Over-restored cars ?

[nebogipfel]

But, those 'largely original' cars are extremely rare. Most have been re-painted at some time in the past 40 odd years, along with a new hood and new carpets. Most have had a new chassis, and an engine rebuild or three. And most will have had the suspension, steering and brakes restored, and probably several times.

Ah! the voice of reason .......round of applause for this gentleman please

[terryp]

Have I missed anything

YES - Your car has to be white!

A good thread for a cold day!

[elansprint71]

................


Have I missed anything

Shapecraft.

[nebogipfel]

A good thread for a cold day!

[nebogipfel]

Shapecraft.

Don't go there Pete

Still love the avatar

Georgia Jagger has the look .... in some shots

[bast0n]

Nebog

Right, If I've got the gist of this thread..

1. It's OK to restore a car if you don't make a very good job of it.

2. There is some kind of arbitrary point in terms of percentage of the car beyond which you cannot go.

3. All beautifully restored cars should be scrapped and the owners flogged to within an inch of their lives.

4. Bugger originality, we should all have black bumpers.

Have I missed anything

1. True - doesn't matter one jot if you are happy with it.
2. No
3. Not scrapped, but yes to rest the of it.
4. Only on a white car.

Have you missed any thing? Not enough ginger ale in your brandy!!

Great thread for a cold day as someone said.................

David
Anarchy S3

[nebogipfel]

.........doesn't matter one jot if you are happy with it.


David
Anarchy S3

If you think I've got time to go around inspecting everyone's restorations .........

Says it's minus 9 outside, what would it be without this thread say I shivering pitifully?

[stugilmour]

Nebog

Right, If I've got the gist of this thread..

1. It's OK to restore a car if you don't make a very good job of it.

2. There is some kind of arbitrary point in terms of percentage of the car beyond which you cannot go.

3. All beautifully restored cars should be scrapped and the owners flogged to within an inch of their lives.

4. Bugger originality, we should all have black bumpers.

Have I missed anything

1. True - doesn't matter one jot if you are happy with it.
2. No
3. Not scrapped, but yes to rest the of it.
4. Only on a white car.

Have you missed any thing? Not enough ginger ale in your brandy!!

Great thread for a cold day as someone said.................

David
Anarchy S3

1. True - doesn't matter one jot if you are happy with it. I'm happy with my 'over restored' effort. Not sure how happy I would be if I was afraid to drive it!

3. All beautifully restored cars should be scrapped and the owners flogged to within an inch of their lives. This seems OK to me as long as they are scrapped due to actually wearing it out from use.

4. Only on a white car. Friend of mine went with black bumpers on a yellow car 'back in the day'. I didn't care for the bumble bee look, but whatever floats your boat I guess.

Great thread for a cold day as someone said................. +1

[bast0n]

Stuggers

4

. Only on a white car. Friend of mine went with black bumpers on a yellow car 'back in the day'. I didn't care for the bumble bee look, but whatever floats your boat I guess

Pay attention! No one mentioned yellow cars,(though goodness knows how anyone could live with one), Black on white is the only way to go..............

David
Anarchy Elan S3 SE DHC - someone out there wants one..................

Minus 5 here and dropping.

[billwill]

Stuggers

4

. Only on a white car. Friend of mine went with black bumpers on a yellow car 'back in the day'. I didn't care for the bumble bee look, but whatever floats your boat I guess

Pay attention! No one mentioned yellow cars,(though goodness knows how anyone could live with one), Black on white is the only way to go..............

David
Anarchy Elan S3 SE DHC - someone out there wants one..................

Minus 5 here and dropping.

Oi!

Mine is yellow over black.

[rgh0]

Personally I think there are no real "over restored" Elans, at least i have never seen one and they certainly dont exist in my garage unless you look inside the engine

Just "under used" cars i think

Over restoring seems to be a problem with some collectors cars and especially American classics where lots of chrome and polish is applied to areas never intended to look that shiny but it has not become a Lotus problem yet and never will i hope

cheers
Rohan

[Bill]

John

26/0538 is a running restored elan. Has paint chips but does win awrds at an ABFM.

it is 12 degrees here on the island - I had a good drive day.

Even tho that young lady of yours is much less than 1/2 the age of of my 1600 I won't toss her out.
Can she apply ample preassure on a torque wrench (or a grease gun)?

Keep your stick on the ice!

B

[bast0n]

Oi!

Mine is yellow over black.

OOOPS! Sorry Bill...............

and to all you other owners of yellow perils out there.

David

Anarchy Elan S3 S3 DHC to give it its full title.

[gordont]

a friend of mine once said there were 2 types of lotus owners, Polishers or Drivers.

certainly mine isn't over restored, so long as you get out and enjoy it who cares?

[trw99]

In an effort to provide a slightly more, shall we say, scientific approach to this issue of originality and restoration, I offer this for discussion. Please note lack of mention of white or yellow Elans!

An Original Elan 1: As it left the factory, no changes, probably never run, sat in a museum/garage/collection and unusable to all intents and purposes. Will be in A1 condition all round though. No known cars fit this category!

An Original Elan 2: As it left the factory, only ever serviced at correct intervals by a Lotus dealer using correct parts. Will be in superb condition; have been very well cared for, probably low mileage, may also have been kept in museum-like conditions or in a car collection

An Original Elan 3: Paint work, chassis, engine, driveline, suspension all original; probably well/regularly used with a distinguished patina of age, consumables replaced with original pattern parts, work done on the car will always have been mindful of keeping the car as original as possible

An Original Elan 4: A well/regularly used car which may have had significant parts replaced and/or restored with Lotus parts or close to original pattern parts; in original colour though probably repainted at some stage

An Elan 5: As 4 above but where parts used have been of modified variants to the original pattern eg Spyder chassis, solid drive shafts and where the repaint may not be to original colour

An Elan 6: Cars that have been modified in any way or fitted with non contemporary pattern parts

I suspect most Elans will fall into 4,5 or 6

Tim