Dutch Griff noob
Discussion
Hi there fellow Griffters,
Just thought I'd let you know I purchased Gerjo's (aka GT TVR) old Griff this week, which some of you will probably know. I'm picking it up next week Friday and am really looking forward to that. I've always loved the Griffith.
It's funny - I drove this car in August, with a view to buy, but decided a Ferrari 365 Berlinetta Boxer was more in line with what I wanted and I bought one of those in the UK (it still is in the UK - I work in London and Africa but have a house in Holland...). I've had fabulous experiences so far with that Boxer (oh, the noise!) and it was the right choice, but I could still not get the TVR test drive out of my head. It was mental! I drove a 4.3 just before it, and I didn't like that car. But this example with 5.3L engine, uprated suspension, and better brakes just gave me confidence driving it fast straight out of the box.
Since it was still for sale I decided it would complement my 2 Ferraris (I also own a 550 Maranello) very well. So - deal done. It's going to be a noisy summer!
As I'll be hopefully be spending more time in London, I'm hoping the Griff will be seen at a few events, if I can find the time. It would be nice to come to the Growl but at this point in time that looks unlikely.
Onno
Just thought I'd let you know I purchased Gerjo's (aka GT TVR) old Griff this week, which some of you will probably know. I'm picking it up next week Friday and am really looking forward to that. I've always loved the Griffith.
It's funny - I drove this car in August, with a view to buy, but decided a Ferrari 365 Berlinetta Boxer was more in line with what I wanted and I bought one of those in the UK (it still is in the UK - I work in London and Africa but have a house in Holland...). I've had fabulous experiences so far with that Boxer (oh, the noise!) and it was the right choice, but I could still not get the TVR test drive out of my head. It was mental! I drove a 4.3 just before it, and I didn't like that car. But this example with 5.3L engine, uprated suspension, and better brakes just gave me confidence driving it fast straight out of the box.
Since it was still for sale I decided it would complement my 2 Ferraris (I also own a 550 Maranello) very well. So - deal done. It's going to be a noisy summer!
As I'll be hopefully be spending more time in London, I'm hoping the Griff will be seen at a few events, if I can find the time. It would be nice to come to the Growl but at this point in time that looks unlikely.
Onno
Welcome to to griff world.. love the look of you car stable.i. have porsche 996 TT, cayenne s, 360 modena , you wont have more fun than in the griff promise.. ive got a body shop in london if i can help with any of your problems might be able to point you in right direction..Cheers stuart gold (GOLD MOTORS BODYSHOP LTD)
Hi Onno,
I have for the last few years been working for a Dutch company in Goes- Zeeland and was travelling over regular each week. I have now recently switched to the UK side of the business, but will still be travelling over a couple of times per month. If you are in the region, would be nice to meet up. I am considering bringing over the Tuscan now the summer is coming on.
Cheers
Paul
Thanks guys. Stuart, thanks very much for the kind offer, may take you up on that.
Paul - I've been meaning to visit some Ferrari friends in Zeeland, would be nice to combine the visits sometime this summer. We'll keep in touch.
A Tuscan, eh? Gerjo's just upgraded to a MkII which he says is more insane than the Griffith was... Must be quite something! I think I'll have my hands full with his old Griff for the moment.
Onno
Paul - I've been meaning to visit some Ferrari friends in Zeeland, would be nice to combine the visits sometime this summer. We'll keep in touch.
A Tuscan, eh? Gerjo's just upgraded to a MkII which he says is more insane than the Griffith was... Must be quite something! I think I'll have my hands full with his old Griff for the moment.
Onno
Right, guys, just thought I'd give you some first impressions after picking up the car a couple of weeks ago.
So what has TVR ownership been like? Well, I managed to break down with the car in the first 300km. So at least we got that out of the way. I was sitting in a massive traffic jam in glorious sunshine for 2 hours and just before I was out of it she overheated. Serious bellows of smoke - someone called the fire dept. There we were sitting on the hard shoulder: the Griff, my 550 Maranello, 2x 328 GTS, and a Spyker C8 Laviolette, the fire guys were quite impressed. After letting her cool down a bit she still wouldn't start. But after push-starting her everything was fine.
Does anyone know if there is a thermal sensor preventing a start when hot? I'm just confused that the car has started fine ever since.
