C N Sprint

[Brian Walton]

Way back in 87 Sprint prices were heading over 10K. So Christopher Neil brought out their C N Sprint. How many were built. How many "suddenly" became Lotus Elan Sprints.

with interest.

Brian

[nebogipfel]

Brian,

I remember them at the time and have seen a couple over the years ...... the ones I saw were pretty horrible

I think you'd have to spend a lot of money to turn a CN Sprint into anything resembling a real Elan.

Not really suitable material for LotusElan.net

[mcclelland]

Hi Brian,

I also remember them as I lived close to Chris Neils, they also had one on show in kit form and had another one built up with a Ford XR3 engine in it.
In the midle of this year I was looking for a S4 and went to see a car in Lincs, it was white with gold bumbers and wheels. It took only a few minutes to realise it was a Chris Neil kit and I walked away, but it later appeared on Ebay and I think was sold on the second attempt.
George...

[mrob]

I also remember them as I lived close to Chris Neils, they also had one on show in kit form and had another one built up with a Ford XR3 engine in it.
In the midle of this year I was looking for a S4 and went to see a car in Lincs, it was white with gold bumbers and wheels. It took only a few minutes to realise it was a Chris Neil kit and I walked away, but it later appeared on Ebay and I think was sold on the second attempt.
George...

How are they distinguished from the real thing?

[Elanintheforest]

It depends on how much you spent....you could make exact replicas if you had the right bits! This sales sheet gives you the spec...

I wonder how the Spyder Plus 2 will be viewed in 10 years time...not the real deal?
Mark

[nebogipfel]

I like all the images of real Elans on the ad' first page

I suppose to be fair, if you spent enough money you could have built an Elan replica (then or now, of course).

The ones I saw were very much budget builds and apart from the shell and chassis bore very little resemblance to a real Elan.

You could argue that if a true replica is built then it should have value but something that isn't an Lotus Elan never will be.

The Spyder +2 is a different animal, it is not pretending to be a +2 but is an modernisation of the design.

What I do think is likely FWIW, as a result of Spyders efforts and the number of +2's which seem to be being broken for spares real +2's are likely to start realising their true value