Went to see the one that is on ebay
non runner
and original its upto ?3100
To much money for to much work,for me that is
3100 seems cheap to me for the repainted yellow one on eBay. I believe all old Lotus cars are climbing in price due to two things, build numbers and the worldwide popularity of the Elise (and now Exige.) The +2 is a rare collectable car.
How about this one:
http://pistonheads.co.uk/sales/123409.htm
Guy reckons it’s ‘probably the oldest plus 2 on the road’
Or there’s a white '73 model on Autotrader for ?5995
A Blue/silver 130 for ?7995 here:
http://www.allsportscars.co.uk/shopexd.asp?id=205
Or if you really want to push the boat out there is a nice looking JPS also on Autotrader for, wait for it…
?13,250!!!
Difficult choice there, the two of them both looks nice, though the blue one a bit pricey. I’d love the red one for the purity and the cachet of the early chassis number. But the +2S130 is more comfortable… (I’ve got a problem free comfortable 5-speed S130…)
Buy the red one and T-Cut the paint !
Don’t know what happened to my first reply but here goes again:-
Regarding the early Red plus 2. I have seen the actual car. I sold the guy a window lift motor for it. I had a good look round it.
If anyone is thinking of buying it Please PM me first!!!
Regards
Dave
Go on Dave, spill the beans. I’m guessing it needs a new chassis (with associated brake, suspension and steering overhaul), a respray, an engine rebuild, and an interior re-trim. And probably new chromework of course. But it’s such an early car…it must be saved!!! If he drops the price a bit I’m tempted.
Mark
Its a non runner and its going to need a new chasssis
and paintwork not in the best of condition
Needs new chassis???
Might have to deal with the man again so will only pass the info privatley.
Regards
Dave
I think there may be more hopefulness than reality in the above. True, all of the early Loti are rare cars by any measure of recent classics. But only the Elite 14 and Just 2 have shown an ability to be worth even close to their restoration prices. If you consider the price difference between a project and a princess and the investment required to make a project into a princess, I think you’ll agree this one might not be such a prize.
Of all the early models, the +2 seems to be the goat. It’s definitely a pretty car, but has never gotten much respect from anyone but its loyal owners.
Hi Wulmar,
I purchased a +2 from the net, this was in Melbourne (Australia) and I live in Adelaide some 1200 k’s away, flew over and drove it back!!.
Mine is also an early one (chassis 100), mine on the initial inspection looked good for its age, 18 months on and a minor rebuild later it is starting to take shape,
I paid $17,000.AUD which is about 5,000 pounds and have spent around $6,000 AUD getting it back to a “reliable” condition.
I would go for the early +2 as they are certainly a “different” +2 with only 200 made with the Alfa lights. I like the “simplicity” of the early +2 and it is something different than the +2S.
What I have found with any old car unless it it concours you are better to get something that is OK and do it uo yourself, at least you know it is done right.
Save the early +2!!!
Cheers Darren
Does goat mean underpriced?
I can concur with a lot of the above comments. I went to see four + 2 's of various model types and age before buying mine. 3 of the 4 were “original” and running. From 20 feet on each one I thought “this is it” but then the dissapointment set in.
All cars were in the ?3000-?4,500 price bracket, I deliberatley avoided the few ?2000 cars I saw for sale knowing from past experience you only get what you pay for.
On each car the problems were the same as stated by a chap above.
- Chassis always looking worse for wear
- Trim hanging off and broken seats with knackered headlining.
- 2 of them had “minor” faults on engine so “would not start today”
4)Very tired looking suspension with perished rubbers - Hateful under engine bay with wires all over the place and spagetti hanging down behind dash.
- For some reason most of these “original” cars had most of the “good bits” missing…ie Original steering wheel, chrome trim, ashtrays all probably ebayed to get a few bob more
I decided to change tact and look for a abandoned project which I eventually found. Car I bought was a painted shell mounted on new Galv. chassis with the four corners on and 90% of new or re-furb of bits to finish.
Problem with this route is not having stripped car myself I’m always stuck as to where bits go and even though I got car at good price I know even at this stage I won’t recoup money easily after completion…the thing that swung it for me is that there are a lot of new bits on car to Ebay if I were to fail early on before I start to spend and I hope I’d easily get my purchase price back…on the earlier cars I viewed I would have been struggling to salvage any nice bits to sell on.
The bottom line is though it depends on what the car is for. For me like many I suspect it is for a hobby and to get away from “big brother” and “celebrity dancing” of an evening…I guess if I really wanted a nice shiney perfect +2 I’d have to bite the bullet and pay ?10000 for one at least.
Cheers,
Kenny
wise words. My first priority on looking for mine, after speaking to Chris Foulds and Paul Matty, was NEVER to even consider buying one with an original chassis, either with a replacement Lotus galvanised one or a Spyder one. And no.2 was the paint, as these two are the most complicated and expensive to fix…
Ooopps. I bought one with an original chassis Doh!
Mind you after 4 years of driving including a good inspection of the chassis at all the usual weak points it seeems fine.
