Lotus 7 For Sale

[Ed White]

I think you guys have more faith in ebay than me. I reported it last time too.

[SUPERLIGHT91]

Its a strange one that car for sure. The curious thing is DVLA have it on the tax disk as a Lotus (probably left from a crate of scrap engine parts and and a V5 from an Elan that couldn't be saved).

 

It reminds me of this one that has been popping up every few weeks on the Pistonheads Caterham section. At least its cheaper and clearer it isn't something its not, but they still use Caterham in the title. NOTACATERHAMSEVEN

 

Edited by - SUPERLIGHT91 on 6 May 2014 22:13:30

[Jonathan Kay]

Me: "Is this a Lotus 7 or a Locost?"

Seller: "It's registered as a lotus élan on a locust kit. But has a lotus v5 and engine."

 

Jonathan

[SUPERLIGHT91]

sounds about right, now we know, shame its not that clear in the title

 

... a good bit of detective work there, and it gives us a taste of the sort of frustration the Mr Chapman and Nearn had in the past defending the original McCoy against a raft of unlicenced copies. Its even worse innthe cobra world with so many claiming AC or Shelby connections.

[Wile7]

This is not the 'norm' I am sure but there are dealers and private individuals who really do push the boat out and take the p1ss.

 

I was recently asked by a friend to look at a supposed MK1 escort that purported to be an AVO car (Mexico) being sold privately. It looked the part sat on genuine Lotus steel rims (not Ford steels or RS option alloys), had the custom pack stripes etc and a crossflow lump BUT it didn't have the type 49 shell (front flared wings, reinforced strut mounts etc) and the interior had incorrect seats and door trims. Lovely car, but not a Mexico.

 

Difference..... 🤔 A good mark one 'evocation' will fetch £2-£4k at the moment whilst a genuine AVO shell Mexico anything from £4k through to £10k nowadays. RS2000 even more (and Twin Cams just stupid money). This chap was asking £8500.....

 

We walked away (and yes I pointed out the errors) and he said I was nuts

 

The thing was I pointed out the chassis plate (that I took a sneaky photo of....) that was not an AVO letter set...again he said I was nuts. A quick check on DVLA showed it to be an 1100L chassis originally (and the reg was correct) 😬

 

If you do your homework it ain't rocket science.....

 

Dave

[SUPERLIGHT91]

Yes - its the same in all markets with 'evocation' cars, even if they have one or two 'original' components. I can imagine its rife in the ford RS world.

 

In the 911 world the legendary 1973 RS based on 80s 'evocation' car build can only really sell for £30k tops, whereas an RS conversion of a correct period early '70s car = twice that. Whereas the 'real' McCoy with matching nos. engine and gearbox is a virtually priceless museum piece worth £hundreds-of-thousands today. Same story for all generations of 911's wearing the sought-after RS badge - there's a lot of copies about - because you wouldn't really want to use a 'real' one in anger (unless you have lots of money to waste and lose), and some just appreciate the 'look' of an evocation.

 

I quite like good evocation cars as I wouldn't be as scared to use it, but of course it has to be reflected in the price, and yes: back to the original Locost in question - it should be priced as a top-end Locust and not a bottom-end Lotus!

[Violet Elizabeth]

Back again..

 

What is it ?

[CanAm]

Quoting Jonathan Kay: 

Me: "Is this a Lotus 7 or a Locost?"

Seller: "It's registered as a lotus élan on a locust kit. But has a lotus v5 and engine."

 

Jonathan

A Lotus pushrod engine???

Did Lotus put their own rocker cover on the pushrod engines?

[SUPERLIGHT91]

Who knows, its a "Bits'er" in any case, and yes appealing for a Locust buyer - but is priced in the Caterham market and I can't see anyone would pay that for it - you may as well buy a used basic Caterham for price he's expecting - if he relisted at £5,995 with a buy-it-now of £7,500 he might be in with a chance of a sale - but that's absolutely the max he can expect in my opionion (on a good day). If he wants any more he'd have to include the '7' no. plate as a sweetner.