Spotted: TVR TUSCAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Discussion
Somedays you kick yourself for not having the camera in the car.
And then there's day like today!
We went down to a new oil change/warrent place for a WoF for the missus' car, and found this sitting inside.
ooooo MAMA.
Unfortunately she's in a bit of a sad state, had a front end prang or similar.
Warning, folloing pictures will disturb some TVR lovers.
Seeing one in the flesh, you certainly realise that they are actually small cars. Which pack a HUGE punch.
There is a rego holder on the windscreen but there wasnt anything in it.
It belonged to the owner of the workshop, he turned up and they were going to put it on a trailer to be taken away and repainted (I presume). I started to have a chat to him, but he had to tear off to get the keys cause the steering was locked. So I didnt get to ask him about it really.
I even helped him push it out.
I TOUCHED A TUSCAN 
I think this is my fave pic:
I had heard rumours of one down around Timaru, but I'm not sure on that. I'll ask my mate from down there who told me about. If it is that one I think it came into the country around 2000, so it could be road legal??
>>> Edited by Izza on Sunday 1st August 00:25
And then there's day like today!
We went down to a new oil change/warrent place for a WoF for the missus' car, and found this sitting inside.
ooooo MAMA.
Unfortunately she's in a bit of a sad state, had a front end prang or similar.
Warning, folloing pictures will disturb some TVR lovers.
Seeing one in the flesh, you certainly realise that they are actually small cars. Which pack a HUGE punch.
There is a rego holder on the windscreen but there wasnt anything in it.
It belonged to the owner of the workshop, he turned up and they were going to put it on a trailer to be taken away and repainted (I presume). I started to have a chat to him, but he had to tear off to get the keys cause the steering was locked. So I didnt get to ask him about it really.
I even helped him push it out.
I TOUCHED A TUSCAN
I think this is my fave pic:
I had heard rumours of one down around Timaru, but I'm not sure on that. I'll ask my mate from down there who told me about. If it is that one I think it came into the country around 2000, so it could be road legal??
>>> Edited by Izza on Sunday 1st August 00:25
PetrolTed said:
Piccies don't work
I'll fix 'em..... freewebz for some reason likes you to use "JPG" as opposed to "jpg" as the filename extension when externally referencing pics thru a PIC tag.... so hopefully, if all goes well, here they are in all their glory (in the same order Izza posted 'em):
Izza said:
Somedays you kick yourself for not having the camera in the car.
And then there's day like today!
We went down to a new oil change/warrent place for a WoF for the missus' car, and found this sitting inside.
ooooo MAMA.
Unfortunately she's in a bit of a sad state, had a front end prang or similar.
Warning, folloing pictures will disturb some TVR lovers.
Seeing one in the flesh, you certainly realise that they are actually small cars. Which pack a HUGE punch.
There is a rego holder on the windscreen but there wasnt anything in it.
It belonged to the owner of the workshop, he turned up and they were going to put it on a trailer to be taken away and repainted (I presume). I started to have a chat to him, but he had to tear off to get the keys cause the steering was locked. So I didnt get to ask him about it really.
I even helped him push it out.
I TOUCHED A TUSCAN
I think this is my fave pic:
I had heard rumours of one down around Timaru, but I'm not sure on that. I'll ask my mate from down there who told me about. If it is that one I think it came into the country around 2000, so it could be road legal??
Sounds like I was dangerously close to the mark with my guesses then Izza 
.... nztrev's storu sounds dangerously close to my own recollection...... I wonder if he'll have any luck road-registering it? might be able to harrass them enough, or he might just wait until the laws change and have it as a trackdayer in the meantime.
.... nztrev's storu sounds dangerously close to my own recollection...... I wonder if he'll have any luck road-registering it? might be able to harrass them enough, or he might just wait until the laws change and have it as a trackdayer in the meantime.There's lots more to this tus's story, but im the worlds slowest typist.There's no show of having it registered here untill atleast 2006/2007 when new submissions can be fowardered for the 2005/2006 legislation changes programe (unless crash testing resumes)
Myself and a friend have been working with LTSA and TVR for the past year nearly on importing new tuscan's each and have got as far as we can,ie NO from John White, (head of policy ltsa)
Probably in the wrong thread here but would be happy to help anyone contemplating importing trev's here,in the meantime don't bother spending wonga on this subject, have exhausted all avenues spending time and money including Blackpool a trip.
