07x10 - Lotus Elan

[bunniefuu]

Welcome to Wheeler Dealers,
the show where we take worn out

classics and give them a
second chance to look their best.

I buy the cars.

And I get busy with the spanners
and fix whatever needs fixing.

And then we sell them on for a profit.

Or at least that's the plan.

Now this time we're on the hunt for one
of the best British sports cars ever made.

Now I know that's a tall claim
but just take a look at this.

Think of the nation's
favourite fast cars and right at

the top of the table would
be this 1960's Lotus Elan.

With its cheeky good
looks, amazing British

engineering and super
light fibreglass body.

It was a very quick car for its day.

The 1600cc engine
delivered 0-60 in around 6.5

seconds with a top
speed of well over 120mph.

The Elan was a huge
international success for

Lotus but they were a
small company in the 60's.

And that leaves me with a classic problem.

High demand and low supply
means that prices for Elan

start at around 10 grand
for a car in average Nick.

That is a real wallet buster for me and Ed.

So, here's the plan.

I've worked with many independent
Lotus specialists over the years.

And I reckon there's going to be
somebody from my past in my little book

of contacts who can help me track
down the car that I'm looking for.

Hello Gary.

It's Brewer.

How you doing mate?

Yeah, I'm looking for a cheap Lotus Elan.

Hello, is that John?

Richard, how you doing mate?

Hello Steve, it's Mike Brewer.

I know it's been a while.

I've got you out of my old dusty book.

So far, no good.

But then Steve, a dealer friend, remembers
an old customer of his who talked in

the past about perhaps selling on his pride
and joy if the right buyer came along.

Could that be me?

Well that was interesting because
most of my contacts in my little

book say that there's nothing
out there really worth looking at.

But Steve's put me onto
something really interesting.

He knows a guy who's
had Elan for 22 years and he

might be tempted to
sell if the price is right.

Now I've had this lovely
chat on the phone with this

gentleman called Jamie that
my friend Steve put me onto.

He's invited me down in a
very formal way to come and see

his car and this is the first
sniff of a Lotus Elan I've had.

So it's hammer down, I'm on my way.

The strange thing is
Jamie won't tell me how

much he wants for
the car over the phone.

So I'm going in cold.

This looks like it's the motor.

Wow, it's lovely.


This looks like it's the owner.

You must be Jamie?

Yeah, I'm Mike.

Yes, I am. How are you?

I'm very well.

Do you know how much
you want for it before we start?

Well, you take it for a test
drive first and see what you think.

Okay, how long have you owned it then?

I've had it for 22 years.



Yes, indeed.

And what, you love Lotuses?

I've had a Lotus since the age of 17.

This is number 7.

Why are you selling this one then?

Our wife, I'm afraid, she
said it's time to have it out.

Time to kick it out of the garage
and make space for something else?

And I don't use it enough.

It's a lovely charming interior, isn't it?

I mean, the dashboard is very nice.

It is.

The interior is quite nice.

The seats are okay.

Yeah, these wheels are nasty, aren't they?

They are a bit, but nothing
a bit of spraying won't do.

A little bit tatty, isn't
it, on the bodywork?

Yes, but I think mechanically
you'll find it's absolutely 100%.

Is it?

Can we open the bonnet and have
a look at these mechanicals then?

Let's do that.

I'll tell you what, if you pull that one
at the same... Oh, just leave it here?

Yeah, there we are.

Yeah, up it comes.

Yeah, it's all chipped and
marked, the paintwork here.

It is a bit, I'm afraid.

Wow!

What about that?

That's where the money's
been spent, isn't it?

Yes, indeed.

On the engine?

Yes.

Oh, what can you tell me about that?

What have you done to it?

Well, it's a bored-out Lotus twin cam.

The original one was 1558.

This is 1700, and it's got
a lot of extra goodies in it.

It's got a QED camshaft...

Is it?

...pulling about 150 horsepower.



And, of course, in this very light
car... In this colour, it weighs nothing?

Yeah, it goes like the clappers.

Oh, this car!

Wow!

It's quick!

I mean, really quick.

It would have been quick in the 60s, but 40
years later, it's still absolutely rapid.

Jamie has said that he upgraded
the engine to 150 brake horsepower,

and I can feel every single bit of that.

This car's probably
sub-seven seconds to 60mph.

What an awesome machine!

But there are problems.

I mean, turning it into these corners,

the steering, you'd expect
it to be really dynamic.

But, no, it's not.

There's just something
a little bit vague about it.

It's a tiny bit woolly.

And as for the power delivery,
although the engine sounds strong,

it just... I can't
put my finger on it.

