Lotus restoration

[Chris5360]

Ok so I've been on here asking a couple of bits and bobs here and there, I hadn't had my elan plus 2 long but just before Christmas I had a little bit of an accident, accelerating on the wet dual carriage way the back end spun out, we spun three times left the road and lightly clipped a lamp post !
It caught the door and back wing, and I thought I'd go through the insurance, unfortunatly none of there approved repairers wanted to know and they weren't that interested in the quit I had got so they wrote it off as a cat d
But not wanting to be the guy who writes off a 50 year old car I bought it back,l
Now the car was restored in 2004 previously to an ok standard but was starting to look tired, and I'm a bit of a perfectionist and I'd say the person that did it before probably wasn't
The car passed an not 6 weeks before the accident with no advisories and was mechanically perfect
So I figured it's time to new a new restoration the way I'd like to have it, engine wise I will be fixing a couple of leaks, renewing all the hoses etc for future piece of mind, and having anything shiny polished, and anything tired looking sorted out
The main thing was the body work which had plenty of defects, few bubbles, stone chips etc and any rubbers will be replaced and the chrome had already been sent away to the chromers so I figure I'll add a few pics as I go on and I'm acctually further along than these pics but I forgot to take new ones today

[Chris5360]

The accident

[Chris5360]

The damage

The damage

[Chris5360]

I'm fortunate to have my own business/ factory so I got the guys to rearrange the place so that I got the car right outside my office I don't think I've had a customer yet who hasn't spent half an hour having a chat about it and the progress

[Chris5360]

Beginning the strip down

[Chris5360]

Wing cut off ,replacements were found from a guy on eBay who has the moulds in the midlands, he did me a new wing to replace the area and where the stress cracks had spread to, and a new door, very reasonably priced and mad to order

[Chris5360]

And wing pinned into place for first fix, ready to be bonded together

[Chris5360]

This is more or less the last photo so far I will take more next time I'm in the factory

[Chris5360]

The wiring is pretty crusty too so I will re wire her too, the dash I will get re veneered by some one who owes a favour , and the interior was always in very good condition so just a really good clean, I was going to go for a full pro respray, but having resprayed classics successfully in the past, and being very fussy over little defects when I do it myself I've now decided to go for the full respray myself, I have access to all the spray and breathing gear etc so might do it in 2k rather than celly as I find the finish more resilient and easier to shine

[Chris5360]

Oh and so far I'm at the stage where I am sanding back the paint for a good key, for the primer, and correcting defects as I go, no doubt there will be more defects that show once the primer is on, but it'll all be worth it if I can get an a1 finish

[Spyder fan]

Chris,
Well done with the progress on your repairs, it's a shame your insurance company made the car a Cat D write off. Although the damage is glaringly obvious it doesn't look anywhere near enough to cost more to repair than the car is worth.

You are obviously enjoying doing the work and making friends to boot.

I have had my +2 step out on me on damp roads, but never enough to spin 3 times, maybe I haven't tried hard enough? Serious question, how old are your tyres?

All the best, keep us posted with the resto.

[el-saturn]

.................you make us jealous chris, but unless you're really good: i'd leave the painting to an expert. as a perfectionist you'll especially hate the preperation for the second try! - i know what i'm talking about. sandy

[JimE]

Did you have an agreed evaluation with the insurers? If not, it's the way to go so that in the future if you have a similar mishap it won't be written off.

[Chris5360]

the roads were very bad that day unfortunatly, while I was there there were a couple of modern trucks that the back stepped out on too, tyres are pirrellis, and have good tread almost new, when the rain came down though the windscreen was going almost like white grease streaks, a bit unfortunate I think really we'd been driving all day too !
The problem with the damage was that it went back and forth and back and forth between people that really didn't know what they were doing, they almost wrote it off just from the pictures ! And then sent out an indipendant guy, I was still driving it but having to get in through the passenger side, when they heard that they said they were putting a stop in my policy, as they saw that as dangerous, but would swap it over to a new car, after the whole thing dragged on so long, I pointed out that the car was sitting outside my yard, uninsured due to there bright idea to cancel the policy and that of it was stolen I would sue them, the following day they wrote it off and put the money in my bank !
I had an agreed valuation of ?16,500 on it so I was quite comftable on the pay out side
It's not my first restoration, I've restored cars since I was 16 on and off learning a lot , with my original trade being a mechanic, I have sprayed several cars worst mistake I ever made was misjudging how the temperature had dropped in a non heated garage in September, I didn't allow enough flash time and the top coat ran, hours and hours of sanding later will make sure that never happens again My last resto was a yellow mk2 Capri that had a front page and 7 page spread in practical classics couple of years ago, the only thing that kills me is I have arthritis in my back ( why did I choose such a low car !) but to be honest I can take my time, I tend to sort of go to work and do acctually work for like half a day and then do car stuff for half a day, but this is the quiet time for my industry. It is a shame that it's a cat d but at least I know exactly what for and I have photos of the damage and repair should I ever sell it, there seam to be quite a few unrecorded accident cars that become apparent when people start there restos, I doubt I'll sell it though, I've wanted one for as long as I can remember, and I wasn't gonna let her go that easily after the accident ! But other than me saying here no one at a show or meet would ever know hopefully all they will see is a well finished car

[Chris5360]

To be fair with the paint I have been offered a pretty reasonable price for priming flagging and topcoating, but being someone who has done all this sort of thing I just dont trust other people to take the care that I do !
But on a health side of things it would make a lot of sense, but I expect I'll end up doing it myself knowing me