Dear All
Don’t shoot the messenger… but
Thursday 19 December U&Yesterday Freeview Channel 27 20:00
" an ambitious attempt to renovate a 1963 Lotus Elan Series 1 ( Hopefully,it will turn a profit… )
John
Dear All
Don’t shoot the messenger… but
Thursday 19 December U&Yesterday Freeview Channel 27 20:00
" an ambitious attempt to renovate a 1963 Lotus Elan Series 1 ( Hopefully,it will turn a profit… )
John
where’s my gun …
thanks, I’ll recoed it, Thursday are pub nights
Is this the Bangers & Cash Classics Restored Elan?
If so, no, they did not turn a profit!
Tim
Yep, still good for a laugh…
John
Blimey. Over £40k lost! Utterly lovely car but it cost them £80k to buy and restore. Crazy. You’d expect there would be more in-depth coverage for that. Instead they included a BMW flip car.
Still, nice to see an Elan on TV. None of these lightweight car shows are going to do it justice though.
Here is the link: u.co.uk/shows/bangers-cash-rest … aying=true
When they first sent it off for restoration it was to a shop used by the B&C team for one or two cars previously. The production company asked me to go up to Yorkshire in Nov 2021 to view the car and do some filming about it. At that stage the body was still attached to the chassis but the engine was out and elsewhere. I spent an afternoon with them, did several pieces to camera and was asked if I would come back when the car was complete.
The next I saw of the car it was down at SWLC at the start of this year. I can only conclude that the production company were unhappy with progress at the Yorkshire shop and had to switch to SWLC. They probably should have gone there in the first place. It undoubtedly added to the significant loss they made on the car.
However, I especially like the fact that the Elan has ended up back in Edinburgh in the hands of the son of the first owner. An excellent ending to the story.
Tim
I saw the progamme the car looked fantastic i would love to see it in real life , another one saved
Peter
Another one saved, that’s a good point, Peter.
Hi Everyone
I only saw the end of the program showing the finished car and the auction. I don’t normally watch these car shows but I have to admirer their honesty for including labour cost which, not surprisingly, was their biggest expense.
To me it just demonstrates what we all already know and that’s that having a car restored professionally (@ £60-£80 / hour ?) is very very expensive and if the jobs to be done properly it’s never going to be possibly to turn it around and make a quick buck like most of the other shows would try and have you believe.
Regards
Andy
So watched it… the best bit was the dude getting his dads car back, billiant!!
I’ve just viewed the programme.
The end result was fantastic.
I agree with jonb, this particular car restoration would have been better as a series of programmes. The engine, chassis, suspension and electrics deserved their 15 minutes too.
I thought the ending most appropriate with the car going back to the original owners son. His memories of the car and his dad taking the family out in it made the whole project come to life.
One point about costs though, having these film crews invade your premises can be very disruptive. They spend so much time trying to organise everything and everybody for the sake of the finalised programme, work on the project can be held up for long periods of time, whilst they set up a shot.
The film crew take hours of recorded time but end up cutting most of it out. All that time has to be factored in somewhere as the restorer still has to cover his costs. You may think the publicity is good for a business, but when you are trying to work to deadlines and quoted build costs, it all becomes a delicate balance.
Tony
As virtually all of that original car was identical to mine, apart from mine being intact and in good running order, what value should I be insuring my car for, £27,000? It’s due on Monday!
Meg, the Hagerty valuation tool would put your car between conditions 3-Good and 2-Excellent; £25,100 - £34,100
Pick a number!
Tim
Thank you Tim,
I’ll find out what Hagerty considers “good” and base it on that, £20,000-25,000 I would think. I remember some posts last year on insurers and will check out some of their suggestions as I paid nearly £200 pounds last year for £12,000 value.
Postscript: As posted on another thread, I have paid less than an extra 12% for a £25,000 value, or price, of a replacement car.
I saw the B & C programme too and found it interesting. It prompted a couple of thoughts. I presume that only a TV company with a big budget / more money than sense would have paid £28k for the Elan in the first place, given its very poor condition, but hey, that’s entertainment! And then seeing the fantastic finished result (to be expected for a total spend of over £50k on parts and labour) and given the car’s provenance and the fact it was bought by the original owner’s son (a lovely ending) it struck me that the beautifully restored Elan was a bargain for a hammer price just under £40k.
Given the comments on other recent threads here about cars currently for sale by auction or otherwise, and whether they represent an opportunity or should be avoided at all costs, it does make you wonder where the balance between condition, prices and values stand at the moment. I guess it all depends on what you want and how much you’re prepared to spend. But if the beautifully restored S1 represents near perfection at £40k, what are we to make of the asking prices for many of the other Elans currently for sale, some of which are clearly nowhere near as good as this one? Truly, caveat emptor, I suppose.
Happy New Year
I’ve only just seen the programme; very interesting but, of necessity, they skipped thro’ it fairly quickly.
Of particular interest to me was the fellow who originally built the car (I think his name was Edward Labinjoh, or something close) he was described as a trained Doctor who decided he preferred building cars and it was great to see him reunited with the finished vehicle. When I bought the 1969 S4SE FHC (which, to my shame, has been languishing with me for about 13 years) I was told by the vendor that his Father was the second owner and he had bought it from a Doctor who lived outside Edinburgh and who liked building Elans. Now that sounds quite a coincidence!
Is anyone here aware of this Edward Labinjoh by any chance? I’d like to get in touch with him.
I do a lot of genealogy and can usually turn something of interest up…but drawn a blank with the surname ‘Lavingo’…so I assume it’s not quite the right spelling…I haven’t seen the programme yet though tbf.
I’ve just found Edward Labinjoh Cars Ltd…in Edinburgh in the 1990’s…can’t do any more until later.