Anyway, after that I still had some heat problems and I found out that the radiator has a leak and one of the two fans didn't have the plug properly connected. She's at the dealer now to get fixed.
So what has life with her been like apart from the small problems? Well, fantastic good fun! It truly is a great car to drive, and she's ballistic - quicker than my 550 Maranello below 120mph and that says a lot. Sounds great too. The buffetting is more than I expected - the car is pretty deafening above 70 mph. One thing that irritates me is that the seat is designed to sit skew in the car and you sit on one of the bolsters (this may have something to do with it being a LHD car). After all these years, the bolster is worn and it's not really a problem but it's still a bit weird. What I also don't like is the lack of a footrest for your left foot. I have to tuck it underneath the clutch pedal on longer stretches and rest it lightly on the pedal in town. Irritating.
Other than that: what a great buy! Going to have lots of fun this summer. And now let's see if we can post some pics.
Onno
So what has TVR ownership been like? Well, I managed to break down with the car in the first 300km. So at least we got that out of the way. I was sitting in a massive traffic jam in glorious sunshine for 2 hours and just before I was out of it she overheated. Serious bellows of smoke - someone called the fire dept. There we were sitting on the hard shoulder: the Griff, my 550 Maranello, 2x 328 GTS, and a Spyker C8 Laviolette, the fire guys were quite impressed. After letting her cool down a bit she still wouldn't start. But after push-starting her everything was fine.
Does anyone know if there is a thermal sensor preventing a start when hot? I'm just confused that the car has started fine ever since.
Anyway, after that I still had some heat problems and I found out that the radiator has a leak and one of the two fans didn't have the plug properly connected. She's at the dealer now to get fixed.
So what has life with her been like apart from the small problems? Well, fantastic good fun! It truly is a great car to drive, and she's ballistic - quicker than my 550 Maranello below 120mph and that says a lot. Sounds great too. The buffetting is more than I expected - the car is pretty deafening above 70 mph. One thing that irritates me is that the seat is designed to sit skew in the car and you sit on one of the bolsters (this may have something to do with it being a LHD car). After all these years, the bolster is worn and it's not really a problem but it's still a bit weird. What I also don't like is the lack of a footrest for your left foot. I have to tuck it underneath the clutch pedal on longer stretches and rest it lightly on the pedal in town. Irritating.
Other than that: what a great buy! Going to have lots of fun this summer. And now let's see if we can post some pics.
Onno
OK, so that didn't work. I bloody hate forums where you have to refer to a hosting site for pics. Let's see if this works then.
[EDIT] Ok, that also doesn't work. Well you can try to visit http://cid-bbf05e058b43fb73.skydrive.live.com/brow...
Onno
[EDIT] Ok, that also doesn't work. Well you can try to visit http://cid-bbf05e058b43fb73.skydrive.live.com/brow...
Onno
Edited by JazzyO on Friday 10th April 11:57
Edited by JazzyO on Friday 10th April 11:59
JAZZO... Great to hear youve got the car Sorry to hear about overHeating but get that out of the way & you can just enjoy the speed & the noise,,
About the speed i think my griff is as fast as my super cars up to about 110... the griff is defoe the best grin factor car tho;;; Enjoy it GOLDIE
About the speed i think my griff is as fast as my super cars up to about 110... the griff is defoe the best grin factor car tho;;; Enjoy it GOLDIE
Also from the Netherlands and strange enough also own a griffith and a ferrari BB 512 carb. and some other classics.
To the jazzy : what do you think of the handling of the griff?
Spend a lot of time and money to get the griff handle decend but i must say my 308 (resina) is still (much) better.
But must say acceleration of griff is fantastic. Inside gear acceleration also great.
But most of the time i live in siberia Russia and here i take the bus train or my UAZ patriot. Shall put link with it because i guess you never seen the car. http://patriot.uaz.ru/eng/ good thing about this uaz is that you do not have to drive round the holes in the road but just go straight through them and it can drive through rivers and so on. And all this for 12000 euro or so and one liter of gasoline costs about 30 euro cents here.
To the jazzy : what do you think of the handling of the griff?
Spend a lot of time and money to get the griff handle decend but i must say my 308 (resina) is still (much) better.
But must say acceleration of griff is fantastic. Inside gear acceleration also great.