Myself and a friend have been working with LTSA and TVR for the past year nearly on importing new tuscan's each and have got as far as we can,ie NO from John White, (head of policy ltsa)
Probably in the wrong thread here but would be happy to help anyone contemplating importing trev's here,in the meantime don't bother spending wonga on this subject, have exhausted all avenues spending time and money including Blackpool a trip.
I've been chatting to the owner of this car for some time now on and off and i know he's tried everything to get it registered with no luck.
The last I heard he was willing to sell it very cheap (wouldn't be surprised if 50k didn't secure it!) but said he was thinking of shipping it to Aussie where they've got a little bit of sense!
They write-off TVRs very easily in Japan because they're GRP. This car has only suffered minor body damage, nothing structural.
By the way I'm sat here sweating like a pig in good ol' Blighty - looks like we brought the fine weather with us. Seen lots of Tuscans on the road and with each one I get a little bit more resentful of the LTSA!
>> Edited by jamieheasman on Sunday 1st August 17:36
The last I heard he was willing to sell it very cheap (wouldn't be surprised if 50k didn't secure it!) but said he was thinking of shipping it to Aussie where they've got a little bit of sense!
They write-off TVRs very easily in Japan because they're GRP. This car has only suffered minor body damage, nothing structural.
By the way I'm sat here sweating like a pig in good ol' Blighty - looks like we brought the fine weather with us. Seen lots of Tuscans on the road and with each one I get a little bit more resentful of the LTSA!
>> Edited by jamieheasman on Sunday 1st August 17:36
BLimey Jamie..... I think I know of someone that would be willing to pay that for it.... especially if there's the chance of being road-registered once the LTSA makes its mind up avout LVVA regs etc..... if you can confirm that he's willing to sell , I might be able to find him a buyer.... I just know of someone that's looking for a trackday machine :P.... Tuscan would certainly fulfil that niche rather nicely.... if we can eventually certify it on the road, so much the better!
I wonder if you could de-badge it, and certify it from scratch as a home-built one-off? I mean if you can do it for a replicar Cobra or Countess Countach, surely you can do it for a TVR?
I wonder if you could de-badge it, and certify it from scratch as a home-built one-off? I mean if you can do it for a replicar Cobra or Countess Countach, surely you can do it for a TVR?
The car IS ex-Japan so there may be some differences in spec'. They are trying to replicate the T400R front because the owner didn't like the chip-cutter grill.
It's only got a couple of thousand kms on the clock I believe!
I toyed with buying it and swapping the badges on my Chimaera!
I reckon you could remove the chassis and build an exact replica then pass it off as a scratch-built. It's not as big a job as it may sound as I know one guy who was forced to have a chassis resto before his Chimaera was allowed on NZ roads!
It's only got a couple of thousand kms on the clock I believe!
I toyed with buying it and swapping the badges on my Chimaera!
I reckon you could remove the chassis and build an exact replica then pass it off as a scratch-built. It's not as big a job as it may sound as I know one guy who was forced to have a chassis resto before his Chimaera was allowed on NZ roads!
Jamie, What's the rules there? what's to stop you just blasting the chassis back to bare metal and removing all identification markings etc and then saying that it's scratch-built anyway? I'm just wondering if it's worth buying and holding onto for a couple of years until the LTSA comes to its senses and changes the laws..... I might be able to scrape together the cash to pay it off by then! :P
Most of the compliance engineers I've spoken to don't even know the rules off-hand and lot of them just go blank when you mention TVR let alone a Tuscan. If you found a nice sleepy village with a compliance engineer or was up front with a friendly one from the off you might get lucky, if you'll pardon the phrase!
I've seen more Tuscans on the road over here than Chimaeras so far, a couple of Griff's, one Cerbera and a T350C in orange-pearl crackling and popping down the A3. Lovely, but very frustrating.