It just doesn't pick
up the way I'd like it to.

You know, Jamie, he should
have been a car dealer.

He's played a very, very clever game.

He's got me down here,
not told me the price,

let me get on the road in it, drive it,

and he knew full well that I
was going to fall in love with it.

Anyone would.

The thing is, underneath,
this car is so strong,

it just needs the bodywork doing,

and then it could be worth
an absolute fortune, as it is.

I reckon it's probably about ten
grand's worth, maybe a little bit more.

I want to leave a bit of
a margin for me and Ed,

so I'm going to go back and bid
him around the nine grand Mark.

If I can get it a little bit
cheaper than nine grand,

then I know me and Ed will be in the money.

Well, you weren't wrong, Jamie.

It's a little rocket, isn't it?

Yes, I knew you'd like it.

Do you know what?

It gets down the road
so fast, this little car.

And I do genuinely like it.

But I've still got this nagging doubt.

All the time I'm test driving it,
all I'm thinking about is the price.

You're going to have to put me
out in misery and spill the beans.

I had ten grand in mind.

Ten thousand pounds?

Ten grand, yeah.

You probably would get that if
you held out for the right customer.

But that's not going to be me today,
because it just needs so much work.

It needs a complete respray.

Yes.

And not only that,

I know the engine and gearbox are strong,

but there are other
little mechanical issues.

I want to give you eight
thousand pounds for it.

What about meeting halfway?

So you're saying nine thousand pounds?

Yes, yes.

It's still a little bit too rich for me.

I'll give you cash today.

Yes.

Your eyes lit up then.

And I'll give you eight and
a half thousand pounds.

Come on.

Eight and a half grand.

Okay.

Done!

That's super.

I got myself a Lotus Elan.

Wicked.

Okay, I'm trying to keep a lid on
my excitement, but I just can't do it.

Eight and a half grand
for a car in this Nick.

We're off to a flyer
with this lovely Lotus.

I can't wait for Ed to see Aralan.

I'm so proud to be saying this.

Check out our super quick Lotus Elan.

This car's probably sub seven
seconds to sixty miles an hour,

and it feels so fast,

especially when your
bum is that far off the floor.

What an awesome machine.

I've just secured one
of my best deals ever.

Eight and a half thousand
pounds is the most we've ever

spent on a car, but I bought
my favourite sixties legend.

Truly the best of British,

and I'm really going to enjoy
the drive back to the workshop.

Eight and a half grand.

Eight and a half grand!

This is one amazing
classic car for that money.

I've seen boxes of Aland bits
go for more money than this.

This car is absolute gold.

Oh, this car gets down the road so
well, but Ed will have some work to do.

Lotus have built their
reputation on handling,

and this car, just not quite right.

You'd expect it to be pin sharp,

but when I push it into these bends,

there's something a little
bit vague with the steering.

I don't know what it is,

but I'm pretty sure Ed's going
to have his work cut out to fix it.

Now, the more I get into this journey,
the more I'm being bothered by this delay

between the engine and the rear wheels,
which is where that power's going down,

and it's just not all as
nice as I would like it.

At the end of the day, I'm
not going to let these few

problems cloud my day because
I'm enjoying it far too much.

Once me and Ed finish this
car and get it tip-top condition,

I think 15 grand would
be easily achievable.

Look at that!

How about that?

Well done, that man.

That is quite awesome.

You've got a Colin, Chang
and Classic, a Lotus Elan.

A Lotus Elan, and it's all ours.

Watch the bonnet open. Watch, watch, watch.

Of course, that!

That is very cool.

Wow.

Look at that, eh?

That's where the money's gone, Ed.

The guy who's been driving this car.

spent an absolute fortune on the engine.

How does it drive?

It drives really fast.

Really well, really fast.

Any problems?

Yeah, of course.

Always.

One of them is when
you turn into a corner,

you expect it to
have great handling.

Yeah, these things are
renowned for their handling, yeah.

Yeah, well, not this one.

It's slightly vague.

So not as sharp as it should be?

Not as sharp as it should be, good words.

Okay, well, I'll try
and work that out then.

Fair enough. Anything else?

Yeah.

Come on, then.

When you accelerate away,
you expect instant response.

You expect it to
go... But it doesn't.

There's this kind of
delay, almost like a lag,

but then when it does
pick up its skirt and go,

it really does go.

All right, well, I'll look into that.

I don't have any idea what
that could be now, but that's fine.

Okay, cool.

There is another one.

Oh, right, of course, of course.

I haven't finished yet.

You know these famous little
Lotus Alarm flip-up bed lamps?

