FHC decapitate / DHC value differences

[ivor badger]

Following from comments above. What are the differences between a 26 chassis and a 36/45 chassis?

[Maulden7]

Mazzini wrote:

The long boot hinges were a one off Lotus casting, on type 26 cars they helped anchor the hardtop when fitted. They are available from a few sources, but possibly only in ali not chromed brass, unless somebody knows different.


Any idea on the sources?
With apologies to Sandy for the blatant thread hijack
Malcolm

These hinges are made of brass & will rechrome perfectly. The two fixing bolts are only screwed in & can be easily removed / replaced. No need to buy new (which may well need chroming anyway)

[englishmaninwales]

These hinges are made of brass & will rechrome perfectly. The two fixing bolts are only screwed in & can be easily removed / replaced. No need to buy new (which may well need chroming anyway)

Unfortunately the bores in the outer brass lugs have badly worn rather than the hinge pins, resulting in a sloppy fit of the boot lid. Might repair with a (much) larger hinge pin.

[el-saturn]

there's no doubts and weren't any to begin with. the only confusion i created was when i went thru the swiss mot approach to these cars. mine was imported as a coupe 36/4982 (FHC) but THEY gave her a new untrue status: OPEN WITH HARDTOP - which i made become TRUE: bought a s3 or s4 drop head body in norfolk for 3000? and 300? freight and voila: we have a state legal metamorphosis from a to b!...... and here it never was a FHC! sandy PS: only structural addition: a saftey devices cage

[Spyder fan]

Sandy,
With regards to your original question, the value depends on whether you are buying or selling

It looks like you took advantage of a mistake by the Swiss registrars and now have a really nice DHC all legal and proper for your country.

Things change over time, it used to be that if you chopped the roof and made a car a DHC that you would add value because everyone buying an Elan wanted a convertible as their first choice, now people see the "value" of an original car, so maybe a chopped type 36 is worth no more than an original type 36, Not many cars are original any more, your car looks really good and I know reading your posts that it has the right parts, how many Elans are there in your country to this standard?

Happy new year

[el-saturn]

thanks alan - quite a few of them are in good condition, but most of them are real close to original and the ones you see on the road hardy ever have any tuning parts: so they have much more road clearance, less sound (mines' 50mm all the way: even within the muffler), no cfrp dash, no aeroquip oil lines etc... in england there's more the attitude i appreciate. these cars are also tiny racing machines, so we have to go for it!! sandy