Trying to Trace History of my +2 Help Needed

[pmallinson]

Hi

Here I am again asking for your help !!

I have contacted Lotus Technical Services to try to trace the history of my car and they were very good with Chris Brown getting information back to me.

However It had some news that surprised me ! The car was originally Lagoon Blue, I knew from previous owner it had been white and that when he had sold it on back in the 80's a garage in Manchester re-sprayed it Red and fitted a black vinyl roof (as it is today)

Chris's text below say the car was supplied as a demonstrator to Harpers as you will see.

"Your Elan with chassis number 7310/1686L was supplied to a company called
Harpers with an engine number of P31055. The rough build date we have for
your car is 11.10.73 and was sold under invoice number 08751, the body
colour is listed as being all Lagoon and was used as Harpers demonstrator."

SO NOW THE BURNING QUESTION IS WHO ARE HARPERS ??????

I would dearly love one of you out there to be able to help me on this as I cannot really find anything which looks like a positive lead on the web ?

Thanks in anticipation

Peter M

[M100]

Unless you can find someone with local knowledge going back that far its going to be difficult.

If you have the original UK registration number then the dvla [http://dvla.gov.uk]will provide you with all the previous owner details. I think they only reliably go back to computerisation (in 1977?) and the (microfilmed?) details are sometimes very fuzzy.

Buy a few period motoring magazines like Motor or Autocar from Ebay. If the dealer was of any size there will usually be some line ads in the back or If Lotus had a full page advert running the dealer details were usually listed at the bottom.

[tdafforn]

Hi Guys,
I got some data on the histroy of my +2 from Mike Pomfret at lotus..
Aparently it was sold through Mike Spence Ltd..
Anyone else have a +2 sold through the same dealer?
Cheers
Tim

[john-c-elan+2]

Peter, The only dealer called Harpers I can find is as follows; R Harper Ltd, 80 Mutley Plain, Plymouth PL4 6LF. Wacky races and all that eh ? No idea if they were ever a Lotus Dealer ? Will check at Donington this Saturday with the oracle. Bad news is if you check the address now it's a Spar Supermarket ! So presume long gone. Check out on google and you'll see what I mean......... There is a R Harper Ltd listed in Plymouth but are Estate Agents - aaaarrrggghhhh. rgds john

[pmallinson]

Peter, The only dealer called Harpers I can find is as follows; R Harper Ltd, 80 Mutley Plain, Plymouth PL4 6LF. Wacky races and all that eh ? No idea if they were ever a Lotus Dealer ? Will check at Donington this Saturday with the oracle. Bad news is if you check the address now it's a Spar Supermarket ! So presume long gone. Check out on google and you'll see what I mean......... There is a R Harper Ltd listed in Plymouth but are Estate Agents - aaaarrrggghhhh. rgds john

John

Thanks a lot for your time and trouble, I now think that the Harpers were of St Albans who are now Toyota dealers, but do advertise that they were morgan fanchise for many years !! I tracked this due the car being registerd TNK which NK is an old Hertfordshire nuber and from there on to garages with Harper etc etc !!

BUT I rang then and the girl who answered was either Blonde or just unwilling to help !! So I have written them a letter and hopefully we shall be in luck

I'll post a reply if I am right

Peter M

[thor]

Good luck Peter.
My car's recently discovered brilliant history is that the PO who had it for 26 years bought it in 1979 from Peter Smith Sportscars, which is actually still a Lotus dealer today., amazing.. Still have the faded plastic key fob.

[M100]

Many would say it's completely amazing that Peter Smith Sportscars are still a Lotus dealer today.

http://southrun.co.uk/dealerreviews.php?dealer=Peter%20Smith%20Sports%20Cars

While not detailed on the southrun dealer site I'll add my own comments here.

Following a shambolic repair to one of my cars and the disappearance of thousands of pounds worth of parts belonging to me whilst on their premises, together with an attempt at a cover up by faking a burglary that they were neither insured for, nor the local police know nothing about, my advice is to never ever consider giving them any of your business. The service manager has been proven to be a blatant liar and the owner makes promises he doesn't keep.

[thor]

ooooOK, I'm going to ignore this and keep my charming observation intact.
I'll simply make the assumption that dealing in dodgy TVRs for 20odd years is enough to make any car dealer jaded and disillusioned..., and this has for some reason passed on to their Lotus-servicemindedness.