Lotus Sunbeam Restoration

[ACAdvent]

Hi!

We are in the process of restoring a Lotus Sunbeam for the original owner and are struggling for some basic parts.

In particular we need to find some door and tailgate hinges; somehow these were lost from the car when a previous restoration attempt was started and we need them to ensure that the door shuts are correct before carrying on with other shell work.

Does anyone happen to know of a source for parts like this please?

There will be plenty of other bits we will need and finding a reliable source for these would make life much easier!

Advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks for listening!

[MPx]

My advice would be to join the Sunbeam Lotus Owners Club (SLOC).  They were invaluable to me when I had mine and are good blokes so I even stayed a member for a decade after I sold the car attending several of their meets in other Lotus cars.  They have a huge wealth of knowledge on these cars and will be aware of anywhere selling the type of parts you need.  Their mag also carries ads for places doing stuff like replacement body panels and the like.  The club have an active committee chaired by Perry and he and others are happy to take calls etc from members to offer help.  I dont think anyone knows more about the LC than their archivist Graeme. http://www.sunbeamlotus.com/contact/

[ACAdvent]

Many thanks; that's great advice and I will follow up on this for sure.

While this particular car is in need of complete restoration it has an uninterrupted ownership history so is well worth the effort; just a shame that some of the parts have been misplaced or are so far gone that we have to look for replacements.

The shell went through some preparation to work out the extent of the corrosion and the doors were probably taken off at that point so maybe that's where the hinges went...

We are now at the point of replacing floor boot and debating rear quarter panels so making sure the doors are lined up on their hinges is pretty crucial!

Thanks for your prompt reply which is really appreciated.

[MPx]

Always good to hear one of these cars is to be saved - they do tend to rot out pretty quickly, but are otherwise wonderful cars.  My guess is you will need the quarter panels!  Its quite likely that Graeme will know your car/history especially if any of the owners were SLOC members.  What reg?  Mine was AFN 888V which the DVLA have down as on SORN for the last few years.

[sunbeamgls]

Suggest you join Sunbeam Lotus Owners' Club and Avenger and Sunbeam Owners' Club

[Escape]

https://lotusbits.com/motorsport/ have a Sunbeam they use for rally demos. I'm sure they have plenty of good advice to share as well.

Don't hesitate to post some pictures once it starts coming together. Always nice to see one of the rarer Lotus being brought back to life. 👍

Filip