I think they're vacuum operated
or something, aren't they?

Yeah, they are.

Watch them go up. Ready?

There you go. Look at that.

Not terribly impressive, to be fair.

No, not really.

So I've got to fix that as well.

You have got to fix that.

Sorry about that.

But what do you think, eh?

I mean, it is... Okay,
it's a pretty impressive

car, except that the
bodywork is atrocious.

And look at those
cracks and splits and stuff.

In fact, look at the
star-crazing on the back there.

Mate, I'm going to have to do so much work.

Have you got any idea how much
work I'm going to have to do on this?

Yeah, a lot.

And that's why, Edward, it was only £8,500.

It weren't £15,000.

This car was a bargain.

And look at it, Ed.

It's a Lotus Alarm.

And once you get the bodywork up together,

we've got great mechanicals,
lovely wheels in it,

cracking interior.

We're going to earn so much money.

This car is going to earn us
the biggest profit we've ever had.

Trust me.

So Ed's not quite as happy
as me with our little Lotus,

but I'm sure he'll come round eventually.

An Alain is all about
point-and-sh**t steering,

direct handling and seat-if-your-pants fun.

But unfortunately, when Mike
pushed on down those country lanes,

he ended up feeling a little bit worried

because there was something
wrong with the handling.

It seemed really vague.

Somehow disconnected, there
was definitely something wrong.

Now, if our Lotus is going to
get top money when we sell it on,

well, that suspension and steering
is going to have to be sorted.

Colin Chapman, the man behind Lotus cars,

designed the Alain to have
four-wheel independent suspension

so each wheel can move vertically
to react to differing road conditions.

It's pretty sophisticated for a 60s car,

but I'm going to attempt a
diagnosis using a fairly basic method.

Okay, well, this is our
suspension and steering.

This is what's going to give
us good or bad handling,

so it's going to be
something to do with this

that's going to be
giving us our problem.

Now, the first thing I
want to do is just kind of

put my hands at kind of
basically nine and three

and just try and rock the
steering backwards and forwards.

And the idea is here I'm
actually kind of compressing

and putting under
tension the steering rack

and all the suspension of
all the steering parts here.

So I've got the track rod end.

I should be able to feel if there's
any kind of movement in that,

which it isn't.

So now, with my hand at


do the same thing.

Now, that is really bad.

You can hear it slapping around.

I can actually see the top ball joint.

It's got loads of excess movement in it.

And if that's failed, that's
definitely going to have

some kind of bad influence
over the handling of the car.

Now, if this one's gone, chances
are the other side will be soon to follow,

so I think it's probably
best to change both of them.

But to get a closer look,
we need to get the wheel off.

Okay, so it looks as though
a front ball joint is failing.

The ball joint is a ball
and socket connector

that allows the suspension to
move and the wheels to steer.

Excessive play, like I've
found, severely affects handling.

Okay, well, this is
our offending ball joint.

You can see it's attached
to the suspension,

kind of wishbone, if you like,
with these two bolts up here,

but also the ball itself
is attached to the upright

via this taper joint, and that's
held on with this nut here.

So I need to undo the
nut, undo it some other way,

and then what I'm going
to do is get a fork in here,

sort of a ball joint fork, and then
hit it really hard with a hammer.

The idea is it's going to separate,

and then I can then take
away these two bits as well.

Replacing a ball joint is quite
common on a car like this,

and you could do it yourself.

For a Lotus specialist,
it's a one-hour job,

so expect to pay around £50.

Now, obviously, the
suspension is under tension.

There's this huge spring
pushing down on the bottom arm.

So what I'm doing is I'm just
using this transmission Jack

just to kind of Jack
the whole thing up a

little bit, and I'm
going to take the strain.

so I can now finish undoing
the bottom nut off that ball joint.

Now, once this is undone, I
can then undo the two bolts

that actually hold the ball
joint to the top wishbone.

OK, that's off.

Well, here's our offending ball joint.

You can see what the ball joint does.

It allows the steering or the
suspension to twist from left to right,

but also to go kind of
backwards and forwards.

So when the suspension's
moving up and down,

it has all of the movement
all at the same time.

It's holding this ball,
the centre of the ball

or the sphere, in
exactly the right space.

In fact, if I just peel that off there,

you can see there's
the ball inside the socket,

and there should be
a little liner in there,

and that's obviously what's
failed over time bouncing around.

And, of course, that's why we've
got all this vague steering feeling,

because as this is moving around, the
steering geometry is being messed about,

and you really need to have
it as the factory intended.

So by replacing this for a brand-new one,

we should solve our problem.

You can clearly see the difference.

between the old, worn
part and our new ball joint.

