74 Lotus Elite - $1600 Near Detroit

Not mine, no affiliation, etc. No pics in add.

1974 Lotus Elite $1600

Rare high perfomance sports car project. 1974 Lotus Elite, Has been sitting in a storage garage for the last 30 years, 44,000 original miles. All fiberglass body with a very unique shape. Motor is a rare high output aluminum alloy 4 cylinder twin 16 valve over head cam, with dual intake and stromburg carbs. Has Rack & Pinion steering, Independent floating 373 posi rear axle, 5 speed close ratio manual transmission. Produced in England, Only 2535 were made between 1974 - 1982. The all fiberglass body & Steel X body Frame under carrage componants are in great condition from being stored inside most it's life, Has Pop up head lights. The Fiberglass body panels are not crackeling, dry rot, or chunks missing, Outer Door shells have become seperated at the top from the inner structure, But just needs some strong epoxy. The seats inner fabric cushion material was used as nesting material by squirrels, But the Dash, side panels, windshield & all glass are fine, 5 factory Turbine rims. All there never smashed, interior complete but looks very rough because of squirrel damage to the seats, They also chewwed up the wiring under the hood. Not running. Rare complete drive train. Excellent project. $1600 Mike 248 245-1663

Smart guy, not posting a picture of it...

Damn squirrels!

Yeah, Woody, I was thinking the samme thing. That's a $500 car until proven otherwise. Damn squirrels.

Here's what a "perfect" one would look like:

Almost perfect. The headlights are popped up because there's a vacuum leak. Vacuum keeps the headlights down. Get a leak in the system and they will pop up by themselves.

the liftback models are kinda weird looking...but then again the hatchbacks arent normal by any stretch either. Kinda cool, but for 1k+, I want to get a test drive in before I sign the check.

A very rough example, nonrunning, recently went on eBay for over 3 grand. So apparently there is some cachet to the Lotus name. 1600 doesn't seem too unreasonable, provided the engine will run.

It would be a fun Challenge project...

I like them. They used a Toyota gear box. There's an automatic version, and I think it would be a cool daily driver with room in the back for the dog. There's one in Kiwiland with a 1UZFE in it.

I need another Lotus like ....

Dr. Hess wrote: Almost perfect. The headlights are popped up because there's a vacuum leak. Vacuum keeps the headlights down. Get a leak in the system and they will pop up by themselves.

Lol, the hide a way headlights on my charger are like that, I bet you don't get the resounding bang when you kill the engine on that lotus like I get with the charger.

Dr. Hess wrote: Get a leak in the system and they will pop up by themselves.

Well... I suppose that's better than having them fail in the closed postion.

The headlights early Lotus Elans would fail in the closed position, so they were redesigned to fail in the open position.

British re-enginering at it's finest.

Dr. Hess wrote: I like them. They used a Toyota gear box. There's an automatic version, and I think it would be a cool daily driver with room in the back for the dog. There's one in Kiwiland with a 1UZFE in it. I need another Lotus like ....

Woops there, Hess. The Elite used that weird box made from Austin Maxi parts in an aluminum case made by Lotus. The Excel (never sold here) used the 'Yota box, that's where the bellhousing for my Toyota swap in the J-H came from.

Elites are sorta neat, even if they are ugly. I always thought a red one with some wide Minilites and fat tires woud make a different daily driver.