I am in the process of restoring a 71/72 elan sprint that was originally all yellow, if painted any other colour(from the lotus colour charts available at the time) would this detract from its value? and would a solid yellow elan have had the sprint signs?
Mike
Welcome and good fortune with your restoration.
As blatant promotion, visit lotuselansprint.com where I hope you will find a lot of the information you might seek on original Sprint specs.
The mono colour option Sprints did indeed leave the factory with the gold Elan Sprint decals on them, though many owners chose to have them removed. Indeed, Ken Myers dealership was often asked by the factory to remove the decals before the car was delivered; seems a cockeyed way of doing it, though, but there we are!
As to values and colour options a quick search on the subject in the forum archives will reveal the potential debating lines that this induces. Ultimately, it is your car, you do with it what you want. If you fancy a pink Sprint with lavender pinstripes, who are we to decry you for it (crikey, though, who would spray their car that colour scheme?). On the other hand, if you are restoring the Sprint with a view to selling it on, you would be likely to sell it more readily in an original colour scheme.
Tim
Mike
I have been deliberating on this very topic for many months and to my family ‘booring discussion’. My sprint is yellow over white but really fancied the Pistachio over white.
I personally came to the conclusion that beauty is ultimately in the eye of the beholder and there would possibly be as many who liked any given colour to equal those who would not.
There are many cars out there who have had a complete colour change but feel that it would be acceptable if one still used an original lotus colour as this is familiar.
In terms of selling to attract a would be buyer who knows?
I have finally decided on remaining yellow (perhaps an appropriate colour to ducking the challenge) but actually after seeing a yellow restored car at P Matty’s which happened to be sitting next to a Pistachio I decided to stay original.
Good luck with your choice but I do not feel a would be buyer would particularly turn away from any Lotus colour (I await the flak) as the car itself is more than the sum of its parts…
Richard
Late to the party again, but I beg to differ on this point. As I’m in the market for the “perfect” driver Elan (but as yet unsettled as to whether it should be a drophead or a Plus 2 or a coupe’), I’ve done a lot of watching. I see, except under severe circumstances, little evidence that color originality affects value for a generic Lotus. In fact, my best guess would be the car that has the highest value is the one that is on the buyer’s preferred color list. This is because a typical 60’s-70’s Lotus can’t be repainted properly for less than about half of its resale value.
My exception list to the above (severe circumstances) would be either of Emma’s Elans, GKN-47D, Tara’s Europa, possibly some of the more famous 47’s heritage-wise, and to the piddling end, JPS, Sprint, and Super Safety bits.
Most of us appreciate that what is true in the collector car world in general seems to be suspended in the Lotus world. Since virtually all “special” cars were available in any color preference, you don’t make a car un-original by painting it the way you like.
A final point: Since the half-life of a Lotus paint job seems to be something under 3 years anyway, why not paint the car the way you like it and consider setting it right when it’s time for the next owner? Much less unhappiness that way.
my two cents’ worth… good paint jobs can last decades on an Elan without cracking or crazing, even if the car isn’t garaged where winters can be brutal. I know.
Paint it the way you want it, it’s yours, there are so few Elans that as the years roll by demand outstrips supply and the color probably won’t affect the price very much. Originality helps price but once anything is repainted that percentage gets squished down as well. How the car drives determines Elan values to a great degree, take a crappy looking road hugger fast running Elan and it’ll bring eighty percent of a pristine ok running re painted restored vanity example. Most people buy Elans to drive them, not play the collector market.
(However, if Lotus does better than expected in F1 as an “upstart” team, my last comment means nothing)