Eclat 507

[silverfrost]

Well you are not going to loose money on it Robert if you sell it on. 

[oilmagnet477]

Dan,

That all depends - if he sells it to me (so it comes back to Norfolk), I'll only give him £1019!

[silverfrost]

I am sure Robert can live with a of a quid, as long as you pay his petrol money   A least we know the car is in a good place and has a bright future which ever way Robert goes 

[Farmer Bob]

 

Getting a sence of Deja Vu, I need a coffee after an early start so will report later

[silverfrost]

Looks really nice in those pictures Robert, paintwork look spot on , I like the pin stripe detailing also 

[oilmagnet477]

You don't hang about - beginning to wish I'd bid for it now!

[Farmer Bob]

• OK, so I have had a good look  over the car now, it is as I had hoped really. Owned by a chap who had wanted to use it a is daily runabout and so had sent it to a garage to fit an engine. They had done some research an come up with the vauxhall slant engine, but run out of money I think and had to sell the car.
• 

The body seems good to me, there is no star cracking anywhere and the shut lines are as good as you could hope. The paint is not as good as it looks in the photos and I could not use it as it is. It was a red car originally, there are signs of this all over now and makes me wonder if changing the colour of a car is a good idea.

The interior is as good as could be expected and complete, just a bit grubby in places. However if the car was red originally it must have been replaced at some point ( I presume red car and blue seats would not have been good even in the seventies!), does the trim look Lotus or has it been made up? It has electric windows but not electric mirrors, no air-con or power steering.

The chassis not galvanised as you would expect but looks servicable and certainly better than the one from my elite. It will require the body off to paint the chassis properly if it to be kept for any time. 

I think the garage fitting the engine were struggling to make engine mounts, however I noticed the engine mount fittings are exactly the same as the 907 engine mounts and I suspect these would suffice. The engine fits directly onto the gearbox and does run but it is just not suitable really. There seem no point in throwing money at something that is not good enough.

So, where to go? The eclat will get a sheet and a corner of the workshop. It looks like a good project to me but I have a couple of other cars to finish first. That does give me time to find a suitable engine, a lotus 907 would be the obvious choice and a 912 would be better. However I do have a bit of a penchant for the v8 and that seems like another opertunity. We will see, it will though be much easier 2nd time around!

[silverfrost]

Look really nice Robert,  shame that the respray has been spoiled by the door shuts and engine bay etc, but you cant cant have everything,  especially at the price you got it for,  regarding the interior i am no lotus expert but those look retrimmed imo.  Not to my taste, but good clean units non the less.   Regarding the engine i would of thought the 2,.0 lotus four pot due to the price as they can still be picked up on the cheap compaired to the 2.2 now,  V8 wise another good idea as this is an ideal candidate to convert 

[phoenix]

This is an excellent investment. Put that grand and a bit on a bookshelve and come back after 10 years and that bag of sand won't look the same. However put that beautiful car under a sheet in the corner of your workshop and take that cover off after ten years and (all going well as history shows, I hope and pray), you will have a grin on your face a foot long. It should make sense. I don't understand why more people are not smashing their piggy banks to go out and grab a bargain. Come on LOTUS enthusiasts.

[silverfrost]

Roddy,  I think a lot are to honest, the elites,eclats and excels are not hanging around for as long as they used to,  Thats it what i personally see anyway,  I am sure they would get snapped up even quicker if folks had more room to store stuff like this,  I would love an elite or eclat for that matter,  but storage is the drama, its balancing act of wanting one, but knowing it will be in line until the esprits are done, or having to pay more to get hold of one when i know i have the room and time to restore one.  

[Farmer Bob]

Today was a good day, sold the Jag and collected another Lotus!

I bought an Elite this week on the Bay as it had an engine that I thought would come in for the Eclat. I had thought about alternative engines but decided this would be easiest way to complete the car.

The car looked pretty ropey but fairly complete and would be good for spares.

However, on arriving to pick up the Elite, a 501, it was much better than expected. Paint is relatively good and perfectly useable, originaly red but now metallic red, apparently a Lotus colour?. Chassis looks really good, the previous owner (who runs a garage) had fitted new brakes done the bushes, new stainless exhaust, polished wheels and newish tyres. The engine starts and runs sweetly apparently, the car drives but presurises the radiator header tank will at least need a head gasket. 3 previous owners, 2 since '77 and a 76 model so tax exempt.

If I am honest I think I like the vinyl roof, after not refitting one to the gold Elite.

I also think that the Elie is the car for me so if anybody would like to buy the Eclat then get in touch.

[oilmagnet477]

lol Robert, I thought it was you

Why oh Why didn't the seller of the car throw a bucket of water over it and sell it at its full potential. IIRC you got that for a song. Well done - looks lovely.

Mine has a vinyl roof in very good nick and I really like it, however, the Eclat doesn't and I like that too.

Son prefers the Eclat so I guess it is very much horses for courses.

I fancy a visit if you're up for it at some point in the future?

cheers Ant

[ChrisJ]

That looks really nice

[Marnold47]

Update on the Eclat.  
 

Has an original lotus engine. 
Wiring loom is back to original and ALL electrics work.  
Headlights pop up and down. 
The interior carpet and headliner new. 
stainless exhaust.  An took the stupid spoiler off, painted the bumpers black again  

she’s going well. Starts on the button.