Fitting it is pretty easy stuff.

Just drop it into the
tapered hole in the upright,

connect it to the suspension
wishbone with two bolts,

do up the nylock nut to secure
the ball joint to the upright,

release the tension on
the transmission Jack,

and finally nip up the nut.

It's a good idea to replace the
ball joint on both front wheels,

as it means the handling
will be even and predictable.

But for now, this side is finished.

If I just grab hold of it and
do a bit of manhandling,

there's no movement there whatsoever.

So the next time this baby hits the road,

it's going to handle
just like Lotus intended.

Whenever Mike gets us a new car,

I always give it the once-over
to make sure there are no jobs

that he hasn't found or, in fact,
didn't bother looking too hard for.

This is a classic example, lovely
stainless steel back box here,

but if only he looked
just a little bit further

along, there's a
not-so-nice rusty pipe.

Come to the Y piece again, there's damage,

there's actually soot coming out again,
so there's more exhaust leaking there,

and then go on to the
downpipe, or in fact the manifold,

and that's also damaged, and again,
it's kind of rusty because it's mild steel.

I think this car deserves
something special,

perhaps some stainless steel.

So all this lot is going
to have to come off.

On any car, the exhaust system is essential

for drawing away the burnt fuel
and air mixture from the engine.

The more effective the exhaust,
the better the car performs.

This system obviously
isn't in peak condition.

I think it's coming off.

There we go.

Well, I need to remove that bit,

but at least that box is off and
I can put it somewhere safe.

The rest of the
exhaust system is

now removed, so I
need to get this bit off.

This is the downpipe or the manifold,

but unfortunately the bolts for
that are actually onto the head,

which of course is way up
there in top of the engine base.

I now need to get the
car down to get that bit off.

I seem to have come
across a bit of a problem here.

I've got the manifold off
the head, which is fine,

but it seems to be too big
to go either down the bottom

or out the bottom or out of the top.

Now, having a little route around, I
think perhaps if I maybe disconnect.

certainly this engine
mount, maybe the other one,

maybe I could then kind
of move the engine around

and actually get these chaps to sort
of pull through one way or the other.

This is turning out to
be a bit of a pain of a job.

I hope this fix works, otherwise
things are going to get very complicated.

So this is the last bolt mount

and then hopefully the engine
mount should be forthcoming.

Fantastic, so there it is.

So now I should have a bit
more room for these exhausts.

In fact, although it's one
manifold, it's actually in two pieces.

It's definitely a bit better.

I think what I'm going to try and
do is I'm just going to lower the car,

which effectively is going to
just move the engine up and

away a little bit and then I
think we'll have even more room.

The engine is firmly supported
by my trusty transmission Jack.

OK, that's moved it just a
little bit, so now hopefully,

with a lot of fettling, I should
be able to get these out.

There we go.

Oh dear, far too fiddly.

Finally, the exhaust system is off

and I can think about
fitting the stainless steel one.

So why are we using stainless steel?

Well, the first thing, obviously
it looks nice, it's shiny,

because that doesn't really matter because
it's going to be going underneath the car.

But the main thing is,

because it's not made out of mild
steel, it's made out of stainless steel,

there's no iron to rust
in its chemical makeup

and that means it's going to last,
perhaps, even longer than the car itself.

Once again, access is limited
as I put the manifold gasket on

and connect up the manifold itself.

It's fiddly, but doable.

And a handy top tip, of course,

when you're putting things like this
kind of clamp onto an exhaust system,

they've actually rotated them

so they're way out of the
way of the underside of the car,

but also aren't going to touch
anything on the inside of the car.

Gradually, I build the system up.

It's quite time consuming, but
it is a job you could do yourself.

If you paid a garage to do it, you'd
be lucky to get change out of 200 quid.

Possibly my favourite part of a job,

the moment of truth.

Here we go.

Oh, that does sound really rather lovely.

And of course, it was well worth the effort,
even though it was a little bit fiddly,

because now our great
little car is even better.

The Elan is sounding great, but
it still looks crusty on the outside.

But when all the work on
this Lotus is finally completed,

I reckon we could get over 15 grand for it.

So join us after the break

to see Edd tackle a total
paint strip and bodywork

restoration as we get
ready for a respray.

Welcome back.

If you're into sports cars,
then sit back and enjoy,

because they don't come
much better than this.

Our Lotus Elan.

I had a ball drive in it.

This car!

Wow!

It's quick!

And Edd's had some fun working on it.

There we go.

Normally, I'd leave him be,

but I can't wait to see how it's
all going for our excellent Elan.

