For all things Rover V8, the TVR Griffith and Chimaera and TVR T-Cars
Buying
There is a lot of advice on the net on how to go about buying a TVR and the suggestion is often the same: everyone tells you to buy on condition. What they don’t say is what ‘condition’ is.
Is it a shiny body? A well cared for interior? Not to have something growing under the bonnet? A nice bit of bling? There is a difference between image and substance but how can you recognise condition and why is it so good?
RV8R will go for a slightly different approach and ignore condition as a generic term for all that is good and instead will concentrate on the procedure. For something more lighthearted try HERE.
What do you want?
What are you going to use the car for? You might want a concourse contender, a daily driver, perhaps something for track days and then there's the occasional use, just for holidays, meets and a bit of posing. Each car will generate different priorities. Even so you still have a choice. Take concourse.
You can seek out the best car on the market or you could go for the weather-beaten disaster on, perhaps, three wheels and build it into something better than original.
For a daily driver you will want something that is reliable, easy and cheap to repair. If you use a car park that is oversubscribed then you should accept at an early stage the paintwork is going to take a pounding.
By now you get the picture. It is up to you to decide what the specification of your dream car will be. There is no universal truth. If you pay the premium that a very low mileage car will attract and then tour Europe three time a year, the value will drop considerably.
How much will it cost?
Again, this is a decision that is entirely yours. Work out a budget. It is not a simple case of forking out the purchase price: TVRs can cost a lot to run. This is not a universal truth and there are many ways to bring down the cost of ownership, but you must work out how much you have left in the kitty.
And then you must do that hardest of tasks: not going over it. Even if the car of your dreams is just 15% over what you can afford, accept that you should dream a bit more reasonably.
Private or dealer?
The question is poorly phrased I suppose as there are no TVR dealers as there is no TVR as such.
These are not mutually exclusive but you tend to find that there are some people for whom trawling the ads on Pistonheads is part of the fun whilst others feel a garage forecourt is a must. For those undecided, let’s look at the differences.
The main advantage of going private is the lower purchasing price. There is no doubt that there is more, much more, likelihood of getting a bargain by buying privately. Stories abound of real gems being bought from Ebay.
The thing is that you are dealing with an individual, one who might not know the true value of the thing he is selling or who might be in desperate need to realise his assets. There might be something wrong with the car that reduces is value but which you can, with your experience, repair at little cost.
So if it is so much cheaper, why do dealers make so much money cheating their customers? What do they do for all that money.
One thing they provide is a selection of cars. Instead of you doing the rounds every weekend, you can see a number of cars in one place. If you are not that familiar with TVRs you can even compare them back to back. Some garages will actively seek out the specific specification you want.
It would take you months to see so many TVRs for sale privately.
Dealers give a warrantee. Whilst the benefits of this can be, and probably will be, overstated, it often provides a buffer. What they might not say to you is that there are no guarantees in buying second-hand. There is always a risk.
The law provides a comeback if you have been sold a dud. This again is often overstated but in general it means that you have a bit of a come back if it all goes wrong. If the car disintegrates within a reasonable period of time you have a right to some compensation. Further, if you go to the right dealers then they will have a good name to protect.
Rumours get around the small TVR world and one unsatisfied customer can cause considerable problems. What this means is that you can often negotiate in any dispute.
They have legal constraints which means that they have to be extremely careful in telling lies. Or even being mistaken.
So having made the case for dealers, is there any possible reason, other than lower initial price, for going private?
Dealers will know the value of the car they are selling. I.e. they know what it will bring. They will be fully aware of their advantages when it comes to selling and they will charge everything they can. They will tell you that they take a risk as well, they have to carry stock for some time, they have to staff the sales room and all this is indeed true.
But what it means is that someone has to pay for all this, and that someone is you.
But take care with private deals. The seller can lie to you: they might not have full title, they also go for everything they can get, just like the dealers.
I looked at over a dozen cars when going after my Chim. I drove to Devon, London three times, Essex once, Hants three times, Kent, Herts, somewhere near Silverstone and just twice locally. This was over a period of about six months. I was told the various cars were in ‘very good’ to ‘excellent condition’. Once even that it was in a condition similar to when it came out of TVR – presumably after the fire.
I finally found my Chim and paid around 30% less for it than I would have done at a dealers. It has since proved remarkably reliable.
You pays your money.
This car was described as ‘in very good condition. When I mentioned the worn and damaged seat the seller said that ‘they all go there’. The leaking hood was due to stitching coming adrift and a crack in the rear screen
This S4C was described as perfect. It was. Unfortunately I couldn’t afford it. Further, I would have used it almost on a daily basis so it would have lost a lot of value in a short time.
But if you buy privately you might need to accept the need for some kind of warrantee. There are commercial providers of after-market ones that on the face of it seem to take the risk out of going elsewhere than a dealer. They don’t cover wear and tear and often limit the payout but they do provide a bit of a safety net.
But remember the reason you opted out of going for a dealer applies with what is in essence an insurance. The company needs to cover infrastructure costs, staff, profit margins and legal fees. You pay for that with your premium.
Another option is to put money by for repairs.
Check out the cost of a full rebuild for your engine, be it an RV8 or a Speed 6. If you need the car as a daily driver then you need some kind of contingency plan.
What to look for
Perhaps the best thing to look for is someone to do the looking for you. There are bespoke specialists who deal mainly with TVRs and will come to the car. The other option is to take the car to a TVR specialist.
Elmwood Vehicles in south London are TVR specialists and will check the car over for you for a reasonable fee. They will put it up on their ramps and will allow you to inspect the underside. Whilst such dealer assistance is not warranted you do at least get their experience.
If a vendor refuses to allow you to perform this check then it is, perhaps, best to be wary.
Chassis
The one thing those who give advice on buying TVRs agrees on is if the chassis is rusted then walk away from the car. This is not necessarily the case.
The chassis outriggers will go eventually on every TVR. It’s called chemistry. But just because they’ve lost the ability to attract a magnet does not mean the car is destined for the scrapheap.
As shown here, with a car undergoing chassis restoration at Elmwood Automotive, replacement of the outriggers is a straightforward task. At the end of it you have a chassis that is better than the original, that will be longer lasting and you can be sure your seatbelt mountings will work.
Any car that you buy will have outriggers that have, to an extent, degraded. With new ones from the likes of Elmwood TVR you will know that they will go on for ages.
The price is £600 a side plus VAT. This should be taken off the value of the car you are buying.
These two pictures show the chassis outriggers as they would appear to casual inspection. Above is the front nearside corner and left is the rear nearside corner. Compare them with the pictures below.
Above and right: The same bits of outrigger but from a point of view you would not see. The picture above shown the rust on the seatbelt mounting and on the right you can see where the chassis is rusted through.
Right: The chassis with repair sections in place. The new components are stronger and longer lasting than the original parts.
RV8R would like to thank Elmwood Automotive for helping to keep this website facility free to users.
Page sponsored by
Elmwood Automotive
Elmwood Automotive
Decide what you want the car to do and don’t just go with your heart. Checking the car carefully will give hints as to what the car has been used for and how much care it has received.