1970 Plus 2 'S' for sale

[jono]

I have decided to offer my 1970 Elan Plus 2S for sale following 12 years of ownership, 5 of which were spent conducting a meticulous nut and bolt restoration at a fully documented cost of ?21,000 in parts and services alone in addition to many, many, hundreds of hours of my own time.
I have hundreds of photographs detailing every stage of the restoration, plus a thick file of invoices, however a brief account of the restoration is provided below:
I acquired the car in 2007 as a stalled restoration. The Elan was then sitting on a Spyder chassis, which was fitted during the 1980?s; the car had been stripped and the engine split. Some new parts came with the car including a new headlining, a full Christopher Neil/Autosparks wiring loom and a full chassis bolt kit.
The chassis was sent for blasting and re coating to the original Spyder colour and all suspension parts were blasted and re powder coated. All brake calipers were sent to Classicar Automotive and fully rebuilt with new plating, stainless pistons, seals, pivots and handbrake mechanisms. The differential was split and fully rebuilt as a 3.54 with new pinion and crown wheel bearings, output bearings and seals and the later, stronger, output shafts. The differential was re mounted on TTR competition mounts including the torque rods (I have recently switched back to a 3.77 differential).
The Chapman struts were converted to adjustable spring perches with new AVO top adjustable inserts, Lotocones, discs and, more recently TTR billet stub axles and new bearings.
Sue Miller CV driveshafts were installed at the rear and the front hubs were completely overhauled with new bearings, trunnions, track rods and ball joints and TTR fast road adjustable spring damper units fitted. The steering rack was stripped, overhauled, shimmed and re fitted with solid mounts and a new knuckle joint.
The chassis was then rebuilt as a rolling unit using the new Spyder supplied bolt kit, new Kunifer brake pipes, Goodridge hoses and new 14 x 5.5? Minilite wheels which were specially ordered in black with diamond cut edges as a nod to the original black and chrome steel ?S? wheels.
The pedal box was rebuilt using a new stainless steel pin and bronze top hat bushes reamed and fitted to the pedals. New clutch and brake master cylinders were fitted.
Meanwhile the engine was sent for a rebuild which included new +40 pistons, crank grind and full bottom end balance, new sprint sized valves and oversized exhaust valves (Paul Ivey), new seats for unleaded, QED 360 cams and adjustable pulleys, water pump etc. The head had previously been nicely ported by QED. More recently the head has been fitted with Cosilbro guides, blue printed springs and a light skim by Paul Exon with the guides perfectly reamed to size (zero blue smoke)
The gearbox was refreshed at the time but has just been completely rebuilt with new bearings after I decided to change it back from a close ratio ?bullet? gearbox I had since fitted. At this time a new tail shaft bush and seal was fitted together with a new prop yoke to cure an oil leak.
The body shell was sent to be completely stripped back to gel coat (done by gentle media blasting) and all cracks were ground out and repaired using the Wilkins method following which the car was covered with several layers of tissue ?veil? before being prepared and painted Wedgwood Blue (original colour: Royal Blue). That was in 2011 and the paint remains as good as the day save for some minor blemishes through use.
All of the chrome work was sent to Derby Plating, including bumpers, door frames, lights and spinners for refinishing. These parts remain ?as new?
The car was then re built and rewired with some ?invisible? improvements including electric headlight lifters, wasted spark ignition with mappable ECU, Cliveyboy high capacity radiator with twin fans, a custom made ceramic coated exhaust manifold. The interior was re trimmed in black leather and a new headlining and carpets fitted. All new sound proofing was fitted from ?Woollies? using the correct half inch thick jute felt. All instruments were overhauled, the tacho being rebuilt to run off electronic ignition and the speedo being rebuilt, set to zero and calibrated to the rolling tyre radius (all by Speedograph Richfield). The heater box was stripped, overhauled, and rebuilt.
As I always intended to fit fuel injection (but never did) I had a new FI tank built by Andy Wiltshire and this includes and internal swirl pot. I have run in flow and return lines through the chassis and so the car is ?FI ready? should this ever be considered. I also installed the closed circuit breather modification to the tank so there is no petrol smell internally
The steering wheel was recovered in leather by Len Chandler.
The car has just been set up by Peter Burgess and after a 3.5 hour session on the rolling road it made 144bhp and loads of torque (dyno plot available).
I have now completed just over 15,000 miles (including the NC500) and the car runs fantastically well: it is quick and well balanced, losing little of the suppleness associated with the Plus 2 despite some handling tweaks to sharpen things up. It?s a joy to drive, very reliable and I honestly think you would be hard pushed to find a more sorted and usable Plus 2 out there.
It?s a real wrench putting her up for sale however I?ve reached a milestone and it?s time for a change now that the ?journey? has been completed.
I?m seeking offers in the region of ?23,500 which is little more than I have shelled out in parts and services alone.
Please PM me if you?re interested and we can talk (the above only scratches the surface) ? I would love her to go to a true enthusiast which is why I?m offering her on here in the first instance.

I keep forgetting other things so I'll add that a new tunnel shell and underdash trims and closer pieces were purchased from Kelvedon and recovered by the trimmer as the originals had turned brittle (as they all do). Also, the original Kangol reflex belts were dismantled and rebuilt onto new webbing and modern inertia reel units by a pal of mine who, in a strange quirk of fate, worked in the dying embers of the old Kangol factory in Carlisle who were then (around 10 years ago) making high end belts for non other than Lotus, Bentley and Aston Martin from a staff of around 10. That wonder called Globalisation put paid to that however and the factory was relocated to Romania by it's US owners with the help of a European grant!
Jon

[Elan Peter]

That is a very nice car and is definitely worth the money.
UK sportscars are selling a couple that are not as nice for more.
Good luck with the sale.
Best regards, P

[jono]

Thanks for those supportive comments Peter, I've tried to pitch it sensibly and unlike UK Sportscars I can vouch first hand for all the work that's been undertaken!

Just to mention I've added a bit more at the end of the summary above as I keep forgeting about the stuff that's been done

[mark030358]

Fantastic car. Love it.

[wsmempson]

That looks really good - whereabouts are you? The whole blessed country seems to be wet at the moment...

[Polly Bush]

Hi Jono

Can you please PM me about your car thank you

[miked]

Jon is near Carlisle.

[jono]

Yeah, I'm in Hadrian's Wall Country, though one of the pics was taken on the shores of Windermere and the other near to top of Kirkstone pass

[DJW]

Aggghhhhhh why do all the perfect cars end up so far away

Keep looking at google maps but distance doesn?t get any less

Lovely car.

[ericbushby]

What`s your problem, Carlisle is roughly in the middle of the country. It is not as if you are having to travel to the northern parts.
I looked at eight cars before buying mine. I went to Birmingham, High Wycombe, Wisbech, Reading and Canterbury and they are all a long way away in the very far distant south.
Get up there and book a room. You may find the area attractive as well.
Eric in Burnley
1967 S3SE DHC

[DJW]

Very true Eric, it?s more a lack of free time due to work and family commitments. I?ll have to try and sweet talk SWMBO, although that cost me a French bulldog last time

[ericbushby]

I do understand that. I remember work, family and dogs. I can assure you it does get better later, although sometimes I wouldn`t mind another dog. !
Eric

[DJW]

I made the mistake of agreeing missus could have another dog every time I got another car. We quickly got to 5 dogs at which time I had to cancel that deal

[Elan Peter]

[jono]

Videos of the car (shot today):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5PIlXVi73k

https://youtu.be/QlhTMRkAl6Y