So I'm dropping by unexpectedly.

Edd!

Hello, mate.

Look at the state of those
hands, what have you been up to?

I'll have you now.

I've been really busy on
the underside of the car.

I'm glad you said that, because yet again,

you've done very little to the top side
of our car, except remove the bonnet.

What's the story?

Enough of that.

One of the jobs I had to do, you hadn't
even spotted, and that was a rotten exhaust,

so now I've replaced it
with a stainless steel one

from the headers all the
way down to the back box.

Wicked, so it sounds nice and raspy.

What else?

Well, remember that kind
of vague steering problem?

Yeah, when you pushed it into a
corner, it just wasn't dynamic enough.

Turns out it was a failed ball joint.

I replaced both of them, and
now it should be sharp as a pin.

So it's going to sound great,
it's going to drive brilliantly.

Have you fixed anything else?

Well, no, but I'm going
to look into that kind of

weird, vague delay thing
you were talking about.

Yeah, it's the power from the
engine, when you put your foot down,

doesn't really get to the
rear wheels quick enough.

It's not like it's a long
way either, is it, really?

So that should be something to look at,

and then of course the
other thing is the bodywork.

Well, it looks like you've
got plenty of rubbing

down to do, so I'm
going to leave you to that.

And as ever, don't forget, Edd, I'm here at
your Beck and call if you need any parts.

Well, thank you very much.

This is a great British classic,

and I'm proud to have it in my workshop,

but Mike was complaining
about this rather strange delay

between him putting
his foot on the throttle

and the car launching
off into the distance.

Now, I've done a bit of
research, talked to a few experts,

and it turns out the Lotus
Elan has got a real Achilles heel.

It's got these rubber doughnuts that
go on either end of both driveshafts,

and over time they perish,
they get a bit soft and squidgy,

and you end up with exactly the same
symptoms that Mike's been talking about.

To be 100% sure, I'm going
to dig around underneath.

Here we go, these are the driveshafts.

You can see the metal bit in the middle,

and either side you've got
these kind of rubber doughnuts,

and they are looking pretty
perished, actually, on this.

Oh, dear, that's actually a
bit worse on the inside there.

And on the outside,

it's actually kind of split
into quite a few pieces.

I think there are only a few miles
coming on the back of a recovery truck,

so it's not a moment too soon that
we're actually going to be replacing these.

At the moment, because the
suspension is hanging down,

the Springs are fully expanded,

and all the bolts I need to undo to
get the doughnuts off are under tension.

So, here's a good tip.

I'm compressing the top
spring by using a ratchet strap

attached to the bottom of the suspension.

It should make getting
the bolts out a doddle.

The driveshaft couplings
have a tough job to do.

They need to be flexible enough
to deal with the movement of

the Elan's suspension, but they
also need to be strong enough

to deal with the extremes of the torque
running through them to the rear wheels.

The solution Lotus
came up with was to use

heavy-duty rubber doughnuts
as driveshaft couplings.

Good for their day,
but the car quickly

developed a reputation
for chewing through them.

There we go.

So, there's the first
doughnut out, which is great.

And, of course, the next one
here is going to be a bit more tricky

because these bolts actually go
out towards the outside of the hub

and are actually blocked
by the disc and the hub itself.

So, what I need to do is actually
try and pull this driveshaft off.

And, as you can see, it's a bit tricky, but
if I keep going, I think we'll get there.

Wow, look at that. Well, there we go.

There is the evidence of how bad

and how far that had gone.

So, it's a good thing
we're getting rid of this.

Two off, two to go on the near side.

And while I'm doing that,

Mike can find me some replacements.

Lotus cars are based in Heffal, Norfolk,

which is a few miles in that direction.

And there's still a few parts suppliers
to be found in this neck of the woods.

Now, the place I'm going to go and
visit has been in operation for 40 years.

And judging by this baby part outside,

yes, look at that.

They're definitely going
to be talking my language.

Hello there. You must be Sue.

Hello, come in.

Hello, Sue. How are you?

I'm doing very well.

Wow, what a place.

I was expecting just a little garage.

I didn't think it would be this big.

No, it was a big garage.

Now, I need a replacement
for our old driveshaft

couplings, which are these
things on your bench here.

And you said you've got
something exciting to show me.

What are they?

Yes, I have.
I've got constant velocity joints.

These are our direct replacements.

Good for the muscles.

Sue, how did you get from
this old thing to one of these?

Where do they come from?

We have the shafts made
out and the end plates.

We bind the joints and we
assemble them in-house.

That's fantastic.

Why is there a need to do that, though?

Because of the poor quality of the rubber.

