'll leave those alone. I've had some of the exterior resprayed just to tidy it up. Next up is an engine rebuild, and probably an ECU replacement, as I find the constant shunting with the engine cold a PITA, plus I'm fed up with the oil dribbling out of the rear crank seal, and given the mileage you can bet your bottom dollar that there's a bit of wear on the camshaft. Clutch and gearbox can be done whilst the engine is out for, comparatively speaking, not a lot of money. The chassis seems to be in good nick, so I can leave that and the suspension alone for a while yet. I hope.
All that said, the order you need to do things in will probably be different, but the main thing is to work out a plan, and then cost it up and see how much it's really going to cost, and think about how you are going to pay for it. Even on a £15k car, you could easily spend that much again putting it into good nick. And you probably won't get that back if you ever come to sell it.
If you end up buying the car, I think you probably need to get it home and live with it for a while whilst you work out what needs doing and the order you need to do it in. Interior wise, my carpets are tatty and will be replaced soon, but the rest of the interior has scrubbed up reasonably well. The half hide seats cleaned up really well, so I'll leave those alone. I've had some of the exterior resprayed just to tidy it up. Next up is an engine rebuild, and probably an ECU replacement, as I find the constant shunting with the engine cold a PITA, plus I'm fed up with the oil dribbling out of the rear crank seal, and given the mileage you can bet your bottom dollar that there's a bit of wear on the camshaft. Clutch and gearbox can be done whilst the engine is out for, comparatively speaking, not a lot of money. The chassis seems to be in good nick, so I can leave that and the suspension alone for a while yet. I hope.
All that said, the order you need to do things in will probably be different, but the main thing is to work out a plan, and then cost it up and see how much it's really going to cost, and think about how you are going to pay for it. Even on a £15k car, you could easily spend that much again putting it into good nick. And you probably won't get that back if you ever come to sell it.
Searider said:
I appreciate that what I'm asking is like asking "how long is a piece of string"!
I'm not looking to produce a show car so don't need "The very best", but, given the cars value I don't want to skimp either.
Duncan, I'm not looking to produce a show car so don't need "The very best", but, given the cars value I don't want to skimp either.
You are right it really is "how long is a piece of string"?
Firstly, as I said before, the more you do yourself the cheaper it will be - count on labour being at least 50-75% of cost.
The other big cost will be "whilst I have it apart, I might as well do this as well"
So without too much science behind it:
Respray 3k
Engine rebuild 3-5k
Interior - leather and carpets 1-3k
What about brakes and suspension?
Electrics - all OK? perhaps another 1k
Perhaps another 2-3k for 'bits and pieces'
Pete
Searider said:
Further to my thread regarding where have the £15000 Griffs gone I realise that £15000 isn't going to get me much, and anything at, or near, that budget is going
"Bubble" in scolloped part of dash forward of passenger.
...I'm sure there are some without this but it's pretty much a "feature""Bubble" in scolloped part of dash forward of passenger.
James at TVR-MADS will supply a replacement dash for £240, stainless (brushed/chequerboard) are £60-£70. If the seats don't have any rips/tears or damage to the stitching, the renovation kits can make them look like new, plenty of examples on here. Woolies or furniture clinic renovation kits are around £50. Full set of carpets are £400-500 depending on quality. Alternatively, I can recommend Richmond & James at Waterlooville, they did my Gordon Keeble in full leather, including carpets and making new door cards for around £4.5k. I'd expect a Griff to be around half that.
Re-spray trickier but if you're not changing the colour you should be able to get a decent job for under £3k.
However, in my experience, it's far cheaper to pay the extra for a car that's had the work done, if you spend £10k on it you're not going to add £10k to the value so find one that somebody else has spent the money on.
Mellow Yellow said:
Searider said:
Further to my thread regarding where have the £15000 Griffs gone I realise that £15000 isn't going to get me much, and anything at, or near, that budget is going
"Bubble" in scolloped part of dash forward of passenger.
...I'm sure there are some without this but it's pretty much a "feature""Bubble" in scolloped part of dash forward of passenger.
James at TVR-MADS will supply a replacement dash for £240, stainless (brushed/chequerboard) are £60-£70. If the seats don't have any rips/tears or damage to the stitching, the renovation kits can make them look like new, plenty of examples on here. Woolies or furniture clinic renovation kits are around £50. Full set of carpets are £400-500 depending on quality. Alternatively, I can recommend Richmond & James at Waterlooville, they did my Gordon Keeble in full leather, including carpets and making new door cards for around £4.5k. I'd expect a Griff to be around half that.