I think the key exception to “don’t buy an orignal chassis” is if the car is low mileage and has been garaged for most of its life.
When I was looking for a +2 I looked at about 8 or 9 most of which were on “new” chassis. two of these (both lotus replacement) were welded around the front crossmember/wishbone mounts. Given, these were old replacements, but just because it is quoted that it is a replaced chassis, always have a good good look at the usual places.
Cheers
tim
(PS I wonder whether my +2 will be the only one on an orignal chassis soon!)
Hi Tim…I bought a JPS yesterday with the original chassis. Garaged and unused since 1984, the chassis, like yours, is solid, I will probably pull the body off at some time just to check it out and repaint it, as everything else will need doing anyway it’s a lot easier with the body off.
Back to values, I really don’t see Plus 2 values being much different to 2 seat Elan values, especially the coupes. Dhc’s will always have a premium, but a good restored Plus 2 or coupe will fetch about the same money…?10k ish for a really nice sorted car and ?15k ish for a very original and detailed one.
What seems to be skewing the apparent value of the Plus 2s are the large number of poorly restored / never restored cars that have come onto the market for something between ?2k and ?5k. They are often sheds that require a lot of work, or are worth more for spares.
As more Plus 2s get scrapped or restored or converted into Spydermachines, the supply of cheap cars will run out, and the perceived value will increase, as the only ones you’ll be able to buy are ?10k to ?15k. It’s happened to 2 seaters, Type 14 Elites, Mk1 Lotus Cortinas and now Mk 2 Lotus Cortinas. It will happen to Plus 2s, and I reckon over the next couple of years. It’s not that they will have gone up in value, just that you won’t be able to buy cheap cars (or spares) any more.
So buy up those scrappers and tired Plus 2s now…you’ll regret not doing so pretty soon! Only 5000 were made, so far more rare than a 2 seater, and I wouldn’t be at all surprised if there were less than 1500 left in the world.
Mark
I agree completely with Mark here, and it would also be a shame with too many Spyder and full Zetecs around to my mind. But this calls for the classic car community at large to wake up to this beautiful machine and give it its due respect.
I’m saying this with my own having had a Spyder conversion in the late eighties, chassis including wishbones and sills. But I’m not reverting, as it is not visible, and it had one fastidious previous owner the last 26 years before me. Still keeping the rest completely original down to this season’s new Firestone 165/80 tyres, and revelling in the sweet balance and roadholding with makes my Golf feel like an artic…
Lowered suspension, 14" Minilites and Zetec conversion cars spoil the original feel and driving sensation and will never keep their values or increase like an increasingly rare well kept original one.
Sorry don’t mean to open a Spyder/Zetec can of worms here–…
There are definitely still nice original cars out there for this sort of money. I bought mine off eBay for ?5,000 after having spoken to the owner who was only it’s 2nd with 55,000 genuine miles. He was an older gent that loved his cars and had spent lots of money on the car in the couple of years he had it. The biggest factor for me was the rebuilt QED engine inc strengthened bottom end costing ?5,000 with all bills and history to prove engine and mileage.
He had also spent ?3,000 on a repaint from red to orange, which I think had put people off. I won the car without viewing and went with a trailer to Birmingham to collect. The car had brand new tyres and refurbished Lotus alloys. I was gob smacked how good the car was. The paintwork looked brill but under close scrutiny had a couple of defects but the engine was so gutsy and smooth. The interior was lovely he had installed a new Paul Matty dash and for ?5,000 was giving the car away considering the money he had spent getting it into shape. HE HAD ONLY DONE 500 MILES ON THE NEW ENGINE!
As soon as I got it home after reading comments on here and elsewhere I purchased a new Spyder chassis with twin rear springs etc off a guy from Pistonheads who had never used it. As mine was a 69 car I thought it would be the 1st job needed doing but with the engine alone costing the asking price I didn’t care. I took the car to a specialist to have it checked over very thoroughly and to do all jobs plus give me a price for the chassis swap. When I went to collect he told me the chassis was perfect no accident damage anywhere on the car and if looked after was good for another 50,000 miles!
So I now have a spare chassis and have done about 3,000 trouble free miles and love it to bits! I bought a 2nd hand 130S interior, as mine was the old bucket front/back seats, and had a new one off leather interior fitted with new carpets and headlining. I bought a new HRW and I had the cam cover and air box colour coded but you have to like orange!
The original interior
The new interior
The engine
The car
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I think the orange paintjob was sharp, as I like 70’s cars like the Miura… but prefer the original interior (though would probably change the seats to +2S130 seats for the comfort.
But WHY WHY WHY! would you want the interior to look so thoroughly MODERN!? AAARGH The contrast of the sober black interior with the orange body was fab! But that’s just me.
Nevertheless you got an absolute Bargain…
Yes, a very good buy, and now that we’re nearly off track I’d like to say I love the orange and black interior, even though I totally lean toward originality.
I’ll bet it looks even better when approaching the car and viewed through the windows, interior/exterior, as one with the car.