Elan Values

[440HUU]

Hello everyone

New here - just wondered what people thought of current Elan values - seems to me they are way undervalued - what does everyone else think?

[types26/36]

seems to me they are way undervalued - what does everyone else think?

Welcome 440, they are overvalued if you are buying and undervalued if you are selling

[TRACKMEISTER]

They have gone up considerably in the last 5 years...........a nice Sprint coupe was only ?7Kish 5 years ago, same car getting on for 15 now

[1964 S1]

Undervalued, but, like everything else on planet earth, worth what someone's willing to pay. Build numbers alone should make Elans and +2's worth much more than what they bring, but don't tell anyone. We're all still having great innocent fun here.

[Elanintheforest]

I like the last comment, Eric, and agree with the sentiment.

I think that the wide range of prices, reflecting the wide range of conditions, that Elans are available for must confuse the 'investor' types and attract the enthusiast. Can't think of a better situation.

Last year I paid ?1500 for a basket case, and ?6500 for a nice original roadworthy car, albeit tatty arouind the edges. Minters can top ?20,000, which justifies any investment an enthusiast may make.

I think that prices at the top end have grown and strengthened, reflecting the rise in labour cost, especially for bodywork. The prices for projects seems to have fallen, probably driven by the same thing.

I wouldn't like to go back to the late 1980s, when my S3 coupe was 'valued' at ?20k (currently about ?9k), and a mint Sprint was approaching ?40k. Projects were unavailable, as the trade were snapping them up for a quick makeover and quicker profit.

Mark

[cabc26b]

Value with the currency situation is problematic here in NA. However?.

It would be nice to see the market for these cars reach a balance of value that would allow for one being able to stay net neutral relative to investing in the maintenance and restoration.

George

[Chrisrich]

My vote is undervalued if:
decent early 70's 911Ts bring $25k
decent late '60's e-types bring $60k
decent late '60's duettos and TR4s bring $18k
decent healey 100-4s bring $30k
decent Sprites bring $15k.

Elans offer a driving experience unique to all those cars at what seems like a 'discounted' price.

Chris

[lotusbc]

My vote is undervalued if:
decent early 70's 911Ts bring $25k
decent late '60's e-types bring $60k
decent late '60's duettos and TR4s bring $18k
decent healey 100-4s bring $30k
decent Sprites bring $15k.

Have you noticed what 'good' MGB's and Minis are selling for? The selling prices for a good Lotus cars, in general, baffles me.

[leedsj]

is it not something to do with the scary reputation for quality?

MG's are such an obvious and completely gutless choice for someone wanting a classic - the Golf of classic cars. Do you not think there seems to be this perception that MGs / Mini's have parts available, and everyone seems to know someone who might be able to fix one. With a lotus there's this unknown-ness, scared-ness that you won't be able to get parts and people won't understand them. Too exotic?

[Elanintheforest]

I don?t think that the MGB or Sprite can be compared as they were, and still are, in a different category and very different price. Remember that the Elan was pretty much the same price as an E Type when new (with all the taxes). They both represented the top end of the sports car class of the day, excluding the exotic / hand made stuff from Aston, Ferrari and the like.

Remember also that the E Type was relatively mass produced, with some 70,000 being made. So, same price, far more of them, shared mechanical components with hundreds of thousands of other cars, so the E Type should really be a little behind the Elan in price by now.

Have a look at this and smile:

http://www.eaglegb.com/showroom/

Mark

[leedsj]

crikey! hopefully a well looked after Elan will be an investment then...? Eventually?

[zeteclotus]

The trouble with the elan is its a funny looking plastic car......


Don't get me wrong I like them but .....

E types are rust buckets so although 70k may have been made not that many are still around.

I still think elans especially +2s are now undervalued but wait a few years and who knows

i just wonder if XJS's will go the same way as Etypes

[leedsj]

Definitely not - an E-type maybe a rust bucket, but it is an iconic rust bucket. The XJS is just a rust bucket.

Yep, I think there's something in the Elan not being metal, and only having a 4 pot.

[leedsj]

Thinking more of future values, in these more eco-aware times the Elan is the performance classic eco choice, no? My +2 returns a better mileage (if I don't rag it) than my diesel Audi Allroad - that's hardly going to be the case for a V12 Jag...

[Elanintheforest]

You may be surprised. My 6 litre XJR-s does 26 mpg on a run, and averages 22mpg. And it's rust free!

There is quite a following for the XJS, but like any other car, the value is directly related to the condition. Most are rusty, but a few have escaped. They are fabulous cars to drive, certainly not sports cars, but as a 1000 miles a day tourer it's still hard to beat.

I doubt very much that they will ever get anywhere near the price of an E Type, but when you lift the bonnet all that Jaguar elegant simplicity is revealed. Only took me 7 hours to change the spark plugs last week ....

Mark