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Hey everyone,
I currently have an Ls1 RX7 that I'm selling off to replace with a Lotus Elise.
I joined the board to learn about the cars, and the plan is for now to buy a car with clam damage, replace the clam and wrap the vehicle to enjoy it until I save up the funds to paint it.
This looks like a good example, and something I may bid on, but I wanted to get your opinion from the pictures. I know frame damage is a non starter, and obviously the front clam is beyond repair, but wanted to see what else I should worry about being broken from damage like this
Hey everyone,
I currently have an Ls1 RX7 that I'm selling off to replace with a Lotus Elise.
I joined the board to learn about the cars, and the plan is for now to buy a car with clam damage, replace the clam and wrap the vehicle to enjoy it until I save up the funds to paint it.
This looks like a good example, and something I may bid on, but I wanted to get your opinion from the pictures. I know frame damage is a non starter, and obviously the front clam is beyond repair, but wanted to see what else I should worry about being broken from damage like this
This is what I was thinking as well. Also the suspension could be busted if they drove over a curb at high speed (thats what it looks like from the way the front lip is bent down and ripped)
Mostly worried only about frame damage, the rest of it isn't so bad.
What would you consider over paying?
Salvage title Elises are going for low 20s fixed up, but you don't know what happened to them, and their salvage title knocks 10k off their value for the life of the vehicle.
@Ls1Rx7 - If you intend to buy this car, you need to have a mechanic familiar with Lotus perform a detailed inspection. Plan for him to spend several hours and you several hundred dollars. Only then will you have an informed estimate of how much it will take to make the car right. Any other opinions based solely on "the story" and photos are hazardous guessing.
For me, I would not consider this car. A complicated story, the loss of the keys and the circumstances all raise red flags that tell me to look elsewhere.
Thanks Glen,
My "scam" alarm bells are going off a bit too.
But take into consideration what I'm looking to do. So let me give you that information and see if it chances your opinion at all.
I'm planning on building a K20 swapped track toy and I'm pretty handy. So pulling the engine and immobilizer shouldn't be an issue.
I called the lotus dealership locally and they can have new keys cut from the factory for 55$ which should take care of the locks/ignition.
The car has some sort of supercharger kit on it so there might be additional parts to sell off and re-coupe some costs. If the engine's good, I'd consider that a bonus!
So really what I'm just trying to quantify is how many bits (that cost more than a thousand dollars) are really destroyed. Front clam for sure, Maybe the crash box, maybe the oil coolers as the last poster mentioned.
Could be front suspension too if they went over a curb, but I would imagine the chances of actual frame damage would be difficult. This is what I'm most worried about.
Mostly interested in this car because it's low miles and has a clean title. If I ever go to resell it I can show the next owner real pictures of what was damaged so they know how it looks before it was fixed and the car with a well executed k20 swap and a clean title could fetch 40k.
@Ls1Rx7 - If you intend to buy this car, you need to have a mechanic familiar with Lotus perform a detailed inspection. Plan for him to spend several hours and you several hundred dollars. Only then will you have an informed estimate of how much it will take to make the car right. Any other opinions based solely on "the story" and photos are hazardous guessing.
For me, I would not consider this car. A complicated story, the loss of the keys and the circumstances all raise red flags that tell me to look elsewhere.
I'm always leery when I saw a car with non-original paint. Make sure it was either not wrecked before or that it was repaired then, too. This is coming from experience, haha
When I went to the link, there was an add for labuti's car. He has been trying to sell it on here for years so he might take a reasonable offer. It is already repaired, wrapped, and V6 swapped, but sketchy and possibly out of your budget. Coming from an LS rx7, you might be unimpressed by the 1.8's power unless you have some nice twisty roads to distract you from that and keep momentum up. The V6 on the other hand can really move
I was going to say, this will be a track/weekend toy thats K20 swapped with a turbo or Rotrex, so I'm looking at it from a platform perspective.
If the engine runs that would be a bonus. If the supercharger is actually any good, that would also be a bonus, but I'd sell all of that stuff anyway.
The front end of these cars is rather simple, so I can't imagine what else got dinged from the front end hit, other than maybe the crash box
There are a lot of potential risks in this, so first - I'd lead in with a suggestion to have someone who KNOWS Lotus (an Independent area shop/mechanic) look at it. The rambling "presentation" of this car certainly doesn't do much to assuage any potential concerns - like front left suspension, under car, etc. And the four images really don't show much either?
As well - fiberglass is pretty easy to work with - when all the parts are present? But, in the front left, there appear to be missing major pieces that would have to be reconstructed/replaced - or an entire front clam? And what's hidden as damaged parts under the clam - crash box repair? Did it have twin coolers - and one is damaged? A whole lot of questions about those issues?