But most of the time i live in siberia Russia and here i take the bus train or my UAZ patriot. Shall put link with it because i guess you never seen the car. http://patriot.uaz.ru/eng/ good thing about this uaz is that you do not have to drive round the holes in the road but just go straight through them and it can drive through rivers and so on. And all this for 12000 euro or so and one liter of gasoline costs about 30 euro cents here.
LordGrover, the floor wasn't level.
Wintrader - that's an amazing collection you have there. Nice Ferraris - love the 308 vetro. Actually, I've spent a couple of weeks in Siberia myself 6 years ago, Norilsk Nickel was a client of mine.
For me, it actually was the handling of this particular Griff that made me buy it. I test drove a 4.3 just before driving mine and you couldn't compare the two. The 500 gave me so much confidence and the 4.3 scared me silly. My Griff has had about GBP11k in upgrades at Austec in England. Bigger brakes, uprated suspension, and of course the engine updates... If my car didn't have them, then I would have the work done. It's definitely worth the money.
Onno
Wintrader - that's an amazing collection you have there. Nice Ferraris - love the 308 vetro. Actually, I've spent a couple of weeks in Siberia myself 6 years ago, Norilsk Nickel was a client of mine.
For me, it actually was the handling of this particular Griff that made me buy it. I test drove a 4.3 just before driving mine and you couldn't compare the two. The 500 gave me so much confidence and the 4.3 scared me silly. My Griff has had about GBP11k in upgrades at Austec in England. Bigger brakes, uprated suspension, and of course the engine updates... If my car didn't have them, then I would have the work done. It's definitely worth the money.
Onno
Hey onno. i spend a lot of money on the handling of my griff like intrax shocks and so on. My brother in law is ferrari workshop guy in Rheden so that is why i have such a collection. Where did you find my cars ??? I lost my password and opened a new account and i did not put any further info on my new account. Anyway i think collection has changed a bit. I bought a 250 gte and a 250 pf. Do not own the 275gtb 6c anymore.
Anyway i live in Akademgorodok near Novosibirsk. In the north i have never been. /those BB and 365 BB prices are still holding strong in the financial crisis. A shame that i do not know how to post pictures got a few interseting pictures.
Ok how do i post pictures here???
Oh what did they do with your griff to better the handling?
Anyway i live in Akademgorodok near Novosibirsk. In the north i have never been. /those BB and 365 BB prices are still holding strong in the financial crisis. A shame that i do not know how to post pictures got a few interseting pictures.
Ok how do i post pictures here???
Oh what did they do with your griff to better the handling?
Edited by wintrader on Sunday 26th April 11:29
Edited by wintrader on Sunday 26th April 11:36
Oh i renewed all bushes and all new rolbar rubbers (poly ones) Intrax shocks, heatshields to prevent shocks from warming up.
I use intrax shocks because my brother in law uses them too for his classic ferrari's. http://www.roelofsparts.com/ his webpage . But you do not have to call him for servicing of your ferrari's i guess he only does classic one and for some customers also their private ones if he feels like it. http://www.roelofs-engineering.nl
Ah and i use rose joints in stead of silent blocks. Special reason for that is that all silentblocks wear out fast due to steep angle so if you do not want to change silentblock of your shocks too much then rose joints are much better. Like race cars.
Ok now i am going to take the UAZ for a drive trough the forrest.
Strange thing is when writing all this i think of the times i lived in the Netherlands. Sometimes i drove the griff and now it just stands still like the other cars. I live in an old Russian appartment(60 square metres) and drive a 12500 euro UAZ patriot (new price)and do i miss the fast cars??? No, and i am laughing now, not at all.
I use intrax shocks because my brother in law uses them too for his classic ferrari's. http://www.roelofsparts.com/ his webpage . But you do not have to call him for servicing of your ferrari's i guess he only does classic one and for some customers also their private ones if he feels like it. http://www.roelofs-engineering.nl
Ah and i use rose joints in stead of silent blocks. Special reason for that is that all silentblocks wear out fast due to steep angle so if you do not want to change silentblock of your shocks too much then rose joints are much better. Like race cars.
Ok now i am going to take the UAZ for a drive trough the forrest.
