Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Haven't been on here for a while, that's coz I had a small accident in the +2. Hit a patch of ice pulling out of a junction, the car spun and then went head on into a stone wall. Fortunately I was only going about 5-10mph so no damage to me or the wall, but the front of the car is damaged to the wheel-arch on the driver's side. Seems to be just the bodywork though, as far as I can tell the chassis looks ok
I have the Club Lotus directory of specialists, but was wondering if anyone has had fibreglass work done by any of my local specialists. The closest appear to be Chris Foulds in Huddersfield and JCT 600 in Bradford, although I could go further if people had specific recommmendations. I'm looking for someone to do a pretty good job at a reasonable price (if its too much my insurers might write the car off) rather than perfection regardless of the cost.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated, as I'm hoping I can still be a +2 owner and contributer to this site!
Thanks
Rick

blueseamonkey wrote:The closest appear to be Chris Foulds in Huddersfield and JCT 600 in Bradford, although I could go further if people had specific recommmendations.

Avoid JCT600 like the plague, they know next to nothing on the current cars, and their knowledge on the older ones is totally non existent (like most current dealers) In addition their labour rate and quality of customer care is an utter joke. Avoid Peter Smiths as well (bunch of crooks)

Fould's do seem to have a good reputation on the mechanical side but I'm not heard of anyone who has had bodywork done there (I guess they farm out the paintwork but the only really good paintshop in the immediate area of Leeds/Bradford/Wakefield went bust last year)

I am however aware of a reasonably local bloke (Skipton area) with a very good reputation for Elise bodywork but he is halfway between the UK and The Gambia in a clapped out Merc at the moment. http://www.plymouth-dakar.co.uk/ If you can hang on a few weeks then join the seloc forums at http://forums.seloc.org/index.php (free) and send a u2u to "StephenM"

Have you any pictures?

my +2 went to foulds for the bodywork and paint......it was farmed out to shepley coachwork who then also did a freinds S4 fhc after he met some armco......anyway......I tried going back to them about 12months ago for some other stuff and theyve gone bump I'm affraid.....
if foulds are still taking in repairs I dont know where theyre now sending them........
if you can travel a bit there is winsford body shop (in winsford cheshire) who did the work I was going to get shepleys to do...or there is trevor farington a specialist race car guy who makes fibre bodywork for all types of cars and his work is very good indeed!!!.....he's in knutsford
if either of these are of interest then I'll get the numbers for you
cheers
Gareth

Gareth,

Shepley were the ones I was thinking of, no idea why they went under, one minute they were full of work with a bit of a waiting list and the next they were gone.

Hi there are two people I can think of:-
Richard Winter at BAnks Service Station and the other I think is Fibeglass 2000 (or something like that) both in Southport. Have seen quality from both and are excellent. Maybe "miked" on this site could help with the later address.

cheers
Mark

M100 wrote:Gareth,

Shepley were the ones I was thinking of, no idea why they went under, one minute they were full of work with a bit of a waiting list and the next they were gone.

Is this them...or a new version of them?

+1 for Richard @ Banks

Heard good things about this place from some in the East Yorkshire group. Evidence of some fibreglass cars being worked on in their gallery pages but no personal experience. They are in Malton.
https://www.classicandsportscarrestorations.com/accident-repairs-collision-bodyshop