Fire Sale lotus elan 2 1969

[frankieb]

Hello everyone
My lotus just burnt down,what an awful feeling
Electrical fire caused by short from cigarette lighter plug.
Interior completely burnt out , Windows shattered except for rear window,
damage around front window frame
front end and bumper also damaged.

No damage to engine bay or motor

Owned car for 5 years

Body shell in decent condition

engine rebuilt
Formula Ford crank
Custom made pistons
Bore 3.265
Stroke 3.070
1685cc
Weber head conversion
Head thickness 4.635
Big bore exhaust
Heavy duty starter
Heavy duty clutch
Complete rear suspension replaced 2012(struts, springs ,wishbone etc)
New rear rotors 2013
Rear drive conversion to CV joints

Good car for a restoration project
Asking for $7000

I will be posting some pictures soon
if anyone interested you could contact me at
[email protected]
car is located in montreal, quebec Canada

tnks

[aes]

Email not responding...please pm contact details.
Thx
Allan

[frankieb]

Email not responding...please pm contact details.
Thx
Allan

Sorry typo error for email

[robertverhey]

I'm so sorry to hear this. It seems we must all be vigilant about our cigarette lighter wiring, it is very poorly designed and prone to shorting out around the metal casing. When I removed my dash that was certainly what had happened to my car, but it seems that fortunately the (then) owner got to the battery terminal in time. As it's constantly live (well mine was anyway), this can happen any time even when car sitting on its own. Robert

[Dave240]

Good luck with the sale Frank.

-Dave

[twincamman]

A very sad event ....and a good case for a master off switch on the dash wired through the main battery wire and or an on board fire system ......don't give up so easily ,step back and see what it will take to fix the damage ,I have seen worse brought back from the brink ....Ed

[frankieb]

I posted some more pictures today

[cal44]

I'm with Ed.

On the other hand if you don't love the car, you won't to do a labor of love. So maybe it is time to say good-buy.

I see a juicy MGB-GT in back ground.

mike

[twincamman]

Why can't the fire man try the door first instead of smashing a 600& dollar windshield...?,,,Ed

[Dave240]

This is just begging to be turned into a track car. A well built engine and recently overhauled suspension, but you're saving money on an interior you'd be removing anyway.

[stugilmour]

Agree with Dave if you feel you can live with a Plus 2 as a track weapon; may be some compromises with total weight compared to an Elan but could be fun. Also a great candidate for someone with a shell & interior, but suffering from a stale drive train and some missing parts.

For more info on the car, search through a few historical posts by former list member gsminors. Geoff Minors had the car here in Southern Alberta, and sold it to Montreal around the time I bought mine from Ontario (around 2008). If I had known Geoff was selling I would have probably bought it locally; he put it up for sale right after I had committed to my car. I never saw the car but discussed it with Geoff. Some of you may recall he was a machinist with CNC equipment, and he did the Weber head conversion and tuning himself. Anyway, he was happy with how the car ran at time of sale, but had not taken on the body work. Sounds like Frank did additional sorting.

gsminors-u2902.html

Best of luck with the sale Frank. Nice car that can live on.

Ed's remark reminds me of years ago burning my company Chevy in the driveway. They had the axes out and swinging when I pointed out it was unlocked. The interior plug-in heater had failed; saw the same model heater covered on TV for design faults that week!

[gjz30075]

I think the firefighters are trained to 'break in' because they know the door handles will be extremely hot.

[Chancer]

I saw the screen breakage from a different perspective, I said to myself thank god they intervened (whether firemen or others) rapidly enough to protect all the other cherished vehicles parked around the plus 2.

With my tired old eyes it doesnt even look as if there is enough room to walk between the cars let alone break open, or simply open a door.

Very very lucky that the fire didnt spread as it would seem it could have happened at any time.

Or perhaps the vehicle was not where it is photagraphed at the time of the fire, if so ignore me, everyone else does!!!!!

[gus]

put some of those pics in your ebay auction

I don't think the windshield lived through the fire

Actually does not look like that bad a fix, but not cheap

[frankieb]

Thank you all for the positive input,
As much as I would love to keep and restore my Lotus,it would be an expensive project since all the restoration would have to be done by professionals, got 2buyers interested in buying the car to turn it into a track car,would hate to see the car bought for parts only,insurance declared the car a total loss,to expensive to repair than actual insurance value,tried to convince them to repair ,but there decision is to pay for the insurable value.If not sold,I will clean and remove all the interior and put it in storage.

Frank