Respray

[Essex]

Paintwork on the Elan is looking poor with lots of stone chips and lacquer peeling on the spoiler.
I doubt that I'd ever recoup the cost of a respray given the mileage (284k miles) and I do like not having to worry about leaving it anywhere like Tesco car park but I'd still like it looking a bit smarter. Have thought about wrapping but doubt it would be much cheaper than paint.
So, does anybody know somewhere good that could paint the car at a reasonable cost? I can't strip it down unfortunately.
Thanks in advance

[Rambo]

A wrap might actually be your best, and cheapest, option. I normally see another M100 owner at Silverstone classics and CC every year who had his done about 6 years ago and it still looks good. I think it was a company on the south coast and it cost approx £1.2-1.5k

[Saltire]

I tend to agree with Rambo. Painting a glass fibre car is not a task for the inexperienced sprayer, or the faint hearted owner. At the age of our Elans, the paint is more than likely to have crazed significantly, and that will require time and skill to rectify. If it’s not done properly, the subsequent paint coat will crack and craze relatively quickly.

Secondly, GRP bodies are inherently more flexible than steel ones, so the paint shop needs to ensure the paint is made as flexible as possible; this is usually achieved by adding plasticiser to the paint mix.

If I really wanted a good and lasting repaint on my Elan, I’d go to someone like Option1 in Bromsgrove, but the price will be in line with their skill levels! Can’t hurt to get a quote though.

[Essex]

Thanks chaps
I hope to go to CC this year so, assuming it's still on, perhaps will be able to see the wrapped Elan.
Amazingly the bodywork doesn't have any gel coat crazing but the stone chips will (I assume?) need filling before a wrap is applied. If that is the case then I suspect I'm into more than £1-1.5k anyway. That said, I've wound up my family by suggesting that if I did get it wrapped it would be 'chrome purple'!

Frank at Option One has done some very good work for me in the past on an Esprit but I strongly suspect the cost of him doing it would be more than the car is actually worth. i guess it's a problem of values being so low despite being really great cars.