71 sprint

[bmcman.ie]

hi guys, i have just joined the forum today and want to tell you about my car; its a 71 yellow over white sprint that was a complete basket case when i bought last year. the car is a genuine barn find, having been taken off the road in 1978! 39000 miles on the clock( believed genuine) and a new factory chassis(at that time) which has never seen the road.body has been taken back to gel coat and will be ready for paint within the next 4 weeks, and chassis has been blasted and 2k satin black paint. will post up pics of the resto in the coming weeks, once i figure out how to do it! cheers, ian.

[MickG]

Hi Ian,
From one Sprint owner to another welcome to the forum, look forward to seeing the photo's.
Tim Wilkes keeps a register of all Sprints in existence and I am sure he would be interested in details of yours.
I'm sure he will be in touch with you soon but you can send him a Private Message, his ID is TRW99.
Any problems please ask as the folks on here are extremely knowledgeable and helpful

Best of luck with the rebuild

Regards Mick G

[cliveyboy]

Hello Ian
I am a Sprint owner as well
Welcome to the club
Clive

[Mazzini]

Welcome to the forum. Sounds like you've found yourself an exceptional car. I look forward to seeing the pictures. Good luck with the restoration!

[Bombay Racing Green]

Hi Ian,

May I firstly add my welcome to the forum. I've found it invaluable on many occasions. Secondly, if you want to come down to Wicklow some time for a chat/moan you're more than welcome. I'm fairly new to lotus ownership but have always dreamt of getting one. I have an early +2 and have been refurbishing it over the winter. Almost there now! Not many Elans in Ireland and even fewer Sprints so congrats. Did you find it here or over?

Good luck,

Pete

[TroonSprint]

The story of your Sprint is remarkably similar to mine. I have a 1971 Sprint FHC that was not actually registered until 1972 - I guess sales were slow back then. In 1977 my car had a minor accident having covered about 40,000 miles. It was sold to a young chap who completely dismantled the car. He replaced the left front corner of the body and then over the next thirty odd years slowly gathered all the bits needed to make it into a really nice car. This included a new Spyder chassis (bought in 1982). I met him in 2009 (now not so young!) at the Bo'ness Revival Hill Climb event, when he was driving his Plus 2. He told me of the Sprint Coupe sitting forlornly in the corner of his ramshackle workshop. I went to see it, and the rest as they say is history. The body came from east Scotland to the west coast on a trailer with the chassis on the roof rack. Slowly he has been finding all the parts, most of them refurbished, and I have been bringing them back to my garage. I've nearly got it all now - just a couple of things to fetch this year. I am trying to prepare the shell for painting at the moment - its a lot of work!
Mike