Lotus Excel SE. Registered April 1991

[lxtwin]

It says damaged and for spares.

http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C732139

There are no photos; but if you are in Maidenhead it might be worth a look

[amarshall]

"This is a Special Edition model and number 7 of only 25 made. These were a Commemorative selection of cars built to celebrate 25 years of Lotus."

Errr - where do we begin with that ?

SE means Special Equipment in Lotus speak.
7 of 25 ? Commemorative ?
25 years of Lotus in 1991 ? I think they were around for a little while before 1966.

Not aware of any such limited edition run. 40 Celebrations (allegedly) were made for 25 years at Hethel.

If it *is* a Celebration, it's sad to know that one has suffered this fate.

[shaunw]

From the description I'd bet my last pound that its a Celebration. What a shame

Shaun

[rus2801]

It was for sale on ebay with pictures. It was a Celebration but is now sold. Had the whole right hand wing missing back to inner wing, and the bumper, spoiler and bonnet missing. The tan interior did not look to bad. Lets hope the new owner has the damage repaired and not broken for spares.

Kevin

[HC180]

http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C733541

[Hawaiis0]

Back on Fleabay for 3K. A lot required to recover the 20 years of storage decay - let alone the scratch to the front wing

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1991-LOTUS-EC ... Sw-tNXHpay

[CHRISYD]

one pic looks like the chassis is bent too. to me, not worth 3k.

[Lotus Jim]

I'd second the chassis looking kippered!

[Skyedriver]

Seems to have been something of a flurry of "restoration projects" on ebay over the last few days and while I might be prepared to take on a project if I had the room and didn't have another underway at present, the price of some of these when you look at the work required versus the selling price of a decent one, it just doesn't make sense.

[amarshall]

Seems to have been something of a flurry of "restoration projects" on ebay over the last few days and while I might be prepared to take on a project if I had the room and didn't have another underway at present, the price of some of these when you look at the work required versus the selling price of a decent one, it just doesn't make sense.

It does if you're one of those optimists who think prices are due to go up!

Supply & demand....

[mkelite]

.........values/prices will go up. keep saying they wont - doesn't help values when everyone looks up every word said on the internet today. apart from property and land over the 10 to 15 year period which almost always gives a return, there is not much point leaving any money in a bank today for interest. that's why so many are punting investing in rarer cars whatever they are. sure there will be another down turn but investment is in the longer term. you wont loose that way.
Lotus enthusiasts are a bit different they buy the car for the car being a Lotus - never the less - theres gold in them there hills!

regards.
DC.

[Skyedriver]

Don't dispute that prices for good ones are on the up and deservedly so when you see some of the prices asked for some other tat. I sold my MoT'd runner with good mechanicals but untidy interior two years ago and would think that I would struggle to get it back for what I sold it for.
But these cars offered for sale or at least some of them look like they'd need a lot more money throwing at them than the difference between asking price and realistic final price fully restored, at the moment any way.
Maybe that the new purchaser just stashes the purchase away in a barn for ten years then offers it for sale again in the same condition.
There has been talk of a price bubble on classic cars and that it may burst at any time however i suspect that bubble relates more to top end stuff - Astons, Jags, Ferrari etc
Strange how classy british sports cars sometimes struggle to reach the prices that foreign tat and mundane british saloons oft go for. Thinking bog standard 4 door escorts, etc
Often think about another Excel, more practical than many sports cars but, I'm back with TVR again and the prices of the old Tasmin Wedges is slowly rising but very slowly, The Chimaera ditto but the Griffith which hit stratosphere a few years ago now seems to have stabilised or dropped.
Of course if price do rise it makes it more difficult for any newcomers to the marque, who may want to enjoy good classic motoring at a decent price.

[shaunw]

The biggest problem IMHO is how few genuinely superb examples there are that get offered for sale. I can count the number of stand out examples I've seen over the last 7 years on one hand . There are plenty advertised as superb but very few actually are. I wonder if a lot of people go looking to buy one but give up when they realise that in the real world 5k doesn't get you a genuine minter like the mags etc suggest.