Searching for my old Elise S1

[P49HMC]

Afternoon all!

 

I am not sure if you may be able to assist at all, I have been searching for my old Lotus Elise S1 registration P49 HMC.

 

I purchased this car on my 21st birthday some 19 years ago and started looking for it just before my birthday this year.  I managed to find it on a site for sale but unfortunately am not sure when it was advertised or if it sold.  The site did not allow for contact with the seller directly.

 

The reason for contacting you about this is the car was located in Meopham, Kent based on the advert, anyone on here by any chance?

 

I have seen that it was recently MOT'd on 14th September and is currently declared SORN.

 

Any help you could provide to try and locate the owner and get me in contact would be appreciated as I would love to purchase the car from them if they are still selling it.

 

http://car-from-uk.com/sale.php?id=9007

[P49HMC]

I just found on the MOT history page that in fact it is around the Bristol area and has been for the last 2-3 years although has only done around 15 miles so not used.

Any of you from the Bristol area know the owner?

I have emailed the MOT center to see if they can assist at all but any assistance I can get from anybody will be good at this point.

Thanks

[P49HMC]

Finally found it and have secured a deposit on it, just got to get to Bristol in the next 10 days to finalize it all.

 

[Neal H]

Well done!

Care to share a few more details?

[Stuart Monument]

Well done ! Nice to be reunited

[P49HMC]

Neil H, What would you like to know?

Here are the pics of the car sent by the dealer selling it.  I ended up finding the address of the garage that MOTd it a few weeks ago, emailed them asking if they could contact the owner which they did (or at least the dealer that has it stored for the owner), he said they have only just put it up for sale and a deposit would secure it so thats what happened.

It has been in storage for the last 3 years and only taken out for servicing and MOT so 15 miles in that time.  He said it has had £3k of cylinder head work by Paul Matty.

Basically it looks the same and is all original as the day I sold it some 17 odd years ago I think it was.

Can't wait to collect it although the long drive home from Bristol will not be a very enjoyable one 250 odd motorway miles!

Any pointers you have regarding storage etc. would be helpful as my plan will be to use it during October occasionally and then store it away for winter.

4 hours ago, Stuart Monument said:

Well done ! Nice to be reunited

Indeed it will be, I have been looking out for it for a year or so and focusing on it since before my 40th in August.

I picked the car up original as new on my 21st birthday back in August 1996 so really a cool story all around for me.

[andyj007]

wow!   " picked the car up original as new on my 21st birthday back in August 1996"  

this is just such a cool reunion story, id probably cry when i collected it:)  and what a car on your 21st too.....  

any other old pics from when you first had it?

 

[P49HMC]

I sure do!  I have been looking for the car for a while and it was my 40th this year so a shame I couldn't find it for that birthday as well!

 

This was the reason I sold the Elise after about 2 1/2 years of ownership, I had an S2 on order but then spotted this at the dealership and couldn't resist.  I then had that for another couple of years before family took over..

Shame I didn't have the funds to keep the Exige but I always said I would love to have the Elise back for the top down fun driving rather than the license losing fun of the Exige 

[Neal H]

Now to track down X46 NNO. I suspect it may cost rather more to buy that one back!

[P49HMC]

I would imagine so yes, I have looked and the mot expired in August it was last in Bedford based on the mot history

[P49HMC]

So got the car yesterday, very strange looking through the paperwork that came with it bringing back old memories.

I didn't remember how long I actually had the car it was 4 years in the end and 14,000 odd miles, the car was then traded in and sold by the dealer to a guy in Neopham Kent who had it for the next 14 years until it was sold in and around the end of 2014\early 2015.  The new owner transported it to Bristol, had £2k of work done plus some other bits, put 4 new AD08 tyres on it but never drove it.  Now I am the owner again...Finally!

It needs some TLC which started with the gear linkage bush being rotten when we collected it, (short term fix applied to get us home some 160 miles), new linkage kit ordered and now booked in to Hangar 111 on 21st for a thorough check over.

Plenty of scrapes and stone chips to get sorted but checking the mechanics first, there is a droning noise above 40 even when not in gear which could be wheel bearings but cannot be sure plus anything else they find.

[Bibs]

Good to see it's in a safe pair of hands again, @Hangar 111 are excellent too so good choice

[Hangar 111]

4 hours ago, P49HMC said:

 and now booked in to Hangar 111 on 21st for a thorough check over.

Good to speak to you earlier, Peter.  Look forward to having the car here to ensure it is in top working order

Dave

[Neal H]

well worth giving it some TLC as I guess it's going to be a keeper this time

 

[P49HMC]

That is certainly the plan unless something financially happens.

Taken it to the storage tonight and the gear linkage is going again so good job we made it last night, now waiting for the kit to arrive to change that before the 21st.

[P49HMC]

Out of interest I put together an excel file with the details of the history I have for the car, still need to update the MOTs but it shows the work carried out so far and the cost based on the invoices.

See attached file

Interesting reading albeit scary too.

Elise History.xlsx

[P49HMC]

Gear linkage replaced all okay (much better now), also checked and believe it is the drivers side front wheel bearing that is causing the droning noise.  Fingers crossed nothing more than that.

[Bibs]

If you're planning on pressing in a new bearing (Timkin I believe), the bearing will need to be chilled and the hub gently heated, it's super tight! 

[P49HMC]

One for hangar 111 I think 

[KAS-118]

Congratulations on getting your old car back 

[ramjet]

Reunited with an old flame.

Sounds like a movie.

[P49HMC]

It has been a mission to find it shame I didn't find it in the nicer weather though!

Looking forward to getting it checked over properly so that I can establish my list of things to do for next year.

I hope to be able to bring the car to a meet in November once Hangar 111 have had it and checked it over (fingers crossed) nothing major needs doing other than the wheel bearing.

[P49HMC]

On 10/1/2017 at 16:08, Neal H said:

Now to track down X46 NNO. I suspect it may cost rather more to buy that one back!

Believe it or not I have been contacted by the current owner of my old Exige on the playground!

No chance that I will buy it back but would be great to see it again.

[Neal H]

It'll be like a family reunion

 

[P49HMC]

He is currently having a 2.2 K20 engine fitted to it