Strange thing is when writing all this i think of the times i lived in the Netherlands. Sometimes i drove the griff and now it just stands still like the other cars. I live in an old Russian appartment(60 square metres) and drive a 12500 euro UAZ patriot (new price)and do i miss the fast cars??? No, and i am laughing now, not at all.
Edited by wintrader on Sunday 26th April 11:10
Edited by wintrader on Sunday 26th April 11:23
Edited by wintrader on Sunday 26th April 11:25
wintrader said:
Where did you find my cars ???
Actually, Wintrader, you had named the cars yourself in the previous post... As for modifications - I'm not exactly sure of what was done. I'll look it up and get back to you.But in the meantime - back to the Griff. It has arrived today back from the dealer that sold it to me, its radiator repaired. I'm not home yet, will arrive back in Europe tomorrow morning, but I've heard he's charging me 1100 euros. WHAT!!!???? This car overheated within 250kms of me picking it up and is supposed to come with a 6 month warranty!!! This could seriously sour this relationship before it has even begun.
Not impressed. But we'll sort that out - most importantly the Griff is back and now I can start driving it in anger. I haven't had a full day of driving without issues yet, so hopefully I can now start experiencing this car the way it was intended.
Hope to post some pics and more running reports soon.
Onno
hi Onno,
What bad luck with the Griff! This car has never ever let me down in 7 years of ownership; it even did a 3000 km tour incl a trackday with a broken piston (before Austec). It'll be great again when the radiator is fixed.
Seats: that was high on my list too, they are rubbish. I had the supports renewed but it didn't help a lot. A Sparco or Recaro would be great but only a few will fit because it's quite narrow in there.
handling: car has the special Koni's, designed for the Griff, and this car was set up by Koni together with Nimag. Suspension settings is everything as I've found out with my Tuscan too.
Enjoy!
What bad luck with the Griff! This car has never ever let me down in 7 years of ownership; it even did a 3000 km tour incl a trackday with a broken piston (before Austec). It'll be great again when the radiator is fixed.
Seats: that was high on my list too, they are rubbish. I had the supports renewed but it didn't help a lot. A Sparco or Recaro would be great but only a few will fit because it's quite narrow in there.
handling: car has the special Koni's, designed for the Griff, and this car was set up by Koni together with Nimag. Suspension settings is everything as I've found out with my Tuscan too.
Enjoy!
Edited by GT TVR on Sunday 10th May 16:03
15km. 10miles!!!
That is how long the Griff lasted before a total nuclear-scale meltdown! The entire block has disintegrated and we need to see how salvageable it is. I have not heard an exact post-mortem yet but my brother (who was driving the car) tells me the smoke made for quite a spectacle...
Thankfully I bought it from the official importer and we are going to deal with this through warranty, but it means that the Griff won't be back on the road before August or September. One of the issues is that this block was enlarged by Austec (prior to sale) and we will need to see what can be done under warranty. If my engine is not salvageable, then do we drop in a 500 block and have it enlarged again, or do we just leave it a 500? Do we replace the whole block or do we see if a rebuild is adequate? It's going to be a bit of a complicated matter.
In the meantime I'm thinking of having the car resprayed and recovered as well - a plan that I had before, so perhaps the Griff will be only back on the road next year.
All in all - it's been a very disappointing start with the Blue Beast. But I've got plenty of toys to keep me occupied, fortunately - it would have been tragic if this was my only hobby car.
Onno
That is how long the Griff lasted before a total nuclear-scale meltdown! The entire block has disintegrated and we need to see how salvageable it is. I have not heard an exact post-mortem yet but my brother (who was driving the car) tells me the smoke made for quite a spectacle...
Thankfully I bought it from the official importer and we are going to deal with this through warranty, but it means that the Griff won't be back on the road before August or September. One of the issues is that this block was enlarged by Austec (prior to sale) and we will need to see what can be done under warranty. If my engine is not salvageable, then do we drop in a 500 block and have it enlarged again, or do we just leave it a 500? Do we replace the whole block or do we see if a rebuild is adequate? It's going to be a bit of a complicated matter.
In the meantime I'm thinking of having the car resprayed and recovered as well - a plan that I had before, so perhaps the Griff will be only back on the road next year.
All in all - it's been a very disappointing start with the Blue Beast. But I've got plenty of toys to keep me occupied, fortunately - it would have been tragic if this was my only hobby car.
Onno
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