Re-spray trickier but if you're not changing the colour you should be able to get a decent job for under £3k.
However, in my experience, it's far cheaper to pay the extra for a car that's had the work done, if you spend £10k on it you're not going to add £10k to the value so find one that somebody else has spent the money on.
Thanks for the wise words!
Have seen a couple of cars advertised at £18-£19k which sold in the £16's.
So a car where we know it needs trim, carpet and paint needs to be at least £5k less than that to even consider taking on as a project - with still the unknown electrical items that will crop up!
Have seen a couple of cars advertised at £18-£19k which sold in the £16's.
So a car where we know it needs trim, carpet and paint needs to be at least £5k less than that to even consider taking on as a project - with still the unknown electrical items that will crop up!
I went on a similar journey to you except I already had the Griff but she had deteriorated after a few years sitting outside. House move later, garage cleared, funds cleared with she who must be obeyed...
Respray. Looked around, read reviews, went to Surface & Design in Blackpool. Wonderful job. Not much change out of £5k for repsray plus guess what? Extras come up. Improve the tea lights with a light upgrade, new badges, door sill covers, mirrors, bonnet. Boom there goes another £2k. But she is gorgeous!
Interior D&C Trim next door to the paint shop. Full interior in leather, boot done, hood. £4.5k. Extras needed a new screen, steering wheel, some trim parts. Another £1k gone. Masters of their craft.
Mechanicals. Went for Canems ecu upgrade with Lloyd Specialist Developments in Warminster. Awesome guys. Full service & MOT needed as well. Budget about £3.5k. Then the surprises, replacing fuel lines, brake lines, gearbox off to fix leaking oil seal, new clutch, new brake discs and pads, skimmed heads as warped, new exhaust manifold gaskets and remove pre cats plus bling including painting rocker covers and plenum. All in another £3k
I started out hoping to spend £10k, after estimates up to £14k. Ended up at just under £20k.
The end result is a 306bhp Griff 500 which goes like she looks and a wallet that's seriously emptied. Would I do it all again? You bet. Griff grin.
Moral of the story these cars are awesome and relatively cost effective to restore compared to other classics. However, they are old and trouble lurks beneath. They are not cheap to do well unless you have the time and mechanical genius. If not add at least a third to your budget and expect to spend it all. You won't regret it
Respray. Looked around, read reviews, went to Surface & Design in Blackpool. Wonderful job. Not much change out of £5k for repsray plus guess what? Extras come up. Improve the tea lights with a light upgrade, new badges, door sill covers, mirrors, bonnet. Boom there goes another £2k. But she is gorgeous!
Interior D&C Trim next door to the paint shop. Full interior in leather, boot done, hood. £4.5k. Extras needed a new screen, steering wheel, some trim parts. Another £1k gone. Masters of their craft.
Mechanicals. Went for Canems ecu upgrade with Lloyd Specialist Developments in Warminster. Awesome guys. Full service & MOT needed as well. Budget about £3.5k. Then the surprises, replacing fuel lines, brake lines, gearbox off to fix leaking oil seal, new clutch, new brake discs and pads, skimmed heads as warped, new exhaust manifold gaskets and remove pre cats plus bling including painting rocker covers and plenum. All in another £3k
I started out hoping to spend £10k, after estimates up to £14k. Ended up at just under £20k.
The end result is a 306bhp Griff 500 which goes like she looks and a wallet that's seriously emptied. Would I do it all again? You bet. Griff grin.
Moral of the story these cars are awesome and relatively cost effective to restore compared to other classics. However, they are old and trouble lurks beneath. They are not cheap to do well unless you have the time and mechanical genius. If not add at least a third to your budget and expect to spend it all. You won't regret it
cindydog3 said:
Pete Mac. Peter, Have I missed something on the forum or has garden works overtaken blue griff rebuild.??
Any further updates to report?
John, you're a loyal friend. Yes the garden works has been all consuming, however finally nearing completion so hopefully, with upcoming redundancy I should be getting on with my Griff in the new year. Don't worry, I haven't given up, I just couldn't multi-task.Any further updates to report?
Thought you might like a few pics of the new garden.... oh gosh, is that a TVR Griffith in the foreground..?
Pete
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