TVR Owners in NZ
Discussion
Currently a number of TVR owners in NZ attempt to keep in touch with each other via conventional email. As this can be difficult to maintain and obviously doesn't allow other owners to find us on the WWW I thought it would be a good idea to start a thread here so we can have a record of all owners, potential owners and enthusiasts of the marque. One day I'll get around to creating a website........
To get the ball rolling, my name is Jamie Heasman (you'd never guess that from my Nickname!) I'm an Englishman who has lived in NZ for the past six years. I'm married to a kiwi I met in London, Jane, we have two children, Charlotte and Katie and a smelly dog, Wilbur. I've owned a '92 4.3 Griffith, '94 5.0litre Chimaera, 4.2 '97 Cerbera (bought new) and now a 4.0litre HC Chimaera with a few minor modifications. I've been TVR-mad since I saw a Taimar Turbo overtaking a bus sideways outside my school in Fulham!
To get the ball rolling, my name is Jamie Heasman (you'd never guess that from my Nickname!) I'm an Englishman who has lived in NZ for the past six years. I'm married to a kiwi I met in London, Jane, we have two children, Charlotte and Katie and a smelly dog, Wilbur. I've owned a '92 4.3 Griffith, '94 5.0litre Chimaera, 4.2 '97 Cerbera (bought new) and now a 4.0litre HC Chimaera with a few minor modifications. I've been TVR-mad since I saw a Taimar Turbo overtaking a bus sideways outside my school in Fulham!
Hi there
I'm living on the Kapiti Coast since moving from the UK a year ago to escape the ratrace and check out life on the other side of the planet.
I have a TVR Chimaera, 4.0, GTS Viper Blue, Mark Adams Chip, upgraded front brakes, upgraded fans.
I've been a TVR nut since pulling into a TVR dealer to tyre kick and nearly fell asleep in the passanger seat of a Chimp in the showroom as it was the most comfortable seat I'd ever sat in.
There seem to be quite a few TVR nuts here in NZ and I get admiration wherever I go. The first thing you learn in NZ is the sign language for "lets see yer spin yer wheels, dude" coming from other cars. It would be great to get this forum going properly for TVR owners (as well as everyone else in NZ) as the current mailing lists seem to be hit and miss.
Cheers
Richard
I'm living on the Kapiti Coast since moving from the UK a year ago to escape the ratrace and check out life on the other side of the planet.
I have a TVR Chimaera, 4.0, GTS Viper Blue, Mark Adams Chip, upgraded front brakes, upgraded fans.
I've been a TVR nut since pulling into a TVR dealer to tyre kick and nearly fell asleep in the passanger seat of a Chimp in the showroom as it was the most comfortable seat I'd ever sat in.
There seem to be quite a few TVR nuts here in NZ and I get admiration wherever I go. The first thing you learn in NZ is the sign language for "lets see yer spin yer wheels, dude" coming from other cars. It would be great to get this forum going properly for TVR owners (as well as everyone else in NZ) as the current mailing lists seem to be hit and miss.
Cheers
Richard
Hi
There are some TVR owners that are actually Kiwis.
My name is Dave Harris and I live in Invercargill.
I have an '87 S1 that I bought in 1990. I have no other TVRs to play with down here but go on a few classic car and sports car runs. I usually have [problems with the speed others travel at especially on the classic runs as 80 km/hr seems to be the norm, but the TVR is pretty good for passing them.
There are some TVR owners that are actually Kiwis.
My name is Dave Harris and I live in Invercargill.
I have an '87 S1 that I bought in 1990. I have no other TVRs to play with down here but go on a few classic car and sports car runs. I usually have [problems with the speed others travel at especially on the classic runs as 80 km/hr seems to be the norm, but the TVR is pretty good for passing them.
nzdave said:
Hi
There are some TVR owners that are actually Kiwis.
There are??? 
nzdave said:
. I usually have [problems with the speed others travel at especially on the classic runs as 80 km/hr seems to be the norm, but the TVR is pretty good for passing them.
I know the feeling - I tagged onto the end of a classic run as it went through Blenheim a while back. Soon found myself at the front. Problem was I had no idea where they were going. I was going to Christchurch...
The thought of a TVR weekend run to Invercargil is tempting though.
Im Pawsmcgraw,living in Queenstown'ish area of the high country.Have owned an early griff 4lt(a 92) back in err....95 i think.Would love another,or anything other than a 4X4 but until we live somewhere without 40km of gravel track home it just ain't gonna happen.
