New member - james7

[james7]

Hello to every one i've just joined the club.Here is a little about me
I live in Fareham Hants and i'm in the Armed Forces.
I'm looking for a Tiger or Westfield to buy and have seen lots of over priced rubbish in the last few months.
I have seen what appears to be a nice Tiger at Hallmark sports cars in Hainault in Ilford the british racing green one with Zetec engine and twin webbers.i think it 's overpriced by a good grand but i'm no expert in kit cars so i would like to ask for some advice to anybody who nows the Model well and what i should pay for one in that spec. the car is advertised on http://www.hallmark-cars.com.

thanks

Will

[greenwoo]

Will, firstly welcome - hope you find te right car and more importantly get some good fun out of whatever you buy.

In terms of commenting about that or another other car, to a degree it depends what you want the car for, whetehr you want one that's 'done' or one that you can tinker with ( i mean change to your taste here and there).
1/ zetec = carries at least a grand premium over a pinto - i'd say the starting point generally for a zetec is 5.5k.
2/ Tiger roll bar as fitted is like butter, useless if ever called upon. For many thats no issue/worry as the comment will be ' how many do you ever see turned over'.....but if there's a chance that you wnat to do any track days i'd def change that for a braced Tiger bar, that from memory will be another £150 or so. That will also impact the rear boot cover and would leave you with a further bill to get that recut to accept teh extra 2 leg braces.
3/ clearly well presented, the interior is neat and tidy and that would indicate to me that teh rest of teh build is likely ( not guaranteed ) to be equally well screwed together.
4/ on the above point do they have any history with teh car ( i dont mean mot's i mean build history, how many prev owners, log /pics of build).
5/ doesnt mention weather gear? to my mind having a screen means having eather gear - if there's none and you want that then you'll need to budget for that.
6/ others better placed to comment - but worth checking if the webbers have the right number of progression holes - with the worng number which i think is 3 ( right = 5 ) it may well be lumpy at a few points thru the range. I can think of atleast 2 people who found that out when trying to get heir cars set up well on the rolling road.
7/ nice to have teh discs alround, although not 100% necessary.
8/ things to ask: provenance of engine ( new when built, old dog from a scrapper), radiator - standard tiger or replaced with alternative ( standard tiger ones have a limited shelf life, but changing is not £'s just a bit of hassle), when was last service/rolling road tune, seats on runners i assume? has it got limited slip diff ( not essential a 'brucie bonus' ).
Obvious things that a buyer might end up spending on over the short term:
rollbar/ re-trim rear deck = £200
weather gear/sidescreens = £200-250 ( think second hand s/screens are opften £70-80 ).
headlights - could be perfect or could be like 2 candles = £80-100
rad = £35 + a few hoses if needs swapping to a polo rad
rear arch protectors - it hasnt got any and looks like the gel coat is chipping - if you ever change to a decent tyre then that'll get worse so budget perhaps for a pair £50-120 depending whether standard tiger or carbon. Or guess could put vinyl wrap stuff over that area.
ordinary tonneau? if it hasnt got one very useful to have new i guess £200+
if doing lots of track days then high back seats which could be trimmed to match teh rest of the car - £350 but can sell those for about £125-150?

my take on price. reckon that to a degree buying/valuing a kit depends on a few things. How close it is to teh spec you want, whether it has nice little extras that either you can seel cos you dont need ( like mine had a screen/sidescreens etc which i was able to sell), and also how far you're prepared to travel to buy a car ( think that applies with kits far more than tintops). at a guess £6500-7000. Although ask enough people and someone will tell you about 4 grand! No one wants to buy a money pit, but remember that kits dont tend to depreciate much, so if you find a car you really liek is there any harm in paying a notional £500 more than it 'may be worth'.....if it ticks the boxes and if its sensibly close to home. Because it isnt likely to be depreciating much outside of that figure if at all.

if you havent driven one get yourself out with us on Sunday if you can and jump in a few cars, there's 3 Cats out and about plus other makes.

hope that helps a little.
Mark

[james7]

Thank you Mark for taking the time to respond with a very usefull and in depth reply.
After further corispondance with the dealer he has now informed me there is no weather gear and little movement on price.
By the look of the cam cover it looks like an early mondeo zetec/it looks the same as my brothers old car any way.
The dealer says they hand pick all thier cars and MOT and service before sail.
Not going to travel 5 hours round trip for the other tigers he is sugesting(i live in Fareham Hants)
I dont supose you know of any type 7 cars with weather gear for sale,zetec engine or red top fairly standard level of tuning for mostly road use.
I'm looking at keeping the car for a long time so i want the best spec for my budget and tinker as the pennies/family comitments allow!!


Regards

Will

[DJ.]

Welcome to the forum

Good luck in your search.
By the way, if you come a across a well priced Sylva/RAW striker or Fisher Fury they are great cars too (but the Striker is a bit tight- I can't get in one )

Duncan

[Tony B]

Hi and welcome Will, you'll get plenty of recommendations on here but the best thing to do is come out as a passenger with one of us.

How about joining us this Sunday? - details in the run section

[Ade]

There's a good Super Six for sale at Tigers HQ. Bit of a trek to view it (Wisbech), but its got a Dunnel Zetec and only £5495. http://www.tigerracing.com/zencart/inde ... ts_id=1076

Ade

[Tony C]

James,

Welcome to the forum.

Keep a look out on the classified sectiopn of Pistonheads; http://www.pistonheads.com/sales, though the site seems to be down at the moment. Also worth looking on the Tiger Forum; http://www.tigerownersclub.co.uk/forum.html, I found my current car after posting a 'wanted' ad.

I'm on my second Tiger, the first a Cat E1 had wet weather gear, but the fit wasn't good, there were loads of leaks and the visibility isn't good, added to that unless the heater is really good you'll find it mists up fairly quickly. My second Tiger, an R6 has an aero screen and full cage, no carpets and fibreglass seats so there is nothing to be runied by the rain. If you do want a screen and some weather protection you might be better off considering a Softbits for Sevens half hood; http://www.softbitsforsevens.co.uk/page47aa.html One of these would keep the worst of the weather off and because there are no sides or rear screen visibilty and misting up aren't an issue.

As suggested by Mark and Tony we have a range of cars between us and you're welcome to a passenger ride.

Cheers

Tony

[Nash]

Hello James and welcome to rhe club. Not much to add to the comments above orher than look for a well put together car that is reliable. Everything else is changable and you will change stuff regardless.

But you don't need the hassle of chasing reliabilty as your trust and confidence will go before your car is dependable.

From my viewpoint I want to be able to get into a car and know I can drive to Lands End and back without doubt. Having RAC recovery also helps. But hopefully you,know what I mean.

Once again welcome.

.......... Neil

[Nick]

Hi James, I have owned my tiger cat for 18months and never looked back.Grab a passenger ride if you can with someone in this club, so you get an idea of what they are like. I remember my first trip in my Tiger, it was so hard to drive, no power steering, rock hard brake pedal. But after getting used to it, i love the way it drives and would not change it for the world.

[zxr400]

hi james,welcome to the mad house if it is any help i live near tiger guys pauls a nice bloke as lindy my beter half has a avon,i could go over there and have a look and a chat to paul if you like,look at the spec and see if it suits,pauls cars are a good price and he is straight,i would buy a car of him