Three Elans Up for Auction at Brightwells 21 Jun

[trw99]

Two Sprints and a Plus 2S are being auction at Brightwells in a few days time.

Lot 345, the Plus 2S: https://www.brightwells.com/timed-sale/5241/lot/579297

Lot 346 Red/white DHC Sprint: https://www.brightwells.com/timed-sale/5241/lot/579626

Lot 350 Regency red/white DHC Sprint: https://www.brightwells.com/timed-sale/5241/lot/579310

Tim

[gjz30075]

I would've liked to seen the fitted luggage on lot 346. Too bad the boot was full of 'stuff'.

[mark030358]

Isn’t that the car, the Regency red one, sold by an owner on here?

Asking for a friend?

[trw99]

No, it is not the same one.

Tim

[mark030358]

No, it is not the same one.

Tim

Seems very similar… laid up, painted at lotus etc. looks a nice car too.

Cheers

[trw99]

My mistake! It is the same one.

Apologies.

Tim

[Roland]

Regency car is similar to mine but it seems to be sitting 2” high maybe more. It can’t drive well with that set up.

[oldelanman]

Regency car is similar to mine but it seems to be sitting 2” high maybe more. It can’t drive well with that set up.

That struck me too and the front wishbone angles confirm it. Front shocks don't look to be height adjustable either so maybe the suspension hardware was torqued at full droop instead of at ride height ?

[Roland]

Interesting to see what the Regency car goes for. Its had money spent but the close up of the paint doesn't look great either, guided at 38-45K seems high but no idea what the market is like really

[Elanintheforest]

None of them sold, but this mint 250GTE sold well! Just an engine needed, and a new shell, suspension, steering, brakes, interior....etc.
https://www.brightwells.com/timed-sale/5241/lot/578390

[Andy8421]

Interesting to compare the two Sprints, one has the bottom of the sill in the correct black, one has been left white.

For the cost of a roll of masking tape and a tin of paint, the improvement in appearance has to be one of the best value improvements you can make.

- that regency red Sprint definitely has something adrift with the ride height at the front.

[Elanintheforest]

It seems that quite a few S4 and Sprints suffer from being a little tall at the front. I wonder if there was a batch of springs got mixed up in the 80s between the Elan and the Plus 2 when a lot of cars may have had their first restorations?

Certainly my S4 was a good 2 inches too high, with very little give in the suspension. I slackened off the wishbones to see if they had been tightened up in the wrong position, but that made no difference. Only when I restored the car and put standard shocks and springs on the front did the height come down to the normal height.

The photo of the car on its own shows what it used to look like, and the S3 / S4 nose to nose shows how high it was. Although that is cheating somewhat as the S3 has the Tony Thompson adjustable shocks fitted, and they were a tad low in that photo.

The the under-sill area is painted satin black now!

Mark Kempson

[Elanintheforest]

The two Sprints and the Plus 2 were offered in auction again, finishing a couple of days ago.

The Plus 2 sold at £12799, the red over white Sprint under offer at £24,000 and the Regency Red Sprint under offer at £29500.

There's not a lot of buying activity lately in all but the very best cars and the very rare cars, and there really seems to be some good bargains around in cars with a little patina! Project cars seem to be on the floor with mechanical and bodywork costs having soared in the past few years.

A good time to buy I think.

https://www.brightwells.com/timed-sale/ ... tid-584494

Mark

[512BB]

Well I very much doubt the offer for the Regency Sprint will be accepted. The vendor of that car paid £34k for it, then spent several thousand pounds on it in parts alone. What I don't understand is why the front shocks were replaced when there was nothing wrong with what was fitted, the car sat correctly when I sold it.

The auction advert was a total mess, as they so often are, written by people fresh from double glazing sales, and next week will be an estate agent!. Eg, when the car left here, it was a 3 owner car on the logbook. How come at auction it was a 5 owner car?

In my opinion, in general, Lotus Elans do not achieve good prices at auction, probably because you cannot speak to the buyer, test drive the vehicle, and go over it with a fine tooth comb, as you should absolutely do with any Lotus, so why would anybody pay a high price for one there, to later find that they have bought a pup.

I received 3 offers for the car at £32k with a good bit of work required to put the car back on the road, but turned them all down, as I fully expected to get my asking price, which I did. So how come with all the work carried out, and more, the car is only worth £29.5k now? The correct market place for the car is not at auction, but in a private sale where the right buyer will come along. I value the car now at £39,500.

Leslie