Now theres a sight,a TVR in Invers
Now theres a sight,a TVR in Invers
Hi, I also keep an eye on this forum. I have an 2.9 S4 which I purchased 18 mths ago. The car is dated September 1994 and was imported direct from the factory by the previous owner. This must make it very near the last of the S series.
Dave - I am also a NZer.
Jamie - Is there any way of emailing this thread to all those people on the list Steve Griffiths has put together so that they can all know about it ?
Dan
Dave - I am also a NZer.
Jamie - Is there any way of emailing this thread to all those people on the list Steve Griffiths has put together so that they can all know about it ?
Dan
Dear fellow Kiwi TVR enthusiasts(and anyone else who may be able to help)
I have had it in my head to import a Cerbera to NZ for some little while but have come a cropper with our LTSA regulations.
According to Neil Fraser, certified certifier and builder of wonderful Lotus 7 replicas, if a car manufacturer produces over 200 vehicles per year it must provide crash- testing data or be denied access to NZ roads. This is obviously a recent law tighten-up, as not that long ago there were two dealers offering new TVRs in NZ . Fraser and others are lobbying for this number to be increased, but at present I (and anyone else wanting to import a <20 yr old TVR) am/are stymied.
Does anyone out there have any wisdom to impart-or/and know what Cerberas are already in NZ-I've never seen one in Auckland.
I have had it in my head to import a Cerbera to NZ for some little while but have come a cropper with our LTSA regulations.
According to Neil Fraser, certified certifier and builder of wonderful Lotus 7 replicas, if a car manufacturer produces over 200 vehicles per year it must provide crash- testing data or be denied access to NZ roads. This is obviously a recent law tighten-up, as not that long ago there were two dealers offering new TVRs in NZ . Fraser and others are lobbying for this number to be increased, but at present I (and anyone else wanting to import a <20 yr old TVR) am/are stymied.
Does anyone out there have any wisdom to impart-or/and know what Cerberas are already in NZ-I've never seen one in Auckland.
Roger A said:
Does anyone out there have any wisdom to impart-or/and know what Cerberas are already in NZ-I've never seen one in Auckland.
Hi Roger, there are NO Cerberas in NZ. We've been looking into this alot, read the thread here:
www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=78987&f=123&h=0
Cheers
Richard
Hi,
I'm currently in the UK, but am from Wellington. I also plan to bring my Cerbera back with me, so I'm interested in how people get on with this.
I've had some discusion with the LTSA and TVR basically fall into a gap between an exception process for low-volume manufacturers, and mas produced car that have undergone crash testing.
The 200 car per year limit was based on what the LTSA thought an NZ car maker might produce. In the EU this limit is 2000.
There was an expection process being developed for a car that is used in motorsport, but I'm not sure what the satus of this is.
I'm currently in the UK, but am from Wellington. I also plan to bring my Cerbera back with me, so I'm interested in how people get on with this.
I've had some discusion with the LTSA and TVR basically fall into a gap between an exception process for low-volume manufacturers, and mas produced car that have undergone crash testing.
The 200 car per year limit was based on what the LTSA thought an NZ car maker might produce. In the EU this limit is 2000.
There was an expection process being developed for a car that is used in motorsport, but I'm not sure what the satus of this is.
Actually there is one Cerbera in NZ that I know of. It's a lightweight 4.5 in (Swordfish) reflex blue and belongs to the chap who owns Cookietime. He purchased the car new and it was shipped prior to the frontal impact law changes. It took a two-day visit to the factory from the NZ compliance guy just to get the paperwork sorted out - you can imagine what it would be like now!
I still haven't found an iron-clad way of getting a TVR into the country. There is a possibility of an ex-Japan car being accepted but that all depends on the paperwork the car is shipped with. No type approval number on the de-registration documents, no importation. I too have heard about the motorsport exception and it's one I'd be willing to commit to if it meant being able to bring in a newer TVR. I miss my Cerbera sooooooo much.
As a stop-gap I'm toying with the idea of importing a restored 3000M or Taimar and then fitting a 4.2 or 4.5 AJP8 into it. Niiice.
I still haven't found an iron-clad way of getting a TVR into the country. There is a possibility of an ex-Japan car being accepted but that all depends on the paperwork the car is shipped with. No type approval number on the de-registration documents, no importation. I too have heard about the motorsport exception and it's one I'd be willing to commit to if it meant being able to bring in a newer TVR. I miss my Cerbera sooooooo much.
