1970 +2S - Ontario

[brandon]

After 6 years of owning my basket case S1, I came to the conclusion last spring that it's at least a decade away from being road worthy. Work, the house, the yard, and my two small children make it nearly impossible to find a weekend to work on the car. Something had to change! Either the children would have to go, or I needed to purchase a more road worthy version of my Lotus.
After careful consultation with my wife, we agreed that getting rid of the children would be poor form. Besides, we had grown rather attached to them despite their tendency to occasionally tear bits off my mostly restored 1978 Mini. We agreed another lotus was the way to go, and my hunt began. After a rather tedious search for something drivable but not pristine, I settled on a +2S for sale not too far from where I live (thanks to this forum). After a little bit of work to get it road worthy (it hadn't had a shake down yet), I brought the car home last summer.

The previous owner and his son spent quite a few years on the restoration of this car, which they unfortunately lost interest in. Mechanically virtually everything has been done, but the body has not been touched.
There's still quite a bit to sort out. The fail-safe headlights are being problematic, interior door handles need to be replaced etc., but overall I'm pleased with the purchase and and love the way it drives. In the next while I'll be looking into seeing if I can rectify the oddly painted bumpers and black lower portion of the car.

Brandon

[Sea Ranch]

Thanks for sharing your story. The car is going to be great.

Now to the crass question: what would a Canadian (I'm on the wet/left coast) have to pay for a mostly-sorted, functional plus 2? I'm hoping to find one myself

Randy

[stugilmour]

Nice looking car Brandon.

Now to the crass question: what would a Canadian (I'm on the wet/left coast) have to pay for a mostly-sorted, functional plus 2? I'm hoping to find one myself

Randy

Hi Randy, welcome aboard. To get an idea of price, might want to call the dealer in Montreal with this one:

httphttp://www.driving.ca/buy-car/used/ ... make=Lotus

There was one in Langley this summer at a dealer; the guy who appraised my car after restoration found it as a comparable. Don't know it's condition, but was asking ~$30K and claimed nut 'n bolt restoration, although did not say frame was replaced. Looked very good in photo's though.

They seem to come up less often in Canada now, but three years ago I found several on the 'net ranging from ~$10K to $30K, generally indicated as "has issues" to "restored".

$20K is the current NADA "High Retail" on the Plus 2, but at that price I would expect to have to do some work.

Haven't seen many south of the border in a while either.

PM me if you want to stay in touch on things Lotus.

Might want to look at the All British Field Meet at VanDusen May 20th to see if anything is on offer in the parking lot or whatever? I see on their web site they are going to have a classic car sales area at 32nd and Oak, which would be a good place to look.

I should be down to the coast this summer, hopefully for VanDusen. I see they have a All British run up to Whistler
this year as well!

[Sea Ranch]

Thanks so much for jumping in, Stu!!

I do plan to go to the All British meet this spring, and I've established email contact with the BC Lotus Club.

And Brandon has been super helpful, too.

You guys are just all 'round scholars & gentlemen

Randy

[brandon]

Hello Randy,

I don?t take it as a crass question at all. In my experience the limited number of cars available in Canada, means the asking prices can be all over the map.

I paid $14k for mine and think this was fair all around. As described above the car was reasonably well sorted, but hadn?t had any sort of shake down. In fact the drive to the garage to have the safety (with me along) was the first time it had been on the road since 1978. There are a few items which still need to be sorted, and of course the paintwork is far from perfect. However it is definitely a runner, and I plan on logging more than a few miles this year. If it would be a help to see the list of what?s been done to mine, the ad should still be in the ?for sale? section here (search for ?Alf?).

The car mentioned by Stu at John Scotti Classics has been in AutoTrader for a few years now, so I don?t know that they?re in a huge hurry to sell it. Last I inquired he was asking $20k which I think is high.
I?ve seen 3 other +2s (Plus Twos) for sale in the last 8 months in Canada. The first is at KM Restorations in Orangeville (http://www.kmrestorations.com/Lotus/Elan+2rhd.html) and it is a convertible. There has been debate on these boards previously regarding the claim that it is a factory convertible, and there?s really no reason for me to comment further. I?ve been to see this car and feel more than confortable saying that mine is in much better order. Ken suggested he thought it was worth $22k, which was too rich for my blood. At that time it had a Spyder chassis and a motor which ?was unsuitable for the road? (read: race motor).
The other cars were advertised on kijiji, both in the Toronto area, and both between $14-$16k. One of these two was advertized as recently as a month ago, but wasn?t showing up last week.

I hope this has helped, and please feel free to drop me a PM. I?ll leave my phone number if you have any more questions. I only have the chance to check the site about once a week, so please excuse me in advance if I?m slow to get back to you.

Brandon

[Sea Ranch]

Thanks so much, Brandon.

You folks are a great community and very helpful.

Now to return regular programming, ie. Brandon's car . . .

If and when you do bodywork and paint, what might be your colour and will you do the bodywork and/or paint yourself?

I agree it's a good idea to log some miles on a car first, if you're planning to put money it and make it driveable.

[brandon]

It is definitely a when rather than if for the bodywork, but certainly it?s long way off. I?d like to concentrate on getting the S1 restored ?fully? before taking the +2 off the road.

As to the question of whether I?ll tackle it myself? I discovered during the resoration of my Mini that I do not enjoy bodywork. As such I?ll leave that for someone else, and concentrate on everything else.

I?m fairly certain the car will end up pistachio. A lot might change before I get to that point though, and the +2 looks great in so many colours. White was not my first choice, but having lived with it, it?s growing on me.

Brandon

[twincamman]

So. Are you parting out the mk 1??ed

[brandon]

So. Are you parting out the mk 1??ed

?????

[twincamman]

so you haven't decided if you are parting out the other car or you don't understand the question ???ed

[RedS4]

parting out

Do you mean "parting with" or maybe "farming out" ??

[cal44]

I don't get the question either............

I'm pretty sure the man stated he was going to restore the car, not part it out.

[twincamman]

OK ---ARE YOU GOING TO SELL THE PARTS FROM THE LOTUS THAT IS NOT DRIVABLE???ie 'part out ' --to sell the parts separately as opposed to selling said parts as a group as a complete car in parts ???If you are selling the parts of the car separately I need a GOOD dash pad [ the pad that goes on top of the dash ]==[beware they walk among us and breed] geees ay I thought you spoke Ontarien -- ed

[elansprint71]

Ummm... I don't understand the question either, please be gentle with me; I'm from Cumbria... Westmeria, well, a Kendalian; actually: which is near to Scotland but not part of either England, Scotland, or Wales. Or Europe.

[twincamman]

So you are an Ontarian ed