I've just joined the club :)

[StoatWithToast]

Hello!

I've just bought a Sprint FHC and am rather excited, so thought I'd post here to say hi!

We didn't make Malvern because we're in the last stages of building a Lotus XI replica (Westfield) with a deadline of May 22nd to get it finished to get it road legal in time for Classic Le Mans - it'll be fun taking the XI and the Elan across to France on both of their first proper trips I'm sure neither will breakdown

Anyway, it's done over 100k miles, looks like it was rebuilt at least once, and has been mothballed for the past 15 years or so and recently recomissioned to sell (to us). Red over white colour scheme, signed steering wheel, etc. The electrics and lights work.

The garage has a fwe jobs to do before I get to pick it up, this will be a hard couple of weeks while I wait!

Hopefully I will only ever post good news here and never have to ask how to fix anything

Nice to meet you all,

Dave

[types26/36]

Hello! Hopefully I will only ever post good news here and never have to ask how to fix anything Dave

Well that could be a first but welcome to the forum, I'm sure you will have fun with it and post some pics in the gallery when you get it

[trw99]

Welcome Dave.

Good to hear of another Sprint resurfacing. Please get in touch with me so that I can check out the VIN details of your car and I may have some history of it. You can contact me via my web site or PM me. Thanks

Tim

[persiflage]

Welcome Dave,

Enjoy ...

[cliveyboy]

Hi Dave
Welcome from a fellow Sprint FHC owner.
Clive

[Leo Leentvaar]

welcome to the forums dave and congrat's on your recent purchase.
Hope you have lots of fun!!!

[RichardS]

I've just bought a Sprint FHC and am rather excited, so thought I'd post here to say hi!

Great choice of Elan!

Richard

[gjz30075]

And keep it a FHC please..

Greg Z

[Old English White]

And keep it a FHC please..

Greg Z

+1,
Welcome on board,
Christian.

[StoatWithToast]

Thanks all for the welcomes

It will stay an FHC while I have it! Although I have to say Spyder Fan's conversion has caught my interested I'd not be interested in doing it myself. I keep swinging between wanting open top and closed top cars; I always prefer the feeling in a closed car for spirited driving and an open car for enjoying a tour.

It is joining what is quickly becoming a Lotus heavy stable - my wife has owned an Elise SportsRacer from new (the red one)


The XI build pics are here http://www.stoatwithtoast.com/gallary/ (it only went live last night and I have to move all our blog posts to it as soon as I find where they are.)
I have just realised none for a complete car just yet but it will look a lot like this:

The XI is another reason this will stay an FHC; I want to be able to drive and stay dry every so often

And here's the Elan - until we get hold of it we only have a couple of phone camera shots and these ones from the seller:

[GrUmPyBoDgEr]

And welcome from me also.
I enjoyed looking through your Photo collection the XI looks like a nice Car to work on with lots of space around the fiddly bits; the Elan is "slightly" different in that respect.
You're a lucky guy having a Wife with the same interest, especially "Hands on", it must be great working together.

Cheers
John

[StoatWithToast]

And welcome from me also.
I enjoyed looking through your Photo collection the XI looks like a nice Car to work on with lots of space around the fiddly bits; the Elan is "slightly" different in that respect.
You're a lucky guy having a Wife with the same interest, especially "Hands on", it must be great working together.

Cheers
John

It is (so far) nice and roomy - my first car was a real mini which was a lot tighter.

The Elan actually didn't seem to bad to get to various parts, but I will have to wait and see once the real jobs begin

We actually got the XI as a precusor to racing; Mel wanted to learn more about how to put a car together so we could do more of the spanner work ourselves. We decided to get a kit car, we both love Lotus and classic cars so the only real choice was the XI (although I may have to get a Jag XKSS/D-Type replica kit at some point). It is really good working together and having my father really interested and very able helps. It also means I'm not out in the garage and Mel's off somewhere else - we both bloody our knuckles together

She is rather into her cars too - we set the wedding date so we could kick off our honeymoon driving tour at Classic Le Mans Loved the through the black forest. We managed it in the Elise (2.5 weeks with all our luggage in the boot - we did ok!)

[Galwaylotus]

And keep it a FHC please..

Greg Z

Please do. If you ever decide you want a DHC Elan, sell the FHC to someone who wants one and buy a DHC. There aren't enough FHCs around to go chopping them up!!

[StoatWithToast]

Well, we've had it since the weekend and done a fair few miles in it now, finding it really enjoyable! Also rather more nippy than I expected (both cruising on the motorways and on the twisty stuff), although we both need to learn to master the clutch

We get a lot of looks in it and people say hello more than with any other car I've ben out and about with

I've got my hands on an owners manual and with the XI nearly finished (will be off to become road legal in 2 weeks!) I'm chomping at the bit to start on a few jobs; the nearside dipped beam went pop about 15 minutes into full ownership and the nearside rear wheel doesn't look like it is on quite straight to start, but the list is growing every day.
I'm a bit cautious too as I know that some things are working but delicate and as soon as we disturb something near or linked to them they will break. My biggest fear is the vacuum system for the headlights, but hopefully it is not as fragile as I expect.

I am somewhat torn over getting new things too. I have seen people with nice cars that have a patina and wondered why they did clean it up and make it look like new again, but now I have one I'm keen to keep it that patina too.
I feel that the wear on the top of the gear knob, switches, etc all give the car more character, but at the same time I want a car that's a bit more mint than it is now - all the running gear, gators, etc will be made as good as we can, but the bits that get seen I'm not so sure about.

One thing we have found is that the speedo has been a recurring problem. It is working ok now, although hopelessly out of calibration: when it reads 70 it is actually doing about 85, which makes speed traps an interesting experience!
The unit has been rebuilt several times, about once every year in fact! Is this normal?

Cheers,

Dave

[GrUmPyBoDgEr]

Well, we've had it since the weekend and done a fair few miles in it now, finding it really enjoyable! Also rather more nippy than I expected (both cruising on the motorways and on the twisty stuff), although we both need to learn to master the clutch

We get a lot of looks in it and people say hello more than with any other car I've ben out and about with

I've got my hands on an owners manual and with the XI nearly finished (will be off to become road legal in 2 weeks!) I'm chomping at the bit to start on a few jobs; the nearside dipped beam went pop about 15 minutes into full ownership and the nearside rear wheel doesn't look like it is on quite straight to start, but the list is growing every day.
I'm a bit cautious too as I know that some things are working but delicate and as soon as we disturb something near or linked to them they will break. My biggest fear is the vacuum system for the headlights, but hopefully it is not as fragile as I expect.

I am somewhat torn over getting new things too. I have seen people with nice cars that have a patina and wondered why they did clean it up and make it look like new again, but now I have one I'm keen to keep it that patina too.
I feel that the wear on the top of the gear knob, switches, etc all give the car more character, but at the same time I want a car that's a bit more mint than it is now - all the running gear, gators, etc will be made as good as we can, but the bits that get seen I'm not so sure about.

One thing we have found is that the speedo has been a recurring problem. It is working ok now, although hopelessly out of calibration: when it reads 70 it is actually doing about 85, which makes speed traps an interesting experience!
The unit has been rebuilt several times, about once every year in fact! Is this normal?

Cheers,

Dave

Out of Calibration could be due to someone fitting a higher Diff' ratio without changing the Speedo Drive ratio which is on the side of the G/Box.
Rebuilding the Speedo every year is unbelievable, maybe they were attempts at Calibration?

John