How to work out value of 1972 Elan Sprint

[katerinaemalina]

Hi
I've inherited my late father's Lotus Elan Sprint. It hasn't been driven for 30 years. Been sitting in the garage as a project but alas he never finished restoring it. He was its second owner. We have the full service history of it. Engine turns over but not been run out. Bodywork good but internally all electrics, seating etc needs a lot of work. How to work out how much it would be worth to sell to another Lotus lover who wants to give some tlc to it? Or alternatively, get it restored myself?

[661]

Sorry for your loss.

This is just my personal thought.
A restored Sprint might be worth £42-50k ( yes, there are more expensive ones on the market).
It may well cost £25-45k to restore a 'complete' car depending on where you are starting from and where you are going to. Of course, you could recommission a pretty fair car for much less.

A complete Sprint in boxes, with documents, would probably be £10-15k, any sort of MOT'd runner in need of a lot of love, £18-22k, say.
I assume this car means a lot to you, and they are great cars to own and drive. I guess you can start to do the maths.
As said, just my tuppence. There are others who will also have tuppence to say.
This is a friendly community and I'm sure you will find someone on here who would be happy to have a look and advise. Whereabouts are you?

[Andy8421]

You haven't mentioned what you ultimately want to end up with.

If you want to monetise the vehicle, then as 661 mentions, fully restoring the car is unlikely to make financial sense. Those on here who restore cars do it as a hobby at which point the 100s of hours spent are costed at zero.

Selling the vehicle 'as is' with its provenance would be the most likely way to make the most money, but there is a halfway house that involves a lightweight recommission, prettying it up and getting it driving and then selling it as a going concern rather than as a project. This is the route most dealers would take, just enough work to make it a pretty runner and a driver. This is risky as you don't know what you will find, and if you get someone else to do the work controlling costs will be a challenge. Dealers generally only do a full restoration when someone else is paying.

If you want to keep the car, then depending on the quality of the job, you can easily spend more than the car is ultimately worth.

Apart from the rare race bred 26R, the Sprint is the most desirable financially, and as such a number of otherwise ordinary S4 Elans have been dressed up to look like Sprints. If you can indicate the general area you live in, it may be that one of the contributors on here could pop over and have a look at it for you.

Edit: While it is not definitive, there is an aluminium plate in the engine bay above the passenger footwell. If the unit number starts with 71.01xxxx or later and the car was first registered after Feb 1971, there is a good chance it is a Sprint.

[Fred Talmadge]

When I sold an Elva Courier, I didn't really want to sell it. So I put a high price on it, put it on Craigslist and a dozen or so called about it. Lucky for me, it also got on Bring a Trailer and I got almost all my asking price. If it hadn't of worked out I would of lowered the price and gotten more serious about selling. Even thought that maybe Lotus would be easier to sell. Not the most scientific way, but it worked for me.

[baileyman]

People do the math on these and generally it doesn't work. But to get the Elan driving experience, and to enjoy it, the rebuild cost is the ticket. John

[IainP]

Hi
I've inherited my late father's Lotus Elan Sprint. It hasn't been driven for 30 years. Been sitting in the garage as a project but alas he never finished restoring it. He was its second owner. We have the full service history of it. Engine turns over but not been run out. Bodywork good but internally all electrics, seating etc needs a lot of work. How to work out how much it would be worth to sell to another Lotus lover who wants to give some tlc to it? Or alternatively, get it restored myself?

Perhaps you could post some photos of the car in its current condition?. That would help in answering your question.
Iain

[tvacc]

A lot depends on where you are. A few years ago I sold an Elan Sprint Coupe, late production, that needed total restoration for the mid 20's US$. I would say anything in the range if 25-30k is what you can expect. A lot also depends on the shape of the body and chassis. Those are the two parts that cost the most in"unexpected" repairs. In almost all repair scenarios the motor needs to be rebuilt and that is an "expected" repair

[l10tus]

Look at last year's prices and take off £15k.