Right, so in these ones,
they're just not good enough?

Not nowadays, no.

And how successful have these been
since you've been manufacturing them?

They're very successful.

We have nearly 700 sets on cars.





On cars, that's brilliant.

Now, let's just go through the price.

How much are these?

They're £60 each, roughly,
and there are four of them.

So that's 240 quid?

That's right.

And how much are these for a pair?

A pair is £445.

And how long will these last on the car?

Indefinitely.

Indefinitely?

That's the word I like to hear.

Well, I think it's job
done, so I'll have a pair.

Thank you.

Ed, how are you getting on?

Not too bad, mate, but I'm
kind of twiddling my thumb

waiting for those drive
shafts, you got them?

Easy, Tiger.

As soon as I found out about
it, I was on the road and, yes,

I did go and visit the firm
and I didn't swap them

for those cheap, nasty,
sort of doughnutty...

No, they're rubbish.

They are rubbish.

So I got an upgraded part.

Nice.

You like shiny stuff.

I do, yeah, go on.

Look at those bad boys.

That is pretty special looking, isn't it?

There's a lot of engineering that's
gone into that, so that's pretty cool.

Let's pop it onto the car.

Wicked.

Can I get the other one?

Cool.

Well, here is our magical new drive shaft

with a CV joint, or constant
velocity joint, at each end.

Now, the problem with the original set-up

was these rubber doughnuts
had to get distorted quite a bit

to accommodate the
movement of the suspension.

And the problem is, of course,
after a while, being under

tension all the time means
they eventually perish or fail.

Now, the clever thing about a CV joint,

which is basically
kind of like a big slotted

cage with a whole load
of ball bearings inside,

is that they're designed to accommodate

a whole load more movement
and still work perfectly.

They can actually expand
and shrink a little bit as well

to accommodate all this movement,
which means, although they are expensive,

they're going to work for an awful
lot longer than the original set-up.

I'm going to put this end in first.

It's got the longest stance, as
you can see, compared to that.

It's going to give me a bit more room
when it comes to put the other end in.

Let's feed it up through.

Now, on the outside end of this,

I've got to get it through
the kind of yoke of

the hub, if you like, for
these three bolt holes.

But then, also, I've got
to go through the disc.

And, of course, that's kind of floating
around, so it's going to be a bit messy.

I'm going to try and get that to work.

It's getting close, I think.

I'm just going to pop
that disc up a little.

There we go.

So now I need to bolt
it up all the way around.

Now, they really don't
want this to come off.

I've got a locking washer
there and also a nylock nut.

So, obviously, the nylon
helps clamp the thread,

stop it all unwinding,

but also, of course,
that crinkly washer on the

back as well will also
stop the nut from moving.

So, clearly, they want
these things to stay.

Now the CV joint is securely held,

I can fiddle the other end
in and bolt it into place.

It really feels like a
quality bit of kit, this,

solid and rugged.

Once it's in place, it's
not going anywhere.

I've still got the near-side CV to do,

but for the offside, that's job done.

Now that drive shaft modification is done,

it's fixed an age-old
problem for our Lotus Elan,

and Mike will be pleased, because even
his driving won't be able to break that.

The time has come, I
can't put it off any longer,

I need to knuckle down
and sort out this bodywork.

To get the best possible
price for our great little Elan,

I'm going to need to get
this car a total respray.

That means a huge amount
of work for our tiny little Lotus.

Any bodywork always begins with a strip.

Not as exciting as it sounds,

just hours of unbolting
and careful storage of parts.

The fibreglass body of the
Elan is key to the car's reputation.

It weighs very little, which
means the car can really exploit

the peppy twin-cam
four-cylinder engine up front.

I've got loads of bits
of bodywork to sort out,

but the first thing I'm going to attend
to is this bit of sort of star-crazing.

You can see there's cracks in the paint,

but underneath you can also see there
are still cracks in the gel coat as well.

So what I need to
do, and it's a little bit

drastic, is actually sand
through all these cracks

and then through the cracks
in the gel coat, and then

when we put some filler back
on and then the fresh paint,

at least those cracks
aren't going to reform

and break through in
a couple of weeks' time.

Loads of work, though.

I was hoping that I could just sand back

the top coat of the paint and do a
simple respray, but as I say, in some areas

there's visible damage
right down to the gel coat.

That's the outer smooth layer in
the original fibreglassing process.

I have to be very careful.

I need to go deep enough to make
sure that the repairs will be good,

but not so far that I
damage the delicate body.

Well, I've sanded down all
of those star-shaped cracks

in some places through
so many layers of paint.

