Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Rear end shunt at a Junction - driver thought I was moving out and I didn't (not safe, no really).

Quite a bit of damage for a minor shunt - bumper crunched, rear cross panel broken, stress crack above light, in boot channel, boot lid damaged, Boot closing mechanism detached from cross panel and finally, the number plate broken. Place your bets on the repair cost! Frank at Options will know the answer..

Where do you get a better than new original +2 rear bumper?

Jeremy

You are right Jeremy. Its the bumper that's the tricky bit. Frank will repair the body in a twinkle of the eye. Start looking now for a good bumper. Buy two if you can find them.

Really sorry to hear of yet another of our cars damaged. I am getting paranoid...

Keep us posted as normal.. & I wish you good luck in getting the said part.

Alex...

Bad luck. Fibre glass is deceptive isn't it - it returns to its original position so it's easy for people to think there's not much damage. Sure it'll look as good as new once done though. Simple enough insurance claim I presume. Lovely looking car otherwise...

All the best.

Sean.

Just out of curiosity, if those Bumpers are so rare why can't a competent Panel beater / Tinsmith make a good job of repairing them?

Shame about your Car, apart from the Crash damage it looks great.

John

John

Craftsmen...they're getting a bit thin on the ground now...

John

john.p.clegg wrote:John

Craftsmen...they're getting a bit thin on the ground now...

John

Yes I suppose they're thin on the Ground but the VSCC & HSCC etc. Racers get their "bendy" bits fixed somewhere?

Re the bumper, I will ask Neil at Brighthouse chroming, who spent ages getting the flawless finish on the bumper, if he can do something with it. I wouldn't expect much change from 2-300GBP. Craftsmen are not only thin on the ground, but expensive as well. Don't racers just use duct tape?!

The guy who went into me has provided a claim ref, so we will see what the outcome is. We have our intinerary booked for the summer hols in August, taking the car for a grand tour in Germany (including a trip round the 'ring), Belgium & France (including the Millau viaduct). May have to take the modern.. I think my wife is more disappointed than I am!

Jeremy

alaric wrote:Bad luck. Fibre glass is deceptive isn't it - it returns to its original position so it's easy for people to think there's not much damage.

Sean.

The local vicar did exactly the same thing to my Elan some years ago. The damage looked minimal - a slight depression on the rear bumper and a few paint chips so I thought it wasn't worth getting the insurance company involved. The car was coming off the road for some engine work anyway so it was the following spring before I had a look at the bumper area. What a mess - splits and cracks all the way up to the rear bulkhead and all round the inside of the rear wings. It took a couple of years to get it all sorted out. Once bitten, twice shy on that now. Anything more than a bug on the windscreen and I'm looking very closely.

Crikey. So the whole car is like one big crumple zone. Obviously well ahead of its time.

Sean.

Jeremy sorry to hear this i saw your car at Malvern & it was stunning you must be gutted
Ian

alaric wrote:Crikey. So the whole car is like one big crumple zone. Obviously well ahead of its time.

Sean.

Actually the backbone chassis is similar to what was used in open wheel race cars of the day. The driver sat in the car and was protected by the chassis. Only problem with the Elan is, the driver is sitting next to the chassis so now the driver and passenger are protecting the chassis.

I once saw an Esprit that had been wrapped around a telephone pole. Apparently, the driver didn't do a very good job of protecting the chassis as it was buckled right next to the driver's seat. I hate to think about what must have happened to him. Drive sanely out there!

Frank Howard wrote:I once saw an Esprit that had been wrapped around a telephone pole. Apparently, the driver didn't do a very good job of protecting the chassis as it was buckled right next to the driver's seat. I hate to think about what must have happened to him. Drive sanely out there!

I've always been concerned about that aspect of Elans. Back in the late 60's, long before I was able to afford one, a more affluent friend had an S2 and was involved in a fatal RTA when the passenger side slid into a lamp post on a wet night. At the time I didn't realise just how vulnerable they are to side impact.

Mine (same colour) was rear ended in a much bigger way (by a toyota Landcruiser) four years ago, basically the first 6 inches or so of one corner turned to dust, it split above both rear arches, the rear broke at both rear lights and the bootlid was ripped off also after a week or two was covered in stressss cracks right up to the doors, The bumper though was no worse than yours (most of the impact was above it) and I manged to get it straightened and re-chromed for around ?200.
Fortunately as it hit high the damage was all in the outer panels and the boot floor and chassis were undamaged, to repair it the entire outer moulding up to the doors was replaced using all the original joints except the sill where it was feathered in, quotes for this were around ?5000 at which point the insurers wanted to write it off. In the end I agreed a settlement from the insurers for me to repair it for ?4000 (no write off and insurance was not cancelled), The parts came to around ?2500 and I ended up painting it in celllulose myself which came out remarkably well (after plenty of cutting back). The work didn't even take that long, I did it over a winter but it only took the equivalent of a couple of weeks full time, using new panels saved a great deal of time in paint prep etc.
The only problem since is a star crack has appeared on the new bootlid, directly above there the latch holes were cut on the inner panel by the panel supplier, it looks like they must have pushed the drill thought to hard and hit the outer surface, one day I will get round to fixing this, the great thing about cellulose being it's easy to blend the paint in.

So from my experince I would give a few pointers

1. Despite what they may say an insurers position is always negotiable, remember they have a target time to close each case in , just keep draging it out until you get a reasonable settlement.
2. Make sure you wait for a while for all the cracks to appear.
3. Fiberglass is pretty easy work with, once done properly it is as good as new (if not better).
4. I keep thinking a high mounted centre stop lamp may be a good idea to avoid a repeat, but have yet to come up with a reasonable looking way of mounting one (Mines a convertable).

kevin

69S4 wrote:4. I keep thinking a high mounted centre stop lamp may be a good idea to avoid a repeat, but have yet to come up with a reasonable looking way of mounting one (Mines a convertable).

Kevin,
A VG idea. Have been looking for same solution for a FHC without success. So would like to hear if you come up with anything.

I see those recumbent bikes have flagpoles with LED's as a safety device.

http://bicyclepatents.com/updated-arizo ... pole/1351/

Maybe wired into brake light circuit?

But I guess that wouldn't be de-rigeur on an Elan!

Cheers - Richard

It is a bad month for shunts. My car was hit as well. Have a look at "you will not believe this" in the "things in common" section if you have not already.

David