Cynical Question

PostPost by: mmatthej1 » Thu Aug 25, 2016 10:25 pm

I wonder if there is more money to be made in breaking an Elan, than selling it whole?

Not going to happen but think of money to be made from all those components! A big valve engine?? Body with V5? Chassis? Lights? Hard-to-find bitz?

Shocking thought!
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PostPost by: 661 » Fri Aug 26, 2016 7:20 am

Being somebody who is purchasing missing parts, I have no doubt the breakage value is higher.
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PostPost by: ecamiel » Fri Aug 26, 2016 12:38 pm

I have many, many original spares.
Contact me off line with a list of what you need.

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PostPost by: AHM » Fri Aug 26, 2016 1:14 pm

No. And there hasn't been for a while.

A few years ago people were selling the engine out of plus 2s - nowadays that's looking rather foolish.

There aren't that many expensive bits and the worthless parts; used bearings,disks, pads, doughnuts etc have a value as part of a whole car.

Think of the time and effort of selling the parts and then knock off 15% for fees.
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PostPost by: el-saturn » Fri Aug 26, 2016 1:53 pm

here's the arithmetic:
orig perfect chassis with v5 / title etc.. 4000?
4 steel wheels 1500?
1 chapman steering wheel with push 1000?
2 complete doors in excellent c. 5000?
1 nice compete body 4000?
1 restored (invoices) engine 10000? not 105hp = 29500? - ya get a nice car for that!
entire interior (seats, gauges, loom etc..) 4000? =

this is only parts --- add therefore at least 200-300hrs (=10000?) to rebuild ya see the discrepencies!!!! sandy
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PostPost by: Grizzly » Fri Aug 26, 2016 2:18 pm

In a world you can get the best part of ?1000 for a complete tool kit anything is possible.

There's one well known guy on Ebay that makes a living from parting out unfinished restoration projects, so could this be carried into the Lotus world??
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PostPost by: stevebroad » Fri Aug 26, 2016 2:44 pm

I sold all the parts I didn't need, basically most of the S3DHC less the body, steering rack, column, front vertical links, rear wishbones and wiper motor. Totaled just under ?10k after eBay, PayPal and shipping costs. This was over a period between 2004 and 2014.

Almost everything sold, even old horn button brass/spring thing (sold for more than a new one!) and damaged front dampers (ARB stud missing).

Get a car that hasn't been restored and fitted with a working Weber engine and you will make a profit, ignoring the time spent stripping, cleaning, listing and shipping.
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PostPost by: Chancer » Fri Aug 26, 2016 7:18 pm

Looking at this another way, if the question is rephrased it has been asked many times before in the format, what is my unrestored Elan worth? or how much should i pay for a restoration project?

I have always been dismayed at the replies which always seem to be formulated as if restoring a vehicle is a business venture and everything should be done by so called pros, they start of with a value for a finished vehicle, fine so far but then take of ?5K for an engine rebuild, ?10-15K for bodywork etc and always end up with a figure that in my mind is far too low and hence its no surprise that one can make a hefty profit by breaking an Elan rather than restoring it.

I come from a time and place where you restored a vehicle because you had an overwhelming passion to do so, you tried to do as much if not all yourself for the pleasure and feeling of achievement, if at the end you had something worth more than the money you had spent not including your time then even better.

It was also a time when if a fellow enthusiast needed something and you had one spare you would give it to them or maybe do a trade but for little or no money, often nothing or less than it had cost you, once again for the pleasure and for what gose around comes around, EBay has changed all of that.

I used to be really inspired by the postings of Gary Anderson on the sows ear chassis and whatever the other thread was on the bodyshell, he was a lone voice showing that you did not need to sub things out and throw money at them, that with determination, ingenuilty, hard work and practically no money anything was possible, for me it was a breath of fresh air and I hope that one day I will get to see the conclusion.