As a stop-gap I'm toying with the idea of importing a restored 3000M or Taimar and then fitting a 4.2 or 4.5 AJP8 into it. Niiice.
jamieheasman said:
Actually there is one Cerbera in NZ that I know of. It's a lightweight 4.5 in (Swordfish) reflex blue and belongs to the chap who owns Cookietime.
I sit corrected...
jamieheasman said:
As a stop-gap I'm toying with the idea of importing a restored 3000M or Taimar and then fitting a 4.2 or 4.5 AJP8 into it. Niiice.
Joins queue for test drive...
There are quite a large number from what I've seen. It's TVR's largest export market and at one time accounted for nearly a quarter of their production. Unfortunately, not speaking Japanese, I've found it difficult tracking down information on the 'net. I did find a link to a TVR car club though and there were pictures of their annual meeting which had a good dozen Cerberas, several Tuscans and plenty of Chimaeras and Griffiths. There were even a couple of Vixens too.
The big stumbling block with this route is that you won't know if your paperwork is in order until the car is de-registered and nobody is going to de-register the car before you've bought it! One possible option would be to purchase one that has been damaged as they tend to write them off with seemingly minor damage - perhaps it's a lack of GRP skills? Provided it's only body damage it's no great drama and you can get yourself a bit of a bargain.
Having said all this I keep hearing rumours about TVR returning to a certain large market. You don't need to be a genius to figure out which market - and if that happens they are going to have to crash test.
The big stumbling block with this route is that you won't know if your paperwork is in order until the car is de-registered and nobody is going to de-register the car before you've bought it! One possible option would be to purchase one that has been damaged as they tend to write them off with seemingly minor damage - perhaps it's a lack of GRP skills? Provided it's only body damage it's no great drama and you can get yourself a bit of a bargain.
Having said all this I keep hearing rumours about TVR returning to a certain large market. You don't need to be a genius to figure out which market - and if that happens they are going to have to crash test.
That's great news but I'm 43 years old and would like to own a Cerbera in NZ before I'm 45. I wonder if Mr Cookie-time is open to offers. Also, I dug up April 2001 auto trader Prestige-with the Chimaera on the cover -and it claims that Fazzaz in CHCH had a Cerbera in their showroom. It seems unlikely they would have shipped it back (?)
also,apparently there's a Japan website where you can access all available used cars online and bid and have them delivered.risky I know. I wonder what modifications you would need to do to a Cerbera in order to have it called a replica (or something) by XXXX fabricators in NZ....(like Shelby or Crayford-sort-of) . Plus whoever that German is who turns Porsches into something even more fun.
Devious? Me?
thanks for the continued discussion. It's quite cheered me up.
also,apparently there's a Japan website where you can access all available used cars online and bid and have them delivered.risky I know. I wonder what modifications you would need to do to a Cerbera in order to have it called a replica (or something) by XXXX fabricators in NZ....(like Shelby or Crayford-sort-of) . Plus whoever that German is who turns Porsches into something even more fun.
Devious? Me?
thanks for the continued discussion. It's quite cheered me up.
Unfortunately, a vehicle being imported/registered is either a low volume vehicle (or scratch built), or a modified production vehicle. So, unless a vehicle has been registered as a seperate marque in it's country of origin and is produced in numbers less than 200 per year, it won't be regarded as a LVV. If it's a modified production vehicle it will not only need to comply with the regular standards (including frontal impact) but additional LVV standards too!
If we could find someone in the UK willing to modify a TVR and re-register it as a seperate marque then we could be in business. Obviously this would involve setting up as a vehicle manufacturer which no doubt would be expensive! You could also assume according to the long-established laws of sod, that as soon as you had something like this in place, TVR would start crash testing and the LTSA would change their rules!
I suspect the report of Fazzaz having a Cerbera in their showroom was a mistake. I heard lots of such rumours and stories and it was basically down to peoples ignorance. I'm sure by now I'd have heard of it if there were another Cerbera around. I suppose Mr Cookietime could have lent them his car for a promotion as they were acting as TVR agents for a while. If you talk to these guys now though they'll tell you the whole thing was a waste of time and that TVR were a pain in the a*se to deal with - what a surprise!
I wonder what would happen if you managed to sneak in a Cerbera and removed all the chassis plates, badges etc and then took it to a sleepy little town with a compliance guy and claimed you'd built it in your shed......
