Restore or Sell?

[Roger1944]

Quite right Nick.

I am sorry to sell but it is no use continuing to delude myself that I would ever restore the cars myself. I bought the Sprint in 1974 and ran it for 3 years before taking it off the road for a chassis change. I bought the +2 as a stop gap in 1979 but crashed that after less than a year when the brakes failed. No significant work has been done on either car since about 1980. Even for an OAP like me from 1977 to the present is half a lifetime so it is more than time to let go.

My sorry story is that when I moved to Yorkshire in 1978 I looked for a house with workspace for the car and ended up with a hovel of a cottage with an attached delapidated barn. The barn roof (20 tons of Yorkshire stone slates) was relaid at great expense with the help of a further loan by a professional roofer and since then when time and money allowed I have been improving the barn and rebuilding the bits of the house that were seriously at risk of falling down. I still have much to do with both house and barn and not so many years left for me to do it in so the cars just have to go as I do have second thoughts from time to time about wasting the rest of my life as a d-i-y builder.

[Lotus14S2]

From what people have said, and where you are, I would suggest selling it.
It looks to me that the cost of an Elan or the cost of restoration in the UK is between 1.5 and 2 times what it costs here in the U.S.
If you want to drive an Elan, I would think of checking all the parts of your dismantled car, and making sure it?s clean and in one place, and then selling it in the UK, and look for a ?driver? here in the U.S. and shipping it home.
If you haven?t stripped the body, you might consider a straight reassembly, with an engine check to make sure it isn?t frozen, and do a valve and ring job to the top end. Assembled and running is going to be worth more than dismantled. At worst, you might need to rebuild hydraulics and rubber, but don?t go nuts, just turn it into a usable road car. You might, though a helpful owner, or a club find rebuilt, clean used, or spare NOS parts that you can use to get it assembled. Look for parts for sale in this and other Lotus groups. If nothing else, if the car is altogether you should get a much better price for it, even if some of the systems need restoration.
The Elan is popular here, but nowhere as popular as it is in the UK, so the prices vary quite a bit. A very nice car can be had here for $20K and up, but many clean road cars can be had for well under that price.
I am in a similar situation, as I have a dismantled S1. The difference is, I had the body soda blasted, and it will require full body detailing and paint job, which could run about $15,000 from a specialist. That?s for a plain white car (the soda guy masked off the cockpit, engine compartment and boot, so it will retain the original gray gel-coat finish.). I doubt I could get $5000 for the car, in dismantled condition, and the cost of assembly to running will cost more than I can get selling it. I?ll keep it, hoping the price will go up enough to justify the cost of the rebuild.
Good luck whatever your choice.

[Roger1944]

This is just to let everyone know that as I now have a substantial deposit in my bank account I consider the cars sold and do not want any more enquiries. As it is I have been almost overwhelmed by the volume of PMs and I apologise now to anyone I may have missed informing directly.

Many thanks to all those who have shown an interest and particularly to those who have proffered advice even where I haven't taken it.

I had no great hopes when I started this thread as earlier in the year my e-mail seeking advice from the Lotus Drivers Club went unanswered. (That's one subscription less to renew this year). If club members show no interest who else would bother? What a contrast LotusElan.net is!

[ardee_selby]

This is just to let everyone know that as I now have a substantial deposit in my bank account I consider the cars sold and do not want any more enquiries. As it is I have been almost overwhelmed by the volume of PMs and I apologise now to anyone I may have missed informing directly.

Many thanks to all those who have shown an interest and particularly to those who have proffered advice even where I haven't taken it.

I had no great hopes when I started this thread as earlier in the year my e-mail seeking advice from the Lotus Drivers Club went unanswered. (That's one subscription less to renew this year). If club members show no interest who else would bother? What a contrast LotusElan.net is!

Roger,

I think a lot of folks would have empathised with the "head-v-heart" decision you had to make. You may have sold the cars but hope you don't feel you have to go away. It still says on here: "Whether you are an owner, owner to-be, or just an interested party, this list is devoted to sharing information, fixes, impressions, or just plain friendship over the Lotus Elan"

Cheers - Richard

[Roger1944]

The cars have gone. There is now only an empty space in my barn where the cars have stood for many a long year and my feelings are similarly desolate. The cars now stand a very good chance of being put back on the road with would never have been the case had I hung onto the cars. I may continue looking in from time to time but don't expect much of me. Any advice I could give would be 30 years out of date even if I could remember enough information.

Goodbye for now.

[billwill]

Is the new owner here & prepared to own up?