Very few Elans for sale?

[jimbo]

The supply of Elans for sale on Pistonheads seems to have well and truly dried up. The only ones for sale are from the usual trade suspects. Anyone got any theories as a year ago there was a steady dribble of private cars for sale...

See: Pistonheads

[richardcox_lotus]

Summer's not quite here yet. All the cars are still tucked up in their garrages, having a snooze.

Give it 6 weeks.

Although also I don't believe Pistonheads as a site is now as popular as it used to be. (Anecdotal evidence, no stats)

[twincamman]

maybe all the parts fell off at once -and they reverted back to kit form??? ===ed

[gino1]

I'm rather pleased that there are few elans for sale. This could mean an increase in value, although Richard may be right that we need to give it a few more weeks. Cold and wet is certainly not the best period to sell a classic sportscar and especially a DHC !
Gino
Milano
Italy

[johnsimister]

One of a few recently for sale was a red S4 dhc on eBay. A friend of mine bought it a couple of weeks ago, and it's a beauty with truly excellent bodywork. He's very pleased. It was a bit of a steal, given how genuinely good it seems to be. He drove it to the Goodwood Festival of Speed press day yesterday.

And there's always the ex-John Miles 26R that Kelvedon Motors had for sale at Race Retro. Was it ?175,000 or am I imagining it?

John

[gino1]

No..it's true, the price is ?175000 and also the "snorkel" Europa is priced the same.
Gino
Milano Italy

[Elanintheforest]

The red S4 dhc that sold on eBay for ?12k explains why there are so few Elans for sale, or at least, restored ones. This car had one owner for 30 years car, and had ?20k spent on it, and it looks to have been restored to a high standard. If I had a similar car I'd be hanging on to it as well! Here it is if you didn't se it first time around:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Lotus-Elan-S4-DHC ... 240%3A1318

Mark

[CBUEB1771]

Anyone got any theories as a year ago there was a steady dribble of private cars for sale...

Hmmm, any chance that the state of the global economy might have people with nice assets not wanting to sell at a discount if they don't have to?

[tdafforn]

my feeling is that prices have risen a fair bit recently.
Talking to a friend who has owned old cars through a fair few recessions he thinks that older classic car prices tend to go up at the begining of the recession as they are good investments, while newer classics (e.g. BMW Z3, Mini CooperS, MX5, RX8) tend to plummet as young excecutives loose their jobs.
Will be interesting to see..
BTW looked at the ?175K elan at race retro (got some pictures somewhere).. I'd class it as "average".. I'll get my coat!
Tim

[jimbo]

Could well be the economy. My Elan is holding up better than my ISA's!!!

[elansprint71]

There were not one but TWO Elans for sale at the show, BOTH were 175k GBP!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have posted photos of both in this thread:

elan-racing-f12/26r-identities-and-other-info-t17764-75.html

Also the Red car which won the Tour Auto last(?) year is on offer at 75k and...... Taylor and Crawley have the Jackie Oliver car for sale, price on application.

Form an orderly line, gentlemen.

[1964 S1]

Greetings, jimbo wrote, "Anyone got any theories as a year ago there was a steady dribble of private cars for sale..."
My two cent's worth;
Compared to most cars, very few Elans were built. I think we as owners have found out what fantastic cars they actually are and are reluctant to sell knowing an "equal" replacement vehicle may be a six figure automobile. Therefore, fewer are on the market because we're too smart to put ours up for sale considering what the market price of an old Elan is.
Last September I remember thinking, wow, I could probably get $30,000 for my stock S1 with the factory removeable hardtop. Today, I wonder if it'd bring $20,000.
I think this is true of the +2 market values too. They peaked in price last fall and have kind of disappeared from the market since.
I have no interest in selling but, I am in the car biz and, have noticed a DROP in collector car prices. I believe people are hanging onto their money and collector cars instead of purchasing more boy toys as investments. (Except maybe in the stupid money seven figured collector cars.)
Long story short, my theory is; There were few Elans built, the supply is limited, current owners know what they've got and are reluctant to sell. That leaves some car dealers pitching a few trying to make a buck on the current market.
A few Elans will always surface on the market each year, but I believe as the years tick by, this number will continue to drop. Total Elan and Elan +2 production is under 26,000 units if I have my numbers right.
And how many have been parted out, crashed, or caught fire in the last forty five years? There just aren't that many of our cars left on earth.

One thing I never forget, more than a million Miatas have been built.

[cabc26b]

I don't keep and eye out for the later elans, but at present there are qty 4 series 1 elans for sale in North America - I have never seen this many for sale at any one time

[elanakscl]

I don't keep and eye out for the later elans, but at present there are qty 4 series 1 elans for sale in North America - I have never seen this many for sale at any one time

Where/how did you find them?

[1964 S1]

There are three or four on Hemmings.com.