Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

It looks like the provenance of the car isn't quite the unrestored original that it's being portrayed as. The old advert gives a hint of what happened in the 1970s when the car 'had a bump' which necessitated a new chassis. However, the project stalled, and it remained in it's 'crashed' condition for 30 years...

http://www.juliensumner.com/full-detail ... p?code=103

I have just been contacted by a very knowledgeable chap who went to see the car a couple of years ago, and in studying the restoration file, noted that the car had indeed had a new chassis, and a new bodyshell. I notice on the JD advert there is no mention of the state of the bodywork, paint or the fact that it has a galvanised chassis.

That does change the unique originality of the car somewhat! Having such work done on Elans is not such a rare thing, and Miles Wilkins changed a few shells when they had been poorly repaired or had too many cracks to economically repair.

But that work makes this another restored car, rather than a super-rare original survivor.

Mark

JD Classics kicked off as Jaguar, particular the XK series, specialists. Its only in the last few years that they have spread to include other good classic cars in their portfolio.

The two high prices reported on the earlier thread, one realised, the other asked, reflect more the typical JDC investor classic car enthusiast. In general those folk are somewhat different to most of the rest of us on here, with different requirements from their hobby to ours. Asking prices at JDC are therefore bound to reflect their clientele's capability and needs.

I'm inclined to dismiss these two prices as being unrepresentative of the current value of Elans, Sprints or not. We get this every few years, an overly expensive Elan that hangs around in the market place for several months. But they do eventually sell, because somewhere out there has a deep pocket and a different viewpoint to the rest of us!

I have known about the S4/Sprint for 10 years and it does not have quite the wonderful provenance described in the advert, as Mark points out in his second posting. I also don't know whether to be flattered or annoyed that JDC lift entire dollops of my Sprint website and reprint them verbatim in their adverts!

Tim

KevJ+2 wrote:Maybe Ronnie Peterson sat in it once

Cherie Lunghi sat in mine once when I drove her into London, does that make mine more valuable??

trw99 wrote:JD Classics kicked off as Jaguar, particular the XK series, specialists. Its only in the last few years that they have spread to include other good classic cars in their portfolio.

The two high prices reported on the earlier thread, one realised, the other asked, reflect more the typical JDC investor classic car enthusiast. In general those folk are somewhat different to most of the rest of us on here, with different requirements from their hobby to ours. Asking prices at JDC are therefore bound to reflect their clientele's capability and needs.

I'm inclined to dismiss these two prices as being unrepresentative of the current value of Elans, Sprints or not. We get this every few years, an overly expensive Elan that hangs around in the market place for several months. But they do eventually sell, because somewhere out there has a deep pocket and a different viewpoint to the rest of us!

I have known about the S4/Sprint for 10 years and it does not have quite the wonderful provenance described in the advert, as Mark points out in his second posting. I also don't know whether to be flattered or annoyed that JDC lift entire dollops of my Sprint website and reprint them verbatim in their adverts!

Tim

Tim,

As ever, thank you for your excellent website.

You make reference to this on your site, but Robinshaw/Ross had pretty firm views on the S4/Sprints:

"We have not seen any firm evidence to support the tale that a batch of 50 Sprints were made in 1970, although it is possible that a batch (certainly not 50) further prototypes may have been made..... If indeed this was the case, they are without doubt unique cars, but not Sprints."

I don't think Tim or I would disagree with the Robinson & Ross statement.

Tim & I have traced a number of cars originally built in 1970 as S4s that were subsequently "reworked" by the factory in 1971 to Sprint Spec. This has been confirmed by Andy Graham the Lotus Historian. Several of these S4/Sprints were exported to the US.

Sorry, clearly I did not express myself very well in my final para above. I was speaking specifically about the Bahama yellow S4/Sprint that JD Classics have for sale and which I have had knowledge of for around a decade.

Phil is correct, I would not dispute a word that Robinshaw & Ross wrote in their excellent Elan book as regards the information available to them at the time. However, our knowledge has progressed since 1989 and thus I wrote what I did on my site regarding the S4/Sprint. As Phil also points out, we now have much in the way of proof that S4 Elans and +2S Elans were retrofitted with the then new Big Valve engine in early 1971 at the factory. See my article in the last Club Lotus News for further details.

Tim

I think know the owner of this car, It is what it says it is.

A beauty!!

Mark

Cherie Lunghi sat in mine once when I drove her into London, does that make mine more valuable??


DEFINITELY!!

KevJ+2 wrote::) Cherie Lunghi sat in mine once when I drove her into London, does that make mine more valuable??


DEFINITELY!!

Definitely had a couple of bits replaced so the provenance...

Well...agreed, but bet it would still handle great .

Bill always looks cheerful whenever I see him, now I know why!

Not a high...

Last time I checked this baby - http://tominiclassics.com/collections/72/Lotus-Elan-Sprint was 115,000 Euros... A very genuine 6,000 miles...

Still cheap compared to a mass produced (British Leyland) E-Type. Just look at any classic car magazine to see how many E-Types are for sale compared to Elans ...

Am I right in thinking the airbag sticker are the wrong way round? I thought all Sprints had the ignition on the steering column, or is this an "upgraded" S4? It has an S4 exhaust as well..

For that price they could have fitted the cigarette lighter properly.

Carl

If this car actually sells for ?83,500 could someone post on this forum. I have a 19,000 miles totally original 73 Sprint, unlike the one being advertised which has a new paint job, replacement chassis and was in an accident. Me thinks I may need to revisit my evaluation. Jim

JimE wrote:If this car actually sells for ?83,500 could someone post on this forum. I have a 19,000 miles totally original 73 Sprint, unlike the one being advertised which has a new paint job, replacement chassis and was in an accident. Me thinks I may need to revisit my evaluation. Jim

If you bought it, that should push up the value of your car as well (along will those of most owners on this forum).. We will all be very grateful

Carl