Excel project

[Big Jim]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 2804793941

[malcolm]

That's got to be painted magnolia leather. Normally a light blue with the grey cloth seat. It also appears to have a " mainly aluminium body" according to the ebay listing.

[MalcolmH]

It's painful seeing the state of some of these 'projects'.

Given the very reasonable price of well-sorted examples, when one is this far gone is a resto even viable?

[zummerman]

It's painful seeing the state of some of these 'projects'.

Given the very reasonable price of well-sorted examples, when one is this far gone is a resto even viable?

I think that, even in this case, a resto is always viable but would an average enthusiast want to do it? I suspect not. For me part of the attraction of owning a classic car is working on it; refurbishing, repairing, improving and so on but I also want to drive it and use it as the designer intended. So when I recently decided to look for another Lotus I was faced with two choices; spend £1 -1.5K on a 'project' needing another £2K or so spending to make it drivable and reasonable to live with or spend around £3Kish on a fairly well sorted example that I could drive home.

I chose the latter and around 1500 miles later I'm still driving - no mechanical problems so far - and I'm also enjoying the tinkering and fettling that goes with ownership. This is, of course, the economic argument: there must also be someone out there with the opposite view who would want to make a silk purse out of this sow's ear...

Ian

[Big Jim]

How about doing it 'rat look' .Those VW camper boys would pay a lot for a distressed look paint job . All it needs is some fake rust adding . Oh I was forgetting it has 'mainly aluminium body' .

[MalcolmH]

Yes, I suppose you're right. And on second look, the leather, seat facings & carpet all look pretty good (far as I can tell from the photos anyway).

However re Malcolm's comment about leather colour, I've seen many red Excels with magnolia leather and grey tweed facings. In fact the Calypso Red one in my mid-80's factory brochure has that exact scheme! And speaking of camper vans, didn't James May's Excel 'Camper Van' also have that combo?

The magnolia on this one does look a bit bright, so may have been 'refreshed' at some time. But I reckon it's the original colour. And I'm quite taken with the red carpet.

I'm also not sure they'd offer light blue leather with a red car? Sounds a bit gaudy. Not that the Lotus interior designers have ever shied away from gaudiness! I realise Malcolm's Essex probably has bright red leather with blue paintwork, but those are both equally strong (and complementary) colours. Whereas light blue leather with Calypso sounds a bit sick-making. Though no offence to anyone who has it!

[Big Jim]

My seats

[Lotus-e-Clan]

Do you remember that grey was fashionable in the eighties? Our headquarters (a Unilever biotech company) had a total refurb in grey in the mid eighties (grey furniture, carpets, paint etc) .

So although the grey looks a bit odd with the cream leather they would have wanted to reflect popular trend at the time.

[fueltheburn]

I can see only 2 options for this car.
1. Parts car
2. Full nut and bolt restoration

Bringing this back to the road would require a lot of effort.
It makes perfect sense if someone is prepared to do a full nut and bolt rebuild because everything will need replacing anyway and it saves money in the first place buying a cheap one. No sense paying top dollar for one if you are going to refresh it anyway.

Not sure how reusable/sellable many of these parts would be after this long without use if it were to be salvaged for parts.

[Simpatico]

I have found paint/cosmetics to be the killer on budget restorations (i.e. ones where the costs cannot be too far from end value). Everyone knows someone who can "blow in a corner", very few companies have the facilities or want the inconvenience of a whole/old car. The costs quoted can spiral more quickly than an engine rebuild

When I took on the white Eclat a few weeks later a very promising Excel passed by on these pages which would have been a much better proposition simply by being "finished" on the outside, and for a price not much over that of a decent respray.

However there is also the emotional element where one seeks to "rescue" a car, forgetting conveniently that it is just a transient pile of nuts and bolts and not a child or animal!

[KevW]

I've noticed it seems that getting a good paintjob is becoming very expensive these days.

As for your white Éclat, when I think it would have been cheaper and far easier for you to break it it's great to see it back on the road as one of the finest examples remaining.

[MalcolmH]

I took a car (not a Lotus) about 5 years ago to a renowned and very competent local sprayer to have a wing sprayed-in. At the time he would have been in his early 70's, and a car painter all his life.

Interestingly, there was a very nicely painted white Excel among the cars in his yard. I was considering a bit of spraying here & there on my blue SA, so I commented on the Excel and asked about my one.

He said "No offence, but I wouldn't touch another one of them with a bargepole!" Apparently that was one the customer was restoring on a budget. They'd agreed a ball-park figure based on the customer prepping the bodywork, but due to problems - which the sprayer attributed partly to it being fibreglass, and partly the customer's allegedly poor prep - the job needed re-doing several times and ran to a figure the customer couldn't pay.

Result: a car the sprayer lost money on, so held onto and didn't seem to know what to do with. And a car someone probably put loads of blood, sweat and tears into, but no longer had!

[lambert.john]

Has anybody considered a "vinyl wrap" when the paintwork gets this ratty? I gather these can be had for little more than £1000.

[fueltheburn]

....yes.... but this one is going to require just a wee bit more than a wrap after years of being stationary
Just look at the items containing fluid...header tank caps says it all to me...rust/ silt and corrosion.

Not to be taken lightly

[MalcolmH]

Thinking about Jim's 'rat look' comment, this car does actually look like those 'distressed' model cars you see in gift shops & department stores nowadays.

A lot of work must go into making those look so old and worn. And for some lucky buyer, here's one with all that already done!