Madness, or reasonable long term plan

[coetzeeh]

Hello all,

With the prices of classic TVR's where they are, and rising, how realistic is it to build a "recreation" from scratch, aside from the cost factor?

I love the look of the Grantura's and Vixens but the thought of spending £15 - £30k in one hit makes me nervous. I would prefer to spend that type of money over a couple of years as it becomes available and build a car up from scratch.

I am not too concerned about authenticity or history of any particular car - just want to enjoy a car that makes me smile and feel good. Am I being naive about the costs/reality to do this?

I realise the purists may frown upon this suggestion...no offence intended

Thanks
Henk

[heightswitch]

How would you register it?

Buy the cheapest, most rotten basket case vixen or grantura you can find and start from there. Or pay £15- £20k and get the best restored one you can find.
There is NO middle ground.

If you choose a vixen to restore or own in todays world it is going to cost you £15 - £20k sooner or later!

look at it this way. it is a better investment than a deposit account or ISA or any new car purchase!!

N.

Edited by heightswitch on Wednesday 6th April 18:05

[kabaman]

I budgeted on 10k to take my Griffith from a pile of parts and a body/chassis to a roadgoing car. I think I underestimated by about a factor of two. And that's without doing anything especially exotic.

I would tend to think that actually the cheapest way is to pay a high price for a fully restored car - it's just that to me that's a bit boring as the fun is in the restoration.

Neil

[Moto]

The downside of buying a fully restored model is that it's always done as someone else wanted it not as you would have wanted it. Pays your money takes your choice!

Moto

[vixen1700]

heightswitch said:

There is NO middle ground.

Well I'd argue the point that there enjoyable cars out there that aren't basket-cases or concours non-used things.

[coetzeeh]

kabaman said:

I would tend to think that actually the cheapest way is to pay a high price for a fully restored car - it's just that to me that's a bit boring as the fun is in the restoration.

Neil

I think you are right - my first 60's Alfa I had restored and sold it later - probably at a loss (I don't want to know how big a loss so I never added the costs up ).

[coetzeeh]

heightswitch said:

How would you register it?

Buy the cheapest, most rotten basket case vixen or grantura you can find and start from there. Or pay £15- £20k and get the best restored one you can find.
There is NO middle ground.

If you choose a vixen to restore or own in todays world it is going to cost you £15 - £20k sooner or later!

look at it this way. it is a better investment than a deposit account or ISA or any new car purchase!!

N.

Edited by heightswitch on Wednesday 6th April 18:05

Oh yes, forgot about the small matter of paperwork and registration..

So, buy a pile of parts and throw just about everything away except chassis no and papers.

[heightswitch]

coetzeeh said:

Oh yes, forgot about the small matter of paperwork and registration..

So, buy a pile of parts and throw just about everything away except chassis no and papers.

Now youre getting the idea

[Adrian@]

Perhaps provenance is everything.
Adrian@

[heightswitch]

Adrian@ said:

Perhaps provenance is everything.
Adrian@

There aren't many good ones left anywhere Adrian, Let alone the south of France