1970 Sprint Garage find.
Posted: Wed Nov 06, 2013 7:15 pm
Hi all.
I had a bit of good fortune recently, the story goes back 20 odd years where i worked with a guy who knew i was well into Lotus's and asked me if i wouldn't mind helping him take the body of his Lotus, so of course i jumped at the chance to help a fellow Lotus enthusiast. So i arranged to get some help etc and go to the guys house where i'm greeted by a 1970 (J reg) Elan Sprint Drop head that was in not bad condition at all but the diff had started making some nasty noises and he was really struggling to remove it with the body on.
So we spent the day removing the body and putting it safely out of the way, i had a good chat with him (like you do) and it turns out he bought it new as a Kit and he assembled it himself and he had done 42,000 miles in it before it was taken off the road in 1982. To be quite honest the guy in question worked in a different department so our paths didn't really cross all that often but it seemed progress was very slow until he sort of lost interest and it sat in his garage untouched for the best part of 25 years.
So by a freak of luck i was out shopping and bumped into him, he told me that he had retired a few years ago and told me the story of the car, as i also retired fairly recently i suggested we might may inroads into getting it back going but he felt he didn't have the time or inclination to get it finished. So i suggested i buy it off him, which he jumped at.
Skipping on a bit i went to look at it last week to do the deal so to speak and its very solid, i had a good look at it and the things like the Trim is in very good order, we took the head of the engine when removing the body (the water take off on the head didn't feel nice when we tried to remove it and the body would not clear it) this gave the opportunity to give the engine/Big valve head a good looking at too even though the last time i heard it run was 25 years ago... which brings me to the Body, now i know a bit about these things and have done some reading up but that said this car is all White? it has the Gold Bumper and Sprint stripe (all looks original) but i have never seen an all white Sprint, it does look like someone has attacked it with an Aerosol can or too (i took some of the paint off to see the original colour, which was white) but there is no bad cracks or old damage and the thing i really like is the doors fit really well. So i'm really happy i have a new project
I will get some pictures up as soon as i get it all home. It was a pleasant surprise when i lifted the cover and noticed it was a Sprint because for the life of me i remembered it being a a standard S4, but then i thought it was a FHC so i guess my Memory is not what it once was
I had a bit of good fortune recently, the story goes back 20 odd years where i worked with a guy who knew i was well into Lotus's and asked me if i wouldn't mind helping him take the body of his Lotus, so of course i jumped at the chance to help a fellow Lotus enthusiast. So i arranged to get some help etc and go to the guys house where i'm greeted by a 1970 (J reg) Elan Sprint Drop head that was in not bad condition at all but the diff had started making some nasty noises and he was really struggling to remove it with the body on.
So we spent the day removing the body and putting it safely out of the way, i had a good chat with him (like you do) and it turns out he bought it new as a Kit and he assembled it himself and he had done 42,000 miles in it before it was taken off the road in 1982. To be quite honest the guy in question worked in a different department so our paths didn't really cross all that often but it seemed progress was very slow until he sort of lost interest and it sat in his garage untouched for the best part of 25 years.
So by a freak of luck i was out shopping and bumped into him, he told me that he had retired a few years ago and told me the story of the car, as i also retired fairly recently i suggested we might may inroads into getting it back going but he felt he didn't have the time or inclination to get it finished. So i suggested i buy it off him, which he jumped at.
Skipping on a bit i went to look at it last week to do the deal so to speak and its very solid, i had a good look at it and the things like the Trim is in very good order, we took the head of the engine when removing the body (the water take off on the head didn't feel nice when we tried to remove it and the body would not clear it) this gave the opportunity to give the engine/Big valve head a good looking at too even though the last time i heard it run was 25 years ago... which brings me to the Body, now i know a bit about these things and have done some reading up but that said this car is all White? it has the Gold Bumper and Sprint stripe (all looks original) but i have never seen an all white Sprint, it does look like someone has attacked it with an Aerosol can or too (i took some of the paint off to see the original colour, which was white) but there is no bad cracks or old damage and the thing i really like is the doors fit really well. So i'm really happy i have a new project
I will get some pictures up as soon as i get it all home. It was a pleasant surprise when i lifted the cover and noticed it was a Sprint because for the life of me i remembered it being a a standard S4, but then i thought it was a FHC so i guess my Memory is not what it once was