While, to me - this could be a great buy - I wouldn't bid/buy until you knew exactly what you were taking on and ALL the warts.
By the way - I'm wondering what the state of the title is? I didn't notice if it was a salvage title or not? I would think with the damage shown, the Insurance company was probably involved...??
Anyway - just a whole lot of unanswered questions on this one - and probably more than I'd be willing to risk given the current (lack of) information?
I can inspect the car this weekend or any time after that if needed for a few bucks. PM me and ill send you my # if you are interested or anyone is. You will need 5 or 10 posts to PM.
I wasn't saying the price he paid was odd...but the fact that he apparently had no insurance for it - "I can't afford to fix it", "I can't afford to get a professional estimate on repairs".
The most worrying part is that the seller mentions chassis and suspension damage as probably nonexistent, yet posts no photos of the chassis or suspension to show its integrity. The seller knows enough to mention it, yet no photos.
I'd stay clear of that car...it sounds too fishy...
Is your RX7 an FD? In my dream garage there are TWO FD RX7s. One with a rotary turbo, and the other with an LS swap. Just curious about what pushes you to the Elige from what is also (in my mind) an excellent platform, especially since you've got the big V8 torque. Selling an LS swapped RX7 to get into a Lotus is such a cool "problem" to have!
I have the FC, but even that car has spoiled me. I drove an 04 Viper before landing on the Elise and even my wife said, "this isn't that fast" :clap:. She's a keeper
I'm not going to the FD because I've never owned a convertible. I was going to build a Brunton Stalker, which is a lotus 7 clone with the ls1, and I thought about that plan for over a year and it was just nightmare after nightmare figuring out how to get it on the road in MA, and how to make it comfortable enough to drive. The wind buffeting is actually the worst part (can't scream to the person next to you at 60mph, thats how bad it is)
but I wanted light weight, so when I compromised and went to a full size car, the s2000 was what I thought I wanted but it was still too heavy
So the Elise it is, now we just need to fix the HP problem which is turning out to be a big PITA too, as you need to have a built transmission it looks like.
I'm also shying away from the V8 because I've done that, and the ls1 while effective, sounds like a camaro.
I'm going to miss this idle, and if I was building a muscle car this would be damn perfect, but it just never jives in my mind with a sports car:
So I've been looking for something high revving for a while as well.
Any chassis damage is not acceptable. Front crash box can always be replaced. Rear subframe can also be replaced. The car must be inspected by a Lotus expert that actually knows these cars. This car has no keys, how are you going to start it and make sure the engine runs???
Here's the other factor that must also be considered: That car appears to have be stored outdoors...not garaged...the electrical components in the Elise are very delicate, any electrical problem could turn into a nightmare.
Any rodents that could be calling this Elise their home could have potentially created unseen problems. Not being able to start the car is a factor that cannot be ignored.
I also saw this car on eBay and was thinking the same thing. Another thing I don't like is how he says it runs fine but he can't get it to Start. With it being sold as is there isn't anything you could do if it actually did have mechanical issues. It's not a bad car just not worth the price imo
This guy is a total scammer.
Talked to him, he's got a sob story for everything and he admitted that he's only 23, yet he paid cash for the car, which is why he went bankrupt when the car was stolen. He paid cash yet he couldn't afford full coverage.
The keys were in his roomate's car then they had a falling out, and the roomate never sent them back, so he can't even get into the car supposedly...
Also said the interior is amazing on the add and the interior shot is so blurry you can't make anything out. He also doesn't have a high seller rating...only 49. Looks like a possible insurance flip? Maybe he bought it at an auction and is trying to flip it for a profit or has more damage than he thought? Putting a sob story on it to humanize it. Dust on the car made me immediately think of an insurance lot.
This is my thought too. Looks like he bought it and found more damage than anticipated and is trying to pawn it off on the next chump. I would assume there is chassis damage unless it is proven otherwise.
If you look at the current auction listing - he has a couple of new pics (well quite a few, actually - all are hardly worth looking at, in my opinion). BUT - in one of them - the trunk lid is open. In another - the rear grills are removed - which should facilitate opening the latch, I would think?
There is also a new "fuzzy" image of the underside which shows quite a bit of crinkled metal - which looks like the front undertray or something?
Yeah he tried to take shots underneath, but I asked him about the under-hood shots and he said those are old photos.
Again I would think this guy is totally full of it if I had't talked to the GM at the local dealership.
He even remembered the kid calling in a couple days ago, and asking what it would cost to have replacement keys made. I also looked that GM up on their website just to make sure.
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