ALL CARS ON EBAY.

[Specky]

I could work out the Original Registration, but the claim that it was the first car to leave Hethel could be well founded.

Here's my reasoning, all the mules were destroyed or kept until a much later date.

The Pre production cars were retained, as were the initial build cars. ( sold off over a period of time)

That leaves the normal production run, which this car is. As a point of note it's a very early car, I don't know what happened with the very first "production run" cars as I have never opted to find out about them. ( may be I should...)

Was it the first car off the production line...no
Is it PP15.... no

If anyone knows, Andy at Lotus may be able to clear the muddy waters.


TTFN

[Specky]

Stop press...I've made an error based on assumption.

I've found out more....

It's a car I've been searching for....

But the VIN still seems odd to be the car that it's suppossed to be.

I'll let you know when I've passed the information to Wiganboy.

TTFN

[Rambo]

Firstly, where would be the best place selling it? On this forum or just on eBay?

On here and on EBay, maximise your exposure.

Don't forget PissedonHeads as well

[clemo]

Firstly, where would be the best place selling it? On this forum or just on eBay?

Don't forget PissedonHeads as well

is pi$$head still free?

[Rambo]

IIRC wasn't this car up for sale a few years ago?

I'm fairly sure I saw this car advertised on PissedonHeads between Sept and Dec. last year.

There were also a couple of pre production/Earls Court show ones including, IIRC, PP14 (Zante)

[Rambo]

Firstly, where would be the best place selling it? On this forum or just on eBay?

Don't forget PissedonHeads as well

is pi$$head still free?

No idea Clemo. It could be as a lot of private sales and dealers seem to use it

[addict]

yep piston heads is free to private sellers

[nyssa7]

Stop press...I've made an error based on assumption.

I've found out more....

It's a car I've been searching for....

But the VIN still seems odd to be the car that it's suppossed to be.

I'll let you know when I've passed the information to Wiganboy.

TTFN

Are you able to share any info yet?

Thanks

[wiganboy]

If its any help to you all, the fella who emailed be originaly about the car was someone who goes by atthews123 on eBay, and this is what he wrote to me:

Just a little history for you, this car was the first M100 to leave Hethel and was the demonstration car for London Lotus Centre, then Lotus's largest dealer and where I was Managing Director. Get it a good home It's a little bit of history and could tell a story or two !!!!

[clemo]

If its any help to you all, the fella who emailed be originaly about the car was someone who goes by atthews123 on eBay, and this is what he wrote to me:

Just a little history for you, this car was the first M100 to leave Hethel and was the demonstration car for London Lotus Centre, then Lotus's largest dealer and where I was Managing Director. Get it a good home It's a little bit of history and could tell a story or two !!!!

without wishing to sound rude much of this is hearsay without the original registration number .. both myself and specky are into heritage cars .many cars claim to be the first or the show car i know your car is an early one , but how early... i could actually be interested in buying it ... what is the original plate?

kind regards

clemo

[Specky]

Anyone on the forum purchase the car?

Anyone have a bid?

TTFN

[Jonesylad]

Hi Guys,
Been watching Elans selling for a few weeks and feel like taking the plunge and buying one.
Its not my prefered colour but the price seems ok-ish.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lotus-Elan-M1 ... 27c4a70412

Ive agreed to view it this week.
I was wondering if any of you have had a look at this car or know anything about it, the chap says he took it in part ex in January but he's not a dealer.
Its right on my doorstep, so I'd be silly not to have a little peak at it.
The car came from the Essex area.

Thanks in advance
Paul.

[Artaban]

Paul,
Worth a look but I wouldn't buy it at that price. I would expect it to have 12 months MOT and all the faults sorted. Also no gaps in the service schedule. Call me a cynic but he may be trying to sell it before it needs another MOT which he knows will be expensive. The cheapest thing about owning a Lotus is buying it; believe me I'm on my 4th.

Its good to see several Elans so you can tell which is good value when you come across one. The personalised plate is an MOT failure to start with; incorrect spacing.

Andy H (Dumfries)

[nyssa7]

Is it just me that is a snob when in comes to buying cars? The adage that the person you are buying from is at least as important as the car always holds true for me

So why am I not surprised that this http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/251017305751? ... 1423.l2649 has been relisted after reaching £2300 (now that was a shock) at the first attempt?

Never heard of capital letters, punctuation? The Queen's English? I admit to bidding £500 first time round, it looks like a very unloved car but once it past £1000 that was me out of the way

Wondering if the "time waster" was the buyer or the seller in this case - or just a case of bidding his own price up

[theelanman]

Id probably only give him £500 too.......
Hes knackered it.....interior shot....hood ripped....engine bored out?......had a respray (probably a cheap one to cover damage or cracking)....wrong wheels........
Itll need a couple of thou spending on it at least......
& "a qwiker car i av neva drove"......ffs.....lol
The wild claim at the end stating this car will double in price 'coz lotus are ded good now'......pmsl

Id steer clear....

