tvr s2 ebay Nimbus Grey

[robS2]

The initial message was deleted from this topic on 13 June 2018 at 14:18

[v8s4me]

Welcome to the Forum. Sounds like the best colour combination. Obviously a man of discerning taste

[lordofthewings]

robS2 said:

I've just bought a TVR S2 (1989, G141 YRE) via ebay.... Would be interested if anyone knows it or have any info on it?

I was watching that listing, but Ebay now make it very hard to retrieve "ended items". I thought it looked like a lot of car for the money, with your caveats that you are aware of some jobs needing sorting. I assume you now have all the old MoT's ? The available history is on Cazana, including apparently quite a lot of former keepers. Also shows the previous advisories, which you may want to reassure yourself were attended to.

[phillpot]

robS2 said:

but chassis is good

I'd take that with..............................





Hopefully you've got a good 'un, enjoy

Edited by phillpot on Wednesday 6th June 23:13

[TurboTony]

robS2 said:

Cheers for the replies! I wasn't aware of the Cazana website....have just paid for a full check and it shows as written off back in 1990, with a recent keeper change in February 2018. Given the 'write off' was 20 years ago, I'm hoping all is good...


Date reported

1990-12-15

Incident description

VEHICLE DAMAGED

Vehicle description

NOVA STA



Maybe I'm worrying about nothing... hmmmm

Is your TVR listed on the V5 as a Cat C or D? If so then it is my belief that it is illegal to offer for sale without declaring this. If you are not happy then you may have recourse. If you are happy then all is well. Please check in more detail, however, if you wish to go further.

P.S. Welcome!

[lordofthewings]

TurboTony said:

Is your TVR listed on the V5 as a Cat C or D? If so then it is my belief that it is illegal to offer for sale without declaring this. If you are not happy then you may have recourse.

This is perhaps a good time to share my own experience of buying a written-off S3, which was sold to me in good faith by another PH’er in 2004. It had been a TVR factory press car, with lots of upgrades, and drove well apart from the bonnet tending to fly open at the slightest provocation. After I got it home, I checked with previous owners and discovered it had been written-off two years previously when it was significantly stuffed into the scenery. At the time it had been registered and insured in Ireland, and that information was evidently not passed-on when it was subsequently brought back and re-registered here in the U.K. and repaired, including fitting a new windscreen and fresh paintwork on the bonnet to conceal the repaired bodywork damage . It had subsequently changed hands three more times before I bought it, and I did feel that there had been some instances of selective amnesia. I lacked the facilities to get the chassis geometry checked, hence I sold-on the car (at a loss) after only a few weeks. I did make 100% sure the buyer was aware of the history.

Last year it reappeared on Ebay after it emerged from many years storage (much of it outside). I went to see the car, the interior and engine bay looked as if it had been alongside the Titanic on the ocean floor for a while, and sure enough the bonnet had deteriorated like an icecream wafer (remember those ?). Nonetheless it sold for a not insignificant sum and I believe was trailered to Germany.

Based on my experience I would now be extremely wary of buying a car that has been written-off, perhaps having been deemed beyond economic repair. If it was uneconomic a couple of decades ago, it sure as heck wouldn’t be cheaper to fix it now.

P.S.: what does NOVA STA mean ??

[phillpot]

lordofthewings said:

If it was uneconomic a couple of decades ago, it sure as heck wouldn’t be cheaper to fix it now.

Not necessarily, large part of any repair bill is labour, if owner has the skills and ability to carry out some or all of the repairs himself rebuilding the car becomes a very viable option.

My car became a "cat C" after a relatively minor incursion a few years back


But, as with buyiny any old car, caveat emptor !

[lordofthewings]

robS2 said:

The seller seems genuine

As did the seller in the instance I quoted. I'm sure you'll be fine, but at least you're going into this with your eyes wide open. And the experience didn't stop me subsequently buying two more S's.....
Remember Desiderata ? "Be cheerful. Strive to be happy", especially when you are up to your ears in piles of bits that don't quite seem to go back together properly. And if you find a few spring clips, washers and even lengths of wiring that don't appear to belong anywhere, they probably weren't needed in the first place.