I think its sad that a combination of bid up prices for parts and low valuations for project vehicles means that the remaining unrestored cars will probably be lost forever and their identities may even get used on some iffy vehicles, too many Plus 2's have already gone that way, OK, they were in the main unloved but as the owner of an unrestored 2 seat Elan I find the current economics very disturbing and its only getting worse.
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PostPost by: Elanintheforest » Sat Aug 27, 2016 8:31 am

The time when the cars were cheap, parts were virtually free and folks didn't give a fig about what their car was worth is still here. It's now with a different generation and different cars.

A 25 year old petrolhead is now playing with an Impreza WRX, or an Evo, BMW M3, fast Renault / Ford / Peugeot or any number of 10 to 20 year old fast cars that can be had for peanuts. Parts are dirt cheap and friends exchange / swap bits just as we did 30 plus years ago....nothing has changed except us!

We have increased demand for the 1960s classics, and due to our high disposable incomes, have pushed prices up to crazy levels. It's not ebay's fault, that's just a market place. But it has allowed us to indulge ourselves in spending the kid's inheritance on a bit of chrome trim or a badge.

If you want to get back to the basics of enjoying cheap fun cars again, buy yourself an Impreza for ?2000 and take it to a few track days. You'll meet some of the new generation of enthusiasts who think we are completely barking mad spending so much money on old, slow, uncomfortable and unreliable cars. And if you still have your Elan a year later, you'll know it's not just everybody else's fault that attitudes and values are the way they are!

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PostPost by: jimj » Sat Aug 27, 2016 8:43 am

But the big plus to rising values, not just Elans, is that its much more worthwhile to restore or maintain old cars to a higher standard. Just look at the classic cars you see around and I can`t remember a time when they nearly all looked to be in such stunning condition.
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PostPost by: Chancer » Sat Aug 27, 2016 1:06 pm

Yes Mark, you make a very good point, on reflection I agree completely.

In fact I can recall saying something myself maybe 20 years back regarding the skyrocketting values of some vehicles and blaming it on high disposable income middle aged people wanting to buy what they could not afford in their youth when I had scrimped saved, spent all my time repairing and welding other peoples cars in my youth to buy and restore the vehicles that they cherished.
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PostPost by: Spyder fan » Sat Aug 27, 2016 3:04 pm

In the past when I was converting my cars to Spyder Zetec/Duratec specification I quite happily took advantage of the buoyant market for Elan specific parts if they were no longer needed. At the end of my S4 Duratec/Supersprint build I realised it would be good to start storing some rare items for the future, not to take advantage of rising prices, but to have some original items for use for future projects. To this end I have a pair of original S4/Sprint seats in very good condition and a type 36 rear screen as well as airflow vents and all sorts of hard to find trim. I'm starting to add to my horde slowly buying at good prices when I can.

Something I have noticed is that when items become particularly sought after and therefore expensive is that suddenly copies are manufactured or suddenly "new old stock" is available. Signed steering wheels spring to mind as something people have cashed in on and not always honestly, but sometimes people go to great lengths to get things remanufactured for the good of all such as Steve Loaders Sparto lenses (Elanfan1).
Kindest regards

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PostPost by: Grizzly » Tue Aug 30, 2016 9:31 am

Lets not forget Theft....... Not hard to start without a key and the parts prices are high. Prime Target.

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PostPost by: KevJ+2 » Sun Sep 11, 2016 8:20 am

In Plus Two terms, this might answer the original question.
No ID or log book, so spares only..and almost complete.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1968-Lotus-El ... Sw-kdX1EIp
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PostPost by: billwill » Sun Sep 11, 2016 1:17 pm

KevJ+2 wrote:In Plus Two terms, this might answer the original question.
No ID or log book, so spares only..and almost complete.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1968-Lotus-El ... Sw-kdX1EIp


I wonder why they are scrapping that. It looks repairable to me. Needs a new nose, sure but no mention of damage to chassis.
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