I heard about the Russian from a friends neighbour and thought he was winding me up. I felt like someone I was close to had died - sad bastard that I am! Anyway, if this Ruskie knows what he's doing and doesn't let Mr Wheeler brain-wash him we could end up with crash-tested TVRs before too long.
What are the penalties for driving an unregistered car on the road? I see plenty of them around in South Auckland. I've never been stopped by the cops in my TVR so what are the chances? I doubt very much if any cop could pull me up about whether I was driving a Chimaera or a Tuscan!
I've seen more Tuscans on the road over here than Chimaeras so far, a couple of Griff's, one Cerbera and a T350C in orange-pearl crackling and popping down the A3. Lovely, but very frustrating.
I heard about the Russian from a friends neighbour and thought he was winding me up. I felt like someone I was close to had died - sad bastard that I am! Anyway, if this Ruskie knows what he's doing and doesn't let Mr Wheeler brain-wash him we could end up with crash-tested TVRs before too long.
What are the penalties for driving an unregistered car on the road? I see plenty of them around in South Auckland. I've never been stopped by the cops in my TVR so what are the chances? I doubt very much if any cop could pull me up about whether I was driving a Chimaera or a Tuscan!
Valid points Jamie.... I forgot u was back in blighty for a minute and thought you meant you'd seen more tuscans than Chims in NZ and I was about to ask you what part of the country you were on!..... yeah I'm gonna scour my contacts to see if I know of any friendly LVV enginees that might let me slip a Tussie through.... surely ther has to be ONE out three that's prepared to..... even for a backhander.... I'm not above bribery!..... and it's a valid point also... the fine for an unwarranted car is $200 and unregistered is $200 (I'm assuming that if the car aint on the books then you can't be WOFD).... but the thing is, if ther'es NO record, I think the cops pink-sticker it, which means if u remove the pink sticker and are caught again, bye bye license, hello 5000+ fine.... or if u leave the pink sticker on and get caught again.... hello the same fine..... it's a risk, but maybe one worth taking?
The easiest way to keep this car on the road is do what the current owner's doing and stick some dealer plates on.However I would bear in mind resale value against imports (assumming complience issues sorted out by 2006)due to its history and what still needs fixing ie driver's side window,bonnet,damage to passenger's side sill,starmist paint job,stereo,etc.I hope too they start crash testing but from what ive heard TVR will stay low volume due too this Kyoto car component recycling agreement which will cost the mainsteam companys zillions.Jamie have you got the silver chim? If you have you pass my place in Mt Eden most nights,spot the exhaust notes a mile off.Stop off one night for a drink,I bought Ross's chim 500 and am doing a few mods to it.(couldnt wait any longer for another tiv)
As it's an early low mileage car, it would not surprise me if the engine will require a trip to Blackpool at some point....
Also with what I read about how "nazi like" the speeding laws are now in NZ, driving the Tuscan on the open road at 100kph will be so hard. That is just at the point where in 5th gear the engine starts to labour so you would want to drop it down to 4th and if you saw a long stretch of road infront of you it would be so tempting to drop it into 3rd, nail it, wait for the red change up light and change into 4th at about 130mph(208kph)....
in town would be fine as you would just leave it in 2nd gear and trundle along at 30mph(50kph) with the exhaust popping and banging...
Also with what I read about how "nazi like" the speeding laws are now in NZ, driving the Tuscan on the open road at 100kph will be so hard. That is just at the point where in 5th gear the engine starts to labour so you would want to drop it down to 4th and if you saw a long stretch of road infront of you it would be so tempting to drop it into 3rd, nail it, wait for the red change up light and change into 4th at about 130mph(208kph)....
in town would be fine as you would just leave it in 2nd gear and trundle along at 30mph(50kph) with the exhaust popping and banging...
Is there any chance of registering this as a race vehicle? This would seem to be one of of actually driving it here
I have one car that has a log book - and it's really not that much hassle
I was vaguely thinking that it could be worth importing one on that basis. However - not for resale - just use. Bugger!
I have one car that has a log book - and it's really not that much hassle
I was vaguely thinking that it could be worth importing one on that basis. However - not for resale - just use. Bugger!
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