low mileage cars still out there

[Briggs1]

I picked up a 72 S4 with 5599 original miles.

Anyone know of others still around with this kind of mileage?

The car was sold in 72 and has a PA inspection sticker on the windshield that expired 1/31/73

thanks,
Briggs

[SENC]

Nice find.

[Certified Lotus]

My 69 S4 has 8212 miles. It was being "restored" for 32 years.

[DrinkMan]

I was going to claim low mileage on our 66 with 23.5k but it is not competitive with those two. (I do have a '73 Triumph TR6 with less than 10k)

Those are amazing finds but I find it sad they were not enjoyed enough. Time to get them on the road and pile up those miles (we have put 2.5k on that TR6 in the last 1.5 years). I sold our 1928 Ford Model A (75k miles) because in two years, we only put 250 miles on it and I felt is needed to go to someone who would drive it more. I was happy to find a man in Illinois who will use it every weekend with his grandchildren and he told me it will get a few thousand miles a year on it.

Maybe someone should start a thread celebrating high mileage, enjoyed cars!

[LI-599]

I am also the lucky owner of an S4 DHC which was undergoing a 26 year restoration, and odometer had just 39,271miles on it. I have added another 5,000miles since getting it back on the road in 2012 and enjoyed all of them.
Cheers, Ian M

[Grizzly]

The thing with low mileage cars is the Paperwork backing it up is worth more than the number on the Odometer, many restorers reset the mileage when the car is reconditioned and there are lots of cars showing under 10,000 miles for that reason.

Just have to be very careful.

I don't think cars with under 40,000 on them is uncommon, i have a Sprint with 38k and a +2 with 41k with old MOT's, guess allot of Elan came off the road in the early 80's.

[billwill]

That's where earlier MOT certificates help because they show the odometer setting on the day of the test.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hearing of low mileage Elans makes me feel sad; kind of like hearing of a child who has been locked away in a cellar for 20 years.

[Briggs1]

Sad indeed but it will be brought back to its former glory!

It was literally locked away in a cellar for the last 30 - 40 years

The good part though is that the bolts and screws tend to come apart without the need for colorful language

[Grizzly]

Hearing of low mileage Elans makes me feel sad; kind of like hearing of a child who has been locked away in a cellar for 20 years.

Elans aren't the most robustly built cars and 10 years seems to be about the span before they start needing work, so many got laid up.

Just look at how many have had Chassis changed, i guess it's better they were laid up than Scrapped.

[gus]

I think at 20-25 years it starts mattering more what has been done rather than how many miles

All the rubber starts perishing so even a zero mile car needs a major overhaul to actually be driven