Pricing of Elans???

[terryp]

Being a +2 man I am very confused about the prices currently around for Elans. We have just had our Weekend here and my wife suddenly said ....I quite like those little Elans , can we get one of those? Well we haven't got very much of a budget and our idea was to buy a car that was a basket case and convert it to LHD, The problem is there doesn't seem to be any difference between the price of a basket case and a usable car. I thought a car needing a chassis, engine rebuild and paintwork would be upwards of ?5K but we have seen cars for upwards of 10K and then usable cars with galvanised chassis replacements for 13K
I am very confused
Anybody shed some light?

Terry

[Elanintheforest]

I was chatting to Paul Matty a couple off weeks ago about the same thing, as a chum wanted a project car.

He said that he hadn't seen a complete non-runner project car for less than ?10k in the last year or so, although obviously boxes of bits with a body shell (and probably a fair bit missing) can go for a bit less. The ?5k Elan has long gone, I'm afraid.

Rolling restorations seem to be anything from ?10k to ?15k, but you'll be lucky to find one of those that has most of its original bits and pieces still in place, or a previously un-restored car. The top end of that will probably have a good or new chassis, but will still need paint and cosmetics...the expensive bit. Most cars in that price band will need quite a bit spending on them if you're after perfection and / or can't do the work yourself.

Project Elans are in demand as a lot of the work can be done at home with time and enthusiasm, rather than just cash. Hence the fairly high price for a project car. A good restoration can be completed for ?20k, a lot less if the owner has a go at painting as well. They are in demand, relatively easy and cheap to restore, so the price for a tatty car is pretty high.

But they are still very good value compared with a Healey 3000, E Type etc. Get one now before everybody else realises what they are missing!

Mark

[gino1]

I agree with Mark basically on all said and hope prices soar in the next few years as other similar makes have, and I refer to the Renault Alpine A110; these are being sold for 60 thousand euro upwards and I really don't see why the Elan cannot reach these price levels as the cars are more or less in the same category if not better.
Lets face it the elans have really distinguished themsleves in motorsport winning track and hillclimbs and other events beating larger and more powerful cars and as a typical roadcar it receives so many excellent press appraisals.
Don't know if anyone else agrees with me?

Gino
Milano
Italy

[Tonyw]

Terry,

I bought boxed basket case S3 DHC with a Lenham hard top six years ago and am getting close to being able to drive it, I paid 8k Australian for mine and to be honest in hindsight I should have held out for a running car, I have pretty much had to do everything to it including body, painting full rolling chassis engine etc and while i enjoy the work the dollars quickly add up. I will end up with a nice DHC which will owe me in cash outlaid at about $26,000 au but a six year journey my advice is get a running car so you can at least see what you are actually getting and perhaps go the running restoration route, that way you can use it and work on it.

There was Plus2 for sale in Australia recently starting bid of $25,000 (ebay) 250824911270 very little interest no bids even I think even though the car looked to be very nice go figure???

I suppose they will not get any cheaper and since I have been mesing about with mine they have increased in value somewhat.

Tonyw

[terryp]

Thanks everyone , this information isn't going to please SWMBO , perhaps when the children are too big to fit in the +2 we can sell the car to finance an Elan!

Cheers
Terry

[Mazzini]

Mark what are you saying?

[Elanintheforest]

They're still cheap and will only rise in value!

Well, there may be an adjustment period when the recession proper bites and the Euro collapses into its northern and southern components, but compared with its peers, the Elan is still very cheap.

Mark

[terryp]

Euro collapses
Mark

Terry

[collins_dan]

Terry, You might keep an eye on ebay.com here in the US, as some decent runners have come up lately and not sold. Not sure what shipping would be, but you wouldn't need to convert to LHD. Dan

PS. Here's one that has been on the market for awhile. http://www.hemmings.com/classifieds/car ... 35199.html The paint job is a bit much, but looks to be very well maintained.

[terryp]

Thanks Dan, I have set up an eBay.com search. The problem being in the EU is not the shipping circa 1000$ its the TVA/VAT and import tax that can add many 1000's I recently looked at for a Friend who was buying a car for $15000 the TVA/Import tax was in excess of 4000? so it does have to be the right price.
That Hemming's car seems to have lost its way a bit with that paint job and carpets etc
Its a shame , if it were $18500 delivered here it would be a hell of a bargain!

Thanks again
Terry

[ftsoft]

I've always lusted after a super seven, so maybe the grass IS always greener. One of the reasons that I let my Elan sit for so long, was that it didn't seem to make economic sense to spend a lot on it. I talked to some elan owners who sold running cars for around $5000 US. It seems to be a different story now, but the European cars do seem to be fetching quite a lot more. My Elan is in fairly good shape with a recent engine rebuild a new brakes, clutch and other bits but I can't imagine getting $20000 US for it.

Frank

[ceejay]

Hi Guys

In 1981, I bought a basket case S2 DHC - @ $3000.00AU, minus the engine,
two months later I stumbled across a complete twink for $250.00AU,
it require a new water pump and a complete rebore etc, but several years
later plus several thousand $ I had driveable but not perfect elan, but
improvement work continued over time. But 30 years later, the elan
is once again off the road and undergoing a major rebuild, as yet nothing
has been farmed out, the resto cost so far has not been outrageous.

The key to keeping elan rebuild costs way down is having the
skills and knowledge to do all of your own welding & fabricating work,
body work, fibreglassing, stripping & re painting etc, as well as all
mechanical rebuilding of engine, gearbox and diff.

The only thing I will be farming out is the upholstery & trimming,
and having saved a huge amount of cost in other areas I wont
mind spending the cash on that.

Elans are certainly on the upwards trend in value, in some ways
we can probably thank Jay Leno for that... no doubt others
have taken in what he has said about the elan.

I know of two elans that have changed hands here in OZ,
one was 98% complete and was at the fully assembled rolling
chassis stage, paint was stripped ready for respray, it
was an excellent project car and it went for about $10,500.00AU.
Another sprint (Softop) I know of is being offered somewhere
around $20 to $24G AU, this is also a project rebuild car.
Col




If I had the choice between a big healey, E type and the elan
the elan would win out every time for an absolute drivers
car.
The elan can be a frustrating car to own at times, but few other
cars come close for the amount of fun factor they deliver
for every minute that you are behind the wheel.
Col.

[RedS4]

That Hemming's car seems to have lost its way a bit with that paint job and carpets etc

The stripe's not TOO bad - I would repaint the rear panel to match the car's red - maybe one could dye the carpet if it offended one that much - otherwise it looks like a nice car for the money...

[elansprint71]

Spend another ?20k on this one to get it back to correct spec- bargain, and it's LHD and, being over the channel it must be quite near to you in johnny-foreignerland.

http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C189938

[ardee_selby]

Euro collapses
Mark

Terry

At least the building hasn't collapsed !

http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/irishm ... 14871.html

No mention of a garage!

Richard