Run! my old car is back...

[Catbird]

Lotus : Elise:eBay Motors (item 230378645624 end time Oct-07-09 18:35:18 PDT)

[MattG]

For the benefit of anyone googling that VIN:

Road Hazard last night in Annapolis!

SCCPC11125HL34329

[Ken Wright]

Not trying to start anything but after looking in a book about the elise it looks like the only thing that the side of that extrusion supports is the body work.

[JWA]

Originally Posted by Ken Wright

Not trying to start anything but after looking in a book about the elise it looks like the only thing that the side of that extrusion supports is the body work.

That's not even remotely correct. That's one of the primary structural components of the chassis.

[xtn]

It only supports the body work... and all the compression, tension, and twisting forces that act on the chassis.

xtn

[LotinElite]

hahaha

"i am not sure why this car was a salvage," but I bought it, fixed it up and now I want to sell it to you! Hopefully they don't get in a wreck and find out why it was salvaged when one of the structural parts that was damaged fails.

OOPS! It's not in NJ like the ad says, it's actually in FL.

OOPS! I had the VIN wrong, here's the correct one.

The sad thing is some sucker is going to end up buying this thing. Who knows, maybe they'll never know the difference. Caveat emptor I guess.

[glacialmoraine]

sent to seller via e-bay messaging system:

FYI,

The car you are selling was totalled because the frame was rendered structurally unsound by an object puncturing it multiple times from underneath.

Here are pictures:

Road Hazard last night in Annapolis!

I have posted a copy of this communication in a public forum that links to this auction.

Good Luck!

[Cthulhu]

That picture says it all. I wonder how that was repaired...

Shady happenings...

[Seb]

I messaged the seller.

"Was there any frame damage to the car? I too don't see how this could have been a salvage title?"

[cory1000]

I just e-mailed:

"any pics of how the large holes in the chassis were repaired"

[Mr. Know]

I can imagine the Murci and Vantage he's selling also have untold stories.
Lamborghini : Murcielago*:eBay Motors (item 230378462779 end time Oct-07-09 08:34:19 PDT)
Aston Martin : Vantage:eBay Motors (item 230379233650 end time Oct-09-09 12:56:13 PDT)

[Valenz]

Originally Posted by Cthulhu

... I wonder how that was repaired ...

With duct tape, of course! I'll bet the seller's real name is MacGyver.

[glacialmoraine]

I think if a seller can plausibly deny that they knew of damage to a vehicle, there is generally nothing a buyer can do about it, but If the seller had full knowledge of severe damage through pictures and other communications, and didn't reveal it, that could be different.

I believe that if the seller in any way tries to hide that damage, i/e worked on the area, and then didn't revel the extent or nature of this work, that is definitely the end of any deniability, they actively covered it up.

I heard that knowingly selling damaged goods as whole is fraud and can result in jail time, and If the fraud goes across state boundaries, the feds may get involved. I have been told local police and feds can subpoena Ebay, email etc. and get verification whether or not the someone was ever told something via those avenues, and if they read it.

I am not a lawyer, and am not saying this is the case here, just pointing out a some completely unproven stuff I heard might possibly be the case in some alternate universe should it ever be relevant in some future unrelated situation.

gm

[Catbird]

I have been so busy lately.
Glad to see you folks jumping on this hack..

Here is what's wrong with the car...

[Southernguy]

I love the wording in all of the auctions. They are virtually identical. Friend is photographer...seller is moving on to bigger and better. Must be a greta time only driving high end cars for a few months then moving up. Funny thing is they must be a b!tch to sell as two of the three auctions are relists due to debeat sellers.

[Cthulhu]

They're speed holes. They make the car go faster...


Ahh... Simpsons quotes.

[Catbird]

Nice to see he added cruise control.....
It didn't have it when I bought it..

[Cthulhu]

Originally Posted by Catbird

Nice to see he added cruise control.....
It didn't have it when I bought it..

Is that when the gas pedal gets wedged against one of those giant lumps in the floor metal?

[glacialmoraine]

EDIT:

I did some more looking and I got the details wrong.

this page:

Lotus Elise Under The Skin, Picture Album

made me believe the punctures are in a structural and not replaceable area of the frame so i deleted my ramblings about replaceable bits.

take care,

gm

[Aedo]

Originally Posted by glacialmoraine

It looks like the bulk of the damage is to a small alloy shelf that the bodywork mounts to.

No - the bulk of the damage is to the sill extrusion (where the orange line is in the drawing below but on the RHS) which is one of the primary chassis members.

Originally Posted by glacialmoraine

I was going to say the frame was toast, but I found this picture, with that alloy shelf removed, and a smaller shelf that it rivets to:



The shelf is replaceable and it rivets to a flange that appears to be non load bearing.

OK - firstly this picture is of the front of the chassis (circled in blue on the drawing above) and not the part that was damaged; secondly no components on the chassis are replaceable.


I'm pretty keen on not writing off for the sake of it and repairing these cars - but the only valid repair for this car is a new chassis (which I believe should actually be doable financially if you can do the work yourself on this car as there is not much other damage).