[dapinky]

Paul,
Worth a look but I wouldn't buy it at that price. I would expect it to have 12 months MOT and all the faults sorted. Also no gaps in the service schedule. Call me a cynic but he may be trying to sell it before it needs another MOT which he knows will be expensive. The cheapest thing about owning a Lotus is buying it; believe me I'm on my 4th.

Its good to see several Elans so you can tell which is good value when you come across one. The personalised plate is an MOT failure to start with; incorrect spacing.

Andy H (Dumfries)

Just a couple of (unimportant) observations - the MOT bit shouldn't be a huge issue - it has got a few months to go, and i wouldn't expect to get a new one before a sale is done as who knows how long that could take - that said, if i were looking at it, i would expect the seller to agree to getting the car MOT'd after the auction (or sale), so it would be ready to go for a year, and with the arangement that if it needs work, then either i walk away, you sort it out or you drop the price accordingly - if they don't like it, walk away 'coz they probably know it's likely to fail.
Particularly since the 'new' MOT test standards came out this year - items which were not previosly tested are now included, so if (only for example) the inner CV boots are worn, and he knew about it last year, it would have passed the MOT, this year it's a 'testable item'. Now there is a lot of grief amongt the MOT testing community, with inconsistant standards being applied, but the official VOSA line is "For 2012, anything on the new testable list should be examined, and if not of a suitable standard, should be Pass & Advise, NOT a Failure"...

Also the index plates would NOT fail an MOT on the spacing - yes, it's illegal, no it's not an MOT test point - who said English law made sence

[Aoki Magic Pants]

Is it just me that is a snob when in comes to buying cars? The adage that the person you are buying from is at least as important as the car always holds true for me

So why am I not surprised that this http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/251017305751? ... 1423.l2649 has been relisted after reaching £2300 (now that was a shock) at the first attempt?

Never heard of capital letters, punctuation? The Queen's English? I admit to bidding £500 first time round, it looks like a very unloved car but once it past £1000 that was me out of the way

Wondering if the "time waster" was the buyer or the seller in this case - or just a case of bidding his own price up

Poor Elan, who would do such a thing to a car!

[Nickydee]

Is it just me that is a snob when in comes to buying cars? The adage that the person you are buying from is at least as important as the car always holds true for me

So why am I not surprised that this http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/251017305751? ... 1423.l2649 has been relisted after reaching £2300 (now that was a shock) at the first attempt?

Never heard of capital letters, punctuation? The Queen's English? I admit to bidding £500 first time round, it looks like a very unloved car but once it past £1000 that was me out of the way

Wondering if the "time waster" was the buyer or the seller in this case - or just a case of bidding his own price up

Poor Elan, who would do such a thing to a car!

This one of the best eBay adds I've seen for while, a wonderful spiel full of pithy prose which make any buyer overflow with confidence. I quote

" but like i say it as been rebored to a racing engine oh and f..ck me any trial welcome and bare in mind it flew through its last test anyway please dont ask me my buy it now price cause there aint 1 the only way i would sell this car b4 the ending is if you check this car on a test drive then talk realistic money .... also please note all ebay fees would av to b paid obviously thats down to me but lets b straight come and test drive it and u will c regards daz "

Presumably the re-bore was required to restore power after the Catalytic Converter was fitted to an SE. No mention of the ABS,EBD,CC, sunroof which I imagine is an oversight cuz all dem elans cum wiv dat innit.

Well f**K me Daz me old china I afraid I have to say "No Thanks"

[Nickydee]

Is it just me that is a snob when in comes to buying cars? The adage that the person you are buying from is at least as important as the car always holds true for me

So why am I not surprised that this http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/251017305751? ... 1423.l2649 has been relisted after reaching £2300 (now that was a shock) at the first attempt?

Never heard of capital letters, punctuation? The Queen's English? I admit to bidding £500 first time round, it looks like a very unloved car but once it past £1000 that was me out of the way

Wondering if the "time waster" was the buyer or the seller in this case - or just a case of bidding his own price up

Poor Elan, who would do such a thing to a car!

This one of the best eBay adds I've seen for while, a wonderful spiel full of pithy prose which would make any buyer overflow with confidence. I quote

" but like i say it as been rebored to a racing engine oh and f..ck me any trial welcome and bare in mind it flew through its last test anyway please dont ask me my buy it now price cause there aint 1 the only way i would sell this car b4 the ending is if you check this car on a test drive then talk realistic money .... also please note all ebay fees would av to b paid obviously thats down to me but lets b straight come and test drive it and u will c regards daz "

Presumably the re-bore was required to restore power after the Catalytic Converter was fitted to an SE. No mention of the ABS,EBD,CC, sunroof which I imagine is an oversight cuz all dem elans cum wiv dat innit.

Well f**K me Daz me old china I afraid I have to say "No Thanks"

[epipete]

Ain't dat 'no fanks'!