To start or not to start - that is the question!

[Tyff]

Hi all - new to this and would appreciate any help anyone can give.
Here goes.............I recently acquired an unfinished CN Sprint kit from a relation (started in 1986).
The blurb on the invoice for the kit says it came with a galv Lotus chassis. Will this have a Lotus chassis number on it and if so where would it be?
The interesting part of this is the donar car, which seems to have been an Elan +2 first registered in January 1968.
The engine from the donar is a Lotus Twin Cam fitted with Weber carbs (it still turns over). The engine number is LP**** LBA, any idea what that means?
Am I going to be throwing away money trying to get the car on the road or is it best to sell engine/gearbox/chassis to fund another project? I dont know how much a running CN Sprint goes for.
Any help would be appreciated

[john.p.clegg]

Tyff

If you're after the ?????'s your best bet is to strip it down to pieces and dump it on Fleabay,but if you want to get cold,frustrated and skin your knuckles then join this happy band and start the restoration...

John

[nebogipfel]

Hi all - new to this and would appreciate any help anyone can give.
Here goes.............I recently acquired an unfinished CN Sprint kit from a relation (started in 1986).
The blurb on the invoice for the kit says it came with a galv Lotus chassis. Will this have a Lotus chassis number on it and if so where would it be?
The interesting part of this is the donar car, which seems to have been an Elan +2 first registered in January 1968.
The engine from the donar is a Lotus Twin Cam fitted with Weber carbs (it still turns over). The engine number is LP**** LBA, any idea what that means?
Am I going to be throwing away money trying to get the car on the road or is it best to sell engine/gearbox/chassis to fund another project? I dont know how much a running CN Sprint goes for.
Any help would be appreciated

No! the chassis does not have a number. The chassis number identifies the fact that the car attached is a genuine Lotus Elan and is a major factor in the identity of the car. The CN Sprint was a kit of parts to enable the builder to build an Elan replica which is what the car would have to be registered as. If I remember correctly the kit was deficient in quite a few essential parts but you may have some of the missing stuff from the +2 donor?

My advice FWIW wiould be to find a really dire "basket case" real Lotus Elan (it wouldn't even need to have an engine) and then use the CN Sprint parts to restore it. That way you would end up with a genuine Elan which would be a proper investment and worth far more than a replica.

Or as John suggests cash it in on Ebay

[Tyff]

Thanks guys
Getting cold,frustrated and skinning my knuckles sounds more of a challenge than selling it on E-bay!

Getting the engine into shape and finding a basket case sounds like a good option, any ideas on where to start looking?

[GP Surf]

Best place to find elans to do up is E-bay or http://www.classiccarsforsale.co.uk. I've seen 3 or 4 over the last year.

[jimj]

I`ve sent you a private message.
Jim