I've actually gone down to the fibreglass
itself, but now I've got down that far,

they're going to be ready for the next
stage, which, of course, is the filler,

but I've actually noticed here
that I've actually sanded down

to what is perhaps the original color
of the car, this fantastic lime green.

Very cool.

And before I do apply all the filler,
what I want to do is just go and sand down

some of the other bits of
damage over the rest of the car.

The filler I'm using is specially
designed to flex with the fibreglass.

Make sure the hardener and the
filler are completely mixed, no streaks.

Then it should work really well.

Just put some of the bare minimum.

You can always go over it again
when it will take longer to take off.

Not too much.

I was just doing the filling,
and I've suddenly remembered

I haven't done anything
about this dodgy old headlight.

Now what they're supposed to
do, they're actually vacuum powered,

so they use the vacuum
from the engine to

actually power them up,
to pop them up like so.

They've got these two pivots either
side with the inch they rotate around.

If you come to the one
on the passenger side,

I can actually lift that up again by hand.

You can see, once it's up, it's fine,
but actually it's wobbling around,

and that seems to be because
there's something missing here.

It's like the pin or whatever,
the pivot that it's moving on.

Is actually broken.

So we'll just grab a light and
have a look down underneath.

It looks like the bolt is
sheared off, perhaps.

What I need to do is get
to the other side of that bolt.

I think I'm going to have to do
that through the headlight itself.

I reckon this might
actually be a really easy fix.

You can see this bolt sticking out here.

Well, it isn't sheared off.

Obviously the fact is
that it's wound its way out.

I think once it's in position,
then hopefully our pivot

will be back in position
and the light will be fixed.

Simple as that.

I think that's sorted,

but I need to put the heavy
headlight back in to fully test my fix.

I have been working so hard on this Lotus,

but now it's finally ready for
its paint job, and when it returns,

it's going to be such
a cracking little Elan

because, of course, the bodywork
will be sorted, as are the mechanicals.

It's going to be worth a small fortune.

So join me soon to find
out how it all turns out.

Welcome back to Wheeler Dealers.

Now, this is the empty
workshop where our pretty little

Lotus Elan should be, but
it's gone off for its repaint,

and I can't wait to see it when it returns

with its gleaming red
cherry paintwork on top,

a nice white underneath,

and that gold pinstripe right
the way down the middle.

It's going to look wicked.

This might look like the
chemistry lab of a mad professor,

but it's here that my mate Jay is actually
mixing the paint for our Lotus Elan.

And now the color is ready, I'm
here to see the spraying begin.

Now, once Jay's built up all of the layers

of that lovely red paint, the
car's going to be left to dry.

And, of course, nowadays with modern cars,

we'd actually bake that
paint on with an oven.

But because our car's
made out of fiberglass,

it's got loads of little
air bubbles inside,

and if those air bubbles were to
expand too quickly because of the heat,

they could cause blistering or cracks.

So rather than run that risk,

what we're going to do is let the car
dry in ambient temperature overnight.

Tomorrow, Jay's going to
paint on that all-important.

white bottom half on our car.

The next time I see this car, it's
going to be back at the workshop.

We are so close to finishing our Elan,

I just can't wait.

Almost a week after I'd sent it away,

the Elan was back,
and it was worth the wait.

Oh, look at that!

Now, I knew it was going to be good,

but I never realized it was
going to be quite this good.

Look at that lovely deep red shine,

and also that beautiful
contrasting white underside

there, and that charming
little gold pinstripe.

It looks so good.

But when this Elan was being re-sprayed,

the boys actually
smartened up our black,

scruffy wheels with
this lovely silver paint,

which is actually the color
they should have been.

Our Elan has been reborn!

I bet the Lotus factory would
have been proud of a finish like this

when the car rolled off the
production line back in 1968.

But a paint job this good
has cost us a few quid,



I'm confident we'll get
that back when we set it on,

but that's still a long way off.

The Elan is back in the workshop,

and there is still plenty to do before
I can say this car is actually finished.

There is loads of body trim to fit,

so I'd better crack on.

This car is simplicity itself.

The front and rear bumpers are
secured by just two bolts each.

Now, on with the front indicators.

Without a doubt, the
Lotus Elan has got to

be one of Britain's
best-loved sports cars,

with its cheeky lines
and fantastic handling.

It's won fans all over the world.

And for me, it's been a real
pleasure to work on this little car.

Every time I've taken the part off,

I've been able to see the
ingenuity and engineering skill

that's gone into making this little
car just so perfect, from nose to tail.

Now, I'm going to be sad
to see it go, but I do predict

a profit, and I reckon
it's going to be a big one.

