john.p.clegg wrote:JonB
"there was very little wrong with it that I didn't spot (despite not being able to look underneath it) or expect."
Really?
John
Yes, really. Sorry if I sound like I am blowing my own trumpet - let me explain.
I expected to have to do the uprights, trunnions and front ball joints / track rod ends. I smelled the gear oil coming out of the diff on the test drive (thought it was the gearbox, at the time). I knew there was excessive play in the N/S front wheel bearing. The small oil leaks in the engine bay were obvious. The engine ran well with no blue smoke. All the electrics worked, apart from the clock. The condition of the dashboard and interior was obvious. I was able to check it had a Spyder chassis as advertised, and I knew I would want to put on CV jointed driveshafts at some point as the doughnuts were a little marginal.
I didn't notice the worn out N/S outer driveshaft, as it did not show any play when I tried to rock it about and I don't recall hearing any clonking on the test drive. I also didn't notice all of the paint blemishes - I saw the pinholes on the rear O/S wing but not the rest of it. That said, I am not worried as it looks great. None of these blemishes are immediately obvious; you need to look close to see them. I also didn't know that the headlights tripped the thermal cutouts all the time due to bad earths, but this was easy and cheap to put right.
However, the point I will make is that
I was lucky. There could have been any number of nasties waiting for me (might still be!) and so I would not recommend trusting to luck, especially if you are a newcomer to maintaining classic cars. For my part, I've had several Spitfires before and done most jobs on them, so I was confident I could correct any problems on the Elan. So far, and with the help of this great forum and its members, I've not been proven wrong.
I think that everything else my Elan needs is pretty standard for a 42 year old car that's not been restored recently. It is remarkably original apart from the chassis, and this is something I like about it. I have come across very few "DPO" bodges, but many examples of worn parts. Even the wiring loom is relatively undisturbed. I'd suggest that worn out parts will be encountered with any Plus 2 you buy, especially one from a non specialist dealer or private sale, and especially one that costs less than ?20k.