Restorers

[440HUU]

Good evening

Can any one please advise whether there is any body who undertakes full restorations of Elans and Plus 2s and who will make a good job of a total restoration project

Many thanks

[Rob P]

Hi there,
can't really advise myself as never undertaken a full restoration but might help people to give advice if there was an indication of location you are based.
Or are you willing to travel/take the car to wherever people would suggest?

[billwill]

Most owners of old Lotuses do their own restorations as it is simply not cost effective to get it done for you.

[vincereynard]

Good evening

Can any one please advise whether there is any body who undertakes full restorations of Elans and Plus 2s and who will make a good job of a total restoration project

Many thanks

The lack of a positive response is an eloquent reply in itself.

Many members may know of "restorers" they would NOT recommend.
Specifying one they would is a bit trickier.

[el-saturn]

some of the best are well known and dont need new cli?nts - your hrs are for free BUT dont underestimate the needed skills and knowledge folks ----------- this forum is leek.- alley!!! we all know why!!?? sandy

[richardcox_lotus]

Yes even the best restorers don't do everything "in-house". Do you need someone to repair or assemble ??

Is it all mechanical; all bodywork or both ?

Is your car complete or do you need experts /specialists to find you the rare bits ?

I'm afraid there's no easy answer without you providing some more info as to what needs to be done.

But we're all intrigued to find out what you have & what needs doing !!

Regards
Richard

[elanfan1]

I suspect that many of the respected restorers will have a healthy 2 years plus waiting list.

Why not ask Paul Mattybut request the body gets sent to SMS for paint. Still suspect you might have a bit of a wait.

[denicholls2]

What you might be able to do reasonably economically is to sub out things you don't want to take on yourself. Getting the paint off, likely a must based on what little you've said, is either a blasting or a hand sanding thing. Blasting is fairly easily contracted, but also easily botched. Gary Anderson always swore by good ol' 600 grit and time in the sun or rain as good for the body and the soul. And although he did everything on the cheap, his paint jobs were way better than mine and plenty good enough for a driver.

The really time consuming stuff, prepping the surface for color, costs the most and is most important. But you can do that to your satisfaction yourself. Sand, prime, repeat... When you're happy, take it to a reputable place to shoot the color if you're not up to that. They'll tell you if you didn't do enough repeats because they know you'll blame them for the final result if you don't like it. Plus they get to inhale the really bad stuff. (Actually, they have really expensive pressurized suits so they don't have to.)

[nigelrbfurness]

If you have the time, I would consider doing it yourself. The mechanical restoration is straightforward with the body off, though if this is your first time with a Lotus, the key skill is to be meticulous and precise. Lotuses of any era after the 6 do not forgive ham-fisted engineers.

Body wise, there are several good books on fibreglass body restoration. Cleanliness is next to godliness.
Do not be fooled by recent TV restorations of Elans and indeed an Elite Climax. There is only one way to get a good and lasting paint finish - take all the existing paint off and then examine the body and identify all cracks and crazing and then repair them. At all stages, work dry. Block sand everything using a variety of sizes to ensure you don't remove contours. Painting takes at least four weeks, not two days, if you want to avoid sinkage and other defects appearing a few years down the line. There are cars about that I repainted 20 years ago that still look as good as the day I did them, so it is possible if you take your time. Bear in mind that a professional restorer cannot economically justify taking this amount of time to paint a car.

The last Elan I did took about 18 months working four or five days per week full time. That was a full body off job, fixing old repairs that included a new nose, repaint in Lotus Yellow, full retrim, soft-top, engine box, diff etc. If you farm out the engine to a specialist that might save you a week on the total time and cost you a great deal more.

There is plenty of information available on the web, some good, some bad. Anything that suggests you can do it quickly is likely to be bad lol But take your time, get the small details right, if it goes wrong, do it again and at all times try to visualise the result you want and you will have a car to be proud of. Sadly, I can never afford to keep my restorations - except the very first one I did, back in '79 - but if its a labour of love its worth doing well. Good luck!

Nigel F.

[Grizzly]

Contact Peter Day and beg him........ He's retired now but i'd go so far to say he was the best from what i've seen.... Worth having a chat too him as he might know some one who can help you.

I agree with above, i work for a shop that only does full blown restorations of mainly steel bodied cars and even though were not exactly well known we have comfortably 3 years worth of work on site.

From experience if i was looking to have a car restored i'd want to see at least two or three previous restorations and chat to customers, i hear so many horror stories so i'd be very careful.