The Lotus Grand Tourers

thank you David................very best wishes.
DC.

+1 for the Elite .... mine was a Black 501 ...and the Beans gearbox's closely spaced gear change was a joy to use (I had no 'box issues apart from a noisy input shaft bearing)

My only concern would be the non-galvanised original chassis but if originality is important then I can understand why the original chassis appeals (other stuff can be easily returned to origin) .

mkelite, thanks for posting about the Elite sale, it proves that if a car is genuinely good it can sell for good money.

I don't believe reliability has much impact on the values of older cars because part of owning certain classic cars (and for some owners it's even part of the fun) is living with their weaknesses and accepting them as part the ownership package. Of course not everybody wants to own a classic car on those terms but I've met plenty of people who find particular satisfaction in owning quirky or fragile cars that require more attention than average.

Shaun

shaunw wrote: I don't believe reliability has much impact on the values of older cars because part of owning certain classic cars (and for some owners it's even part of the fun) is living with their weaknesses and accepting them as part the ownership package.
Shaun

Thats definitely not me! I dont believe any car cant be improved for reliabilty.
To improve a cars reliabilty, safety or efficiency should be a way of life and development.
Thats why the eclat s2.2 was born

Yer but in the bad old good old days (1950/60s) a trip from Warwickshire to Cornwall once a year was a proper adventure - - family of 4 in a Ford 'sit-up-and-beg' Pop taking 2 days with a scary overnight sleep in the car on Bodmin Moor - 45mph max speed at which point it swayed and wandered - so 30-40 mph was more like it. Spare (10 bhp I think) engine rebuilt once per year and changed the week before summer hols -so we kept fingers crossed that Dad hadn't messed up the rebuild!

Relatively-speaking, our Elite 501 was space-age-reliable - and VERY fast!

i was wrong about the bids for which i apologise, i must say that the old aying about fools and money comes to mind.
dc or mkelite i have only ever criticised cars i do not,unlike you, find it necessary to resort to childlike personal insults.
all the knowledge i have about elites and eclats comes from 16 years of unhappy ownership of a 79 elite, 12k miles and three gearboxes, all professioally rebuilt. not even pre war reliable. . you are right that i don't know you and i hope my ignorance continues.

i shall not post on this thread again, its a waste of time, but consider this , when launched the elite was £500 cheaper than a ferrari dino i wonder what the difference is now, perhaps £50k.

fueltheburn wrote:

shaunw wrote: I don't believe reliability has much impact on the values of older cars because part of owning certain classic cars (and for some owners it's even part of the fun) is living with their weaknesses and accepting them as part the ownership package.
Shaun

Thats definitely not me! I dont believe any car cant be improved for reliabilty.
To improve a cars reliabilty, safety or efficiency should be a way of life and development.
Thats why the eclat s2.2 was born

It's not for me either and I couldn't agree more about improvements. My point is that not everybody shares that point of view and in their world originality is key, warts n all !