If we could find someone in the UK willing to modify a TVR and re-register it as a seperate marque then we could be in business. Obviously this would involve setting up as a vehicle manufacturer which no doubt would be expensive! You could also assume according to the long-established laws of sod, that as soon as you had something like this in place, TVR would start crash testing and the LTSA would change their rules!
I suspect the report of Fazzaz having a Cerbera in their showroom was a mistake. I heard lots of such rumours and stories and it was basically down to peoples ignorance. I'm sure by now I'd have heard of it if there were another Cerbera around. I suppose Mr Cookietime could have lent them his car for a promotion as they were acting as TVR agents for a while. If you talk to these guys now though they'll tell you the whole thing was a waste of time and that TVR were a pain in the a*se to deal with - what a surprise!
I wonder what would happen if you managed to sneak in a Cerbera and removed all the chassis plates, badges etc and then took it to a sleepy little town with a compliance guy and claimed you'd built it in your shed......
I thought I was devious!
Neil Fraser informs me that the lvvta (www.lvvta.org.nz) have been pressuring the ltsa "for some time" to up the 200 figure (cars built per year before crah bang wallop testing is necessary) but with no success (yet)
Neil Fraser informs me that the lvvta (www.lvvta.org.nz) have been pressuring the ltsa "for some time" to up the 200 figure (cars built per year before crah bang wallop testing is necessary) but with no success (yet)
Anyone got any updates on that motorsport exemption process the LTSA were working on? I'd race my Cerbera in hillclimbs and the Targa events when in NZ, so I was interested in this one.
As I've decided to stay here for a few more years, I haven't been persuing any of this stuff, but am obviously still interested.
I'm not sure if you need to register as a vehicle maker to re-register a car. After all, people build one-offs and are allowed to register them.
The UK's equivalent of LVV is a process called SVA. I'm not sure what would be involved in unregistering your car as a TVR, and re-registering it as a one-off.
As I've decided to stay here for a few more years, I haven't been persuing any of this stuff, but am obviously still interested.
I'm not sure if you need to register as a vehicle maker to re-register a car. After all, people build one-offs and are allowed to register them.
The UK's equivalent of LVV is a process called SVA. I'm not sure what would be involved in unregistering your car as a TVR, and re-registering it as a one-off.
I can't say for sure about this but I'm pretty sure the SVA and registering your vehicle as a marque are two different things. I thought the SVA was basically a process any car had to go through in order to be registered for the road - i.e. an inspection by an engineer. I think the issue is that the manufacturer is the one that has the right to put on a chassis number etc and therefore has to be 'registered' to do so. It may well be easier than I think but just another potential hurdle.
I know a while ago one TVR fanatic (and maker of very nices upgrades), Clive Reed, was considering producing upgraded Cerberas with things like decent suspension, bigger brakes, upgraded interiors (don't know how he could manage that as I think it's just perfect as is!), electric sunroofs (nice), traction control etc etc. He was planning on purchasing those cars at the bottom end of the scale, '96 and '97 cars and completely rebuilding the drivetrain and respraying them etc so they'd be just like new. If someone could do this and then register them as a different marque......
Incidentally, I think TVR used to produce cars under a different name in the early eighties (although I'm not sure why). I saw an early wedge when I was in Saudi Arabia and it was badged as a Martin which is obviously a reference to Martin Lilley. Perhaps if we could persuade them to register a few cars this way we could all be driving around in brand new Martin Typhons!
I'd also be up for entering a Cerbera into the odd motorsport event if I had one over here but I haven't heard anything about this regulation yet.
I know a while ago one TVR fanatic (and maker of very nices upgrades), Clive Reed, was considering producing upgraded Cerberas with things like decent suspension, bigger brakes, upgraded interiors (don't know how he could manage that as I think it's just perfect as is!), electric sunroofs (nice), traction control etc etc. He was planning on purchasing those cars at the bottom end of the scale, '96 and '97 cars and completely rebuilding the drivetrain and respraying them etc so they'd be just like new. If someone could do this and then register them as a different marque......
Incidentally, I think TVR used to produce cars under a different name in the early eighties (although I'm not sure why). I saw an early wedge when I was in Saudi Arabia and it was badged as a Martin which is obviously a reference to Martin Lilley. Perhaps if we could persuade them to register a few cars this way we could all be driving around in brand new Martin Typhons!
I'd also be up for entering a Cerbera into the odd motorsport event if I had one over here but I haven't heard anything about this regulation yet.
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