As some of you know, a couple of months ago I found what I thought would be a nice little weekend project car, the Lotus Excel. It looked ok, drove ok, but it had an overheating problem that the dealer couldn’t address.
It was one of my acceptance criteria that they fix it before I committed to buying it. They couldnt fix it, so I didn’t buy it.
I remember seeing the current car I’ve got lined up parked in the corner of a little Alfa dealership on the edge of the Vecht canal not far from me while I was out on a bikeride about a year ago.
It was looking very forlorn and down on its’ luck and I remember thinking to myself ‘what a shame, somebody must have loved that once. Doesn’t deserve to be in this state.’
That was then.
I was out for a drive this afternoon and with the itch for a project car still there I decided to divert past that garage and see if they still had it.
Got there, parked up, but couldnt see it.
Asked the guy and he said ‘oh yeah, it’s parked up round the back’.
Kool and the Gang! I thought to myself and followed the dude to the back courtyard whereupon said motor was sat there, still languishing in it’s cobwebs and mildew.
Its the garage owners’ car apparently and the mechanic rang him to see if he was open to offers.
Brief conversation later and we have an agreement in principle that if it turns over, runs, drives and there’s no significant mechanical issues then I’d make him an offer.
It’s lovely though. I’ve got that ‘silly fool falling in love’ giddy gideon feeling! :lol:
The paint and interior are a bit rough but that’s fne, exactly what I’m looking for. There’s no rust, rot or accident damage as far as I could see but I’ll make sure of that later in to the negotiations. With a bit of tlc and fettling it would make a way better project than the Excel.
We couldnt get it to run sadly. Could hear the fuel pump and startermotor whirring over but it just wouldnt make contact and crank the engine over. We rocked it to see if there was movement at the fan and there was, so not an engine seizure. Mechanic told me they had it running a couple of months ago. It idles badly however. That’s for later.
Ok, enough waffle from me. Here’s a foto.
10 points and a creamcake to the first smartypants to guess what it is.
Twin air intakes so that should give you a clue to beast that lurks within the enginebay :evil:
It was one of my acceptance criteria that they fix it before I committed to buying it. They couldnt fix it, so I didn’t buy it.
I remember seeing the current car I’ve got lined up parked in the corner of a little Alfa dealership on the edge of the Vecht canal not far from me while I was out on a bikeride about a year ago.
It was looking very forlorn and down on its’ luck and I remember thinking to myself ‘what a shame, somebody must have loved that once. Doesn’t deserve to be in this state.’
That was then.
I was out for a drive this afternoon and with the itch for a project car still there I decided to divert past that garage and see if they still had it.
Got there, parked up, but couldnt see it.
Asked the guy and he said ‘oh yeah, it’s parked up round the back’.
Kool and the Gang! I thought to myself and followed the dude to the back courtyard whereupon said motor was sat there, still languishing in it’s cobwebs and mildew.
Its the garage owners’ car apparently and the mechanic rang him to see if he was open to offers.
Brief conversation later and we have an agreement in principle that if it turns over, runs, drives and there’s no significant mechanical issues then I’d make him an offer.
It’s lovely though. I’ve got that ‘silly fool falling in love’ giddy gideon feeling! :lol:
The paint and interior are a bit rough but that’s fne, exactly what I’m looking for. There’s no rust, rot or accident damage as far as I could see but I’ll make sure of that later in to the negotiations. With a bit of tlc and fettling it would make a way better project than the Excel.
We couldnt get it to run sadly. Could hear the fuel pump and startermotor whirring over but it just wouldnt make contact and crank the engine over. We rocked it to see if there was movement at the fan and there was, so not an engine seizure. Mechanic told me they had it running a couple of months ago. It idles badly however. That’s for later.
Ok, enough waffle from me. Here’s a foto.
10 points and a creamcake to the first smartypants to guess what it is.
Twin air intakes so that should give you a clue to beast that lurks within the enginebay :evil:
1066 Country
North West Surrey