So our lovable Lotus
has really got back its

sense of Elan, but
it took a lot of work.

I got very lucky finding this clean,

to own a classic for
eight and a half grand,

but I soon realised it had a few faults.

Up front, the handling was a little vague,

but a new set of ball joints saved the day.

I did get caught out on the exhaust.

Ed found it was rotten in places,

and we decided to shell out
for a new stainless steel system.

A slight lag in the power delivery
was traced back to damaged

driveshaft couplings, and I found
a clever new CV joint solution

to this common Lotus Elan problem.

Last, that elegant fibreglass body was
stripped down and given a total restoration.

It was in worse Nick than I thought,

but Ed sorted it, and when the
car came back from the spray booth,

it was a real head-Turner.

So, how much did we spend?

Well, the work we did was pricey,

but because we bought cheap,

we have money to spend on getting
this icon of the 60s back to its best.

All in, it now owes us
a shade under £11,700,

and at that money,

I reckon there's plenty
of profit left in it for us.

Wow! Yes!

Look at little Lotus, Ed!

That looks just amazing!

Doesn't it look awesome, especially
in this sunlight, and it's ready to go?

You have worked that wand of yours overtime
because this is nothing short than superb.

Well, thank you very much.

I've always had a bit of a soft
spot for our soft topper land,

but there were quite
a few jobs I'm going to

do, but it was a real
pleasure to work on.

Well, listen, mate,

I always knew we were
going to do well out of

this car, but now I'm
absolutely convinced of it.

Well, I hope so, because
I think we do deserve it.

What we do deserve is,

before we put the sound
sticker on the screen,

you grab your goggles,

I grab my coat, because
we're off for a bit of fun.

Cool.

This is Gerstin Downhill Climb,
one of the fastest in the country.

The aim of the game is to get a car
off the line and up to the top of the hill,

way off there in the distance,
in the fastest time possible.

The Lotus is on the start line,

ahead a thousand
yards of track, rising 140

feet over tight bends
and flat out fast corners.

Ed versus Mike,
and it's me up first.

Whoa!

Whoa!

Whoa, into the carousel.

That's the first carousel.

This is the second one.

Oh, my word.

He is really going round
some of those corners.

Let's turn into ashes,

drift the back of the car out.

Wonderful!

Flat on the power now.

Across the finishing line.

Whoa!

That is awesome.



Seconds out, round two,

and the tour man's in the hot seat.

Three, two, one, go!

There we go, off the line nice and cleanly.

That looks painfully slow.

Oh, my word.

Come on, Ed, get your foot down.

Down to the next corner, this is carousel.

Oh, it's all sliding round the corner.

Coming up to the last corner now.

This is ashes.

Coming up to the finish line.

Whoo-hoo!

Two runs, but there
could only be one winner.

Time to compare times.

You did it in 49 seconds.

Really?

Yep.

Wow, I actually felt
a bit slower than that.

I want to know now.

Come put me up my misery.

Well, you did a little
bit better, of course,

because you are built for this vehicle.





I tell you what, it felt so fast.

That car feels absolutely brilliant.

Unfortunately, though,
it's time to say goodbye

to our little Lotus because
we do have to sell it.

What do you reckon it's going to go for?

Well, good ones make about 15 grand.

Our car is definitely better than good,

so I've already advertised it for 16,995.

The money is on its way.

Hold on to your breath.

Now, am I about to close the biggest
deal we've ever done on Wheeler-dealers?

Wish me luck.

Come on!

So what do you think, then?

Hi, Mike.

I think the car is an absolute cr*cker.

Fabulous bit of machinery.

Good.

And I know you like the
way it drives, because I do.

Perfect.

I'm prepared to make a bid, 16,250.

That's a very good bid.

Unfortunately, in this
case, it's not good enough.

There's only one price I'll take for it.

I'll let you have the
car for 16,700 pounds.

You wouldn't even go 16,500 for me?

I can't do it.

No, it has to be 16,700.

Have a deal with me.

You'll buy the best car
I've ever sold in my life.

I believe you.



Come on.

Yes!

Good man.

Top work.

You've got yourself a
cracking, cracking little motor.

Yeah, sure.

Remember, all in, the Elan
owes us just under £11,700.

For that is, wait for it, a £5,000 profit.

Our biggest score ever.

Amazing.

Well, I've got to tell you, this is a
little car that I've really fallen for,

and I'll be forever
sad that that little

Lotus isn't tucked
neatly away in my garage.

However, me and Ed are incredibly
proud of the result that we've had here.

If you want to see more
cars getting the Wheeler

dealer treatment,
then join us again soon.

Salah.