Yeah! What An Elite Is Really Worth...............at least.

[mkelite]

as per title.............

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/ ... &logcode=p

regards all
DC.

[richardw]

Looks like yours in a year or so's time!

[Emmerg]

Let's hope it sells. Looks really nice

[don.hasi]

"per title"

mh... looks like the title of the advert is wrong... should be a 2.0 Elite... shouldn´t it?

Beside that... looks to be in a stunning order.

[KevW]

Reminds me of the old model on my shelf

[alanbell]

Optimism beyond belief, its not worth the asking price, only what someone will pay and i doubt that figure will ever be known to us the public. definitely left the factory as a 2l and if someone fitted a 2.2 expect to buy a gear bx every 5k miles unless you drive as if it is an austin maxi.

[mkelite]

the 2.2 ltr bit may well have come up as he entered the advert online as it overpowers what u want to write. i sold my MG on there a few weeks ago and it starts putting in pre written spec that u do not really want in your ad. hence most ads are worded the same ...........

other than that - if everybody keeps saying an Elite, Eclat or Excel is never gonna be worth anything............then they wont.

these cars are worth every penny. lets be realistically optimistic and not negative. nearly every unique British sporting car or collectible has increased in value quite rightly so recently. no reason why Lotus Elite, Eclat and Excels and Elan M100 should not also increase.

regards all.
DC.

[alanbell]

they are increasing in value but not to this extent £6K would be an excellent result for that car but as i said i doubt the owner is going to tell us what he gets, the market is a harsh place, compare it to similar lotus on for sale on web sites, cars that are clearly better are only just pushing £8-9k none are over £10k. so lets keep expectations realistic. as for the £20k agreed value with fj, truely amazing, looking at a 1976 classic car magazine a brand new elite 501 was for sale for £8250 draw your own conclusion.

[mkelite]

new car price means nothing. lots of cars exceed their new price.

a can of worms. nevertheless i know what i believe and have seen over the last 40 years.
regards.
DC.

[alanbell]

the only lotus road cars that exceed their ex works price are those that preceded the elite and eclat. in regard to the car for sale i would like to see the documentation of the agreed value and some service history. the car is 1975 so a 912 lc must have been retro fitted or else the owner does not know that about which he is talking. buyer beware applies as it appears the car still has all the bad bits with the exception of the cable clutch and it is quite high mileage. the interior is ghastly, the seats clearly recovered in some sort of cord material. treat the agreed value with the greatest suspicion and if serious about a purchase check that club lotus advised FJ that the car was worth such an unbelievable pile of cash as £20k. my advice to members of this forum is stay away.

[don.hasi]

the only lotus road cars that exceed their ex works price are those that preceded the elite and eclat.

No Sir...

The S1 Elise is depending on condition and/or edition also priced over ex works price. Also the 340R is sensible priced and over a long time at one level.

[mkelite]

i do not think what i have written has been read carefully.

however everyone has their own opinion.

when i am dead and gone im sure someone somewhere will wake up to how advanced and unique the Elite is, some have already.

regards all.
DC.

[Simpatico]

If everything was related to driving experience, then yes the Elite should be up there, it beats all these other inflated 1970s "classics" like Ford Escorts etc hands down both in concept and delivery.

Sadly value is all about a host of other factors; emotional, nostalgic and irrational ones included. So people will always pour more money into a rusty Ford than a Lotus and dawdle to a few local shows each year.

Elites can also look very good from a short distance yet be perambulating disasters in reality. If this car drives as well as it looks in the very few photographs available, has a sound chassis and engine, it should make £6-8k easily.

I truly hope it is a good one, it may help change people's perceptions but if it's just another over described money pit it will do even more damage to a shaky reputation

[fueltheburn]

Some people never wake up

As for cars exceeding their original value, this happens every day of the week. It also happens with new cars where supply cannot meet demand.
It happened with:
the big mini when it was first released, the new Nissan GTR, Skoda yeti... etc etc.

I missed the market when I was rebuilding my Renault 5 turbo 2 by a year... It has gone up an average of £8000 a year since I sold it.. THAT HURTS!!!!

Supply and demand is the key, as people wake up to cars vanishing then demand coincides with reminiscing of days gone by and the cars that people saw and remembered in their youth. This is w3hat is currently happening with the excel, elite and éclat.
Fashion always comes full circle as well. I used to think the Elite looked a bit odd but now really like it. Mk1 and 2 escorts used to be worth pennies but now rallying has killed them off and now they are coveted and ultra expensive.

My equation is therefore

(Supply / demand) x (Actual cost x Nostalgia x fashion ) = £Market value

[alanbell]

in this case values don't matter, the ad is seriously flawed, i have checked, stay away