[Almondgreen] Lotus Elan Sprint FHC
Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2015 1:52 pm
Hi,
I'm reading this precious information mine called Lotuselan.net, since several weeks now, and I finally decided to introduce myself.
I'm Alex, 35, from France, more precisely I live near Lyon. This is my second Lotus, the first one is a '04 Lotus Exige.
2 months ago I bought a Lotus Elan Sprint FHC. The ad was unprecise, and the pictures were very poor, but I decided to give it a chance. And in France it's not common to see such a car for sale, especially a FHC (I'm not a DHC man). So I decided to give a call. The seller wasn't the owner, he was the mechanic who works on the car and was selling the car behalf his customer, who was an 75 years old person, owning the car since the last 3 decades.
The ad was saying that the French equivalent of the V5, was showing a car out from Ethel in 1967. At first I thought it was a Sprint Replica, with a big valve engine fitted, that suits me well.
I finally bought it, and I'm actually offering the car a welcome refresh, and the more I dismantle the car, the more I think it could be an original Sprint..
The owner gave me loads of papers with the car, including a '84 french magazine where "my" car is featured. In the article I can read that the owner of the car (a garage near Paris), imported the car several months ago and haven't had the time to change the reg plates, so I assume that GTJ229K is the original reg, which match with all the paperwork of its previous life in UK I have.
A quick look on the DVLA tells that GTJ229K is a car from the 16 August 1971 untaxed since february 84.
But the problem is that I have a chassis plate that doesn't match a Sprint (neither a '71 car).. The VIN is actually 366447, and the engine number doesn't begins with 45.
I've asked the owner, but he's actually facing a illness which affect his memory and doesn't seems to have specifical knowledge in chassis numbers, he just enjoyed the car as is.
If you have any idea of what could have happen ot my car ?
Some pictures to illustrate this long post (sorry..)
The magazine (note the steering, still fitted to the car nowadays):
First pics in my garage, it seems clean, but it needs some TLC for being a safe toy.
These mirrors are just horrible, I'll replace them with Raydyot style mirrors on the door
It seams neat inside, but I'll finally decide to completly remove the dashboard for overhauling the wiring loom
I removed the leaking fuel tank and find loads of holes and a nice crack on the fiberglass
The fuel tank needs to be welded, some rust spots created tiny holes in it.
The car has spent his life between Corsica and Paris, and I guess I have the genuine screen seals..
The engine colour makes me sick, but it has been completely overhauled 10 years ago, and the owner has done less than 2500 miles since..
I have several welcome mods that have been done to the car in his life, including big rear driveshafts, large stainless steel exhaust system (from the manifold to the silencer), alternator an uprated starter motor are fitted.
I won't try to make the car as genuine as possible. I want a car ready to be used (and abused) reliable and nice looking with some period mods.
I'm reading this precious information mine called Lotuselan.net, since several weeks now, and I finally decided to introduce myself.
I'm Alex, 35, from France, more precisely I live near Lyon. This is my second Lotus, the first one is a '04 Lotus Exige.
2 months ago I bought a Lotus Elan Sprint FHC. The ad was unprecise, and the pictures were very poor, but I decided to give it a chance. And in France it's not common to see such a car for sale, especially a FHC (I'm not a DHC man). So I decided to give a call. The seller wasn't the owner, he was the mechanic who works on the car and was selling the car behalf his customer, who was an 75 years old person, owning the car since the last 3 decades.
The ad was saying that the French equivalent of the V5, was showing a car out from Ethel in 1967. At first I thought it was a Sprint Replica, with a big valve engine fitted, that suits me well.
I finally bought it, and I'm actually offering the car a welcome refresh, and the more I dismantle the car, the more I think it could be an original Sprint..
The owner gave me loads of papers with the car, including a '84 french magazine where "my" car is featured. In the article I can read that the owner of the car (a garage near Paris), imported the car several months ago and haven't had the time to change the reg plates, so I assume that GTJ229K is the original reg, which match with all the paperwork of its previous life in UK I have.
A quick look on the DVLA tells that GTJ229K is a car from the 16 August 1971 untaxed since february 84.
But the problem is that I have a chassis plate that doesn't match a Sprint (neither a '71 car).. The VIN is actually 366447, and the engine number doesn't begins with 45.
I've asked the owner, but he's actually facing a illness which affect his memory and doesn't seems to have specifical knowledge in chassis numbers, he just enjoyed the car as is.
If you have any idea of what could have happen ot my car ?
Some pictures to illustrate this long post (sorry..)
The magazine (note the steering, still fitted to the car nowadays):
First pics in my garage, it seems clean, but it needs some TLC for being a safe toy.
These mirrors are just horrible, I'll replace them with Raydyot style mirrors on the door
It seams neat inside, but I'll finally decide to completly remove the dashboard for overhauling the wiring loom
I removed the leaking fuel tank and find loads of holes and a nice crack on the fiberglass
The fuel tank needs to be welded, some rust spots created tiny holes in it.
The car has spent his life between Corsica and Paris, and I guess I have the genuine screen seals..
The engine colour makes me sick, but it has been completely overhauled 10 years ago, and the owner has done less than 2500 miles since..
I have several welcome mods that have been done to the car in his life, including big rear driveshafts, large stainless steel exhaust system (from the manifold to the silencer), alternator an uprated starter motor are fitted.
I won't try to make the car as genuine as possible. I want a car ready to be used (and abused) reliable and nice looking with some period mods.