01x04 - Lotus Elan: A Labour of Love

[bunniefuu]

I'm Ant Anstead.

I've been fixing cars
since I was a teenager.

And I've set myself
the task of restoring...

Yes! Come on!

..and selling eight crumbling
old cars for profit.

It's the ultimate road cruiser.

And the stakes are high
because it's personal.

The cow room is now the bathroom.

Okay.

Everything I make is going towards
this 500-year-old farmhouse...

She goes today,
which means big hammer.

..that I bought for my mom and dad
to retire in.

So what's going wrong there?
Bogged.

But it's a total wreck.

How far away from collapse is this?

A really good storm
could cause a problem.

Let's do it.

With my family by my side...

It feels like a proper
brake pedal now.

..and some help
from my engineer mate, Darren...

Are you joining me for the ride?
Yeah. Why not?

..I've got the best team
around me...

Hey, watch out!

..as I take on
eight wrecks on wheels...

Perfect.
..and a house that's falling apart.

The whole thing's been kept up
by chicken wire.Pretty much.

It's a massive gamble.

Come on, breathe.
I am losing sleep over this.

I'll be honest.
I have no idea what's going on.

This is a big construction day,

and to get through big construction,
you need big diggers.

With the front portion
of the roof retiled,

builder Ollie's here
to begin work at ground level,

digging foundations
for a walled garden
and a greenhouse.

Hey, Ollie, can I drive this?
Yeah.

I can.
You're gonna regret that.

Inside, I plan to insulate
the upstairs bedrooms...

..turning this old wreck into Mum
and Dad's dream family home.

Earlier in their life,
their jobs as school caterers

meant my parents never owned
their own homes.

Our childhood,
we went from house

to house to house
because of your job.

And the times where we've lived in
old homes,

because they were school homes,

were for me the memories that stick
out the most.

But they were never ours.

This can be --
this can be a real family home.

Right.
So now, with all the grandchildren

and all the children, you know,

what does a Christmas
in this house look like?

Oh, wow.Right?
That I can see.

But with the last car I flipped
to auction, making a loss,

it's putting pressure on the build
rather than making it easier.

So I'm determined
to put things right.

I'm heading to leafy Surrey to check
out a sporty British classic

that's risky,
but could yield a big reward.

I jumped in the car
because I've immediately bitten

on an advert online
for a Lotus Elan.

It's the type of car
where you can actually drive it

to a track day,
stick it on a racetrack,

have the same experience and
exhilaration you'd from a race car,

get back in it,
get some slippers and smoke a pipe

and drive it to the pub.

It's the perfect combination.

The Lotus Elan is the brainchild

of my British car building hero,
Colin Chapman,

whose race cars dominated
motorsports in the 60s and 70s,

The Elan that I'm gonna see today
is a 1973 Elan +2,

which was Chapman's effort
of making an Elan into a family car.

He extended it by 12 in,
chucked seats in the back,

and then claimed
it was a four-seater.

The pictures look quite good.

The bits that worry me
are the engine,

because they're quite fragile.
And then the body shell.

The shell is completely
constructed of fibreglass.

They always crack.

Hi.Hi. You must be Paul.Yeah.
Nice to meet you.

I'm here to see the car.
Lovely. No problem.

For ten years, Paul drove past
the Elan in his neighbour's garden.

Just over a year ago,
he finally bought her before

realising she was way too big a job.

Oh, man!

Oh, my God.

I hope you like it.
I love it.

I'm already in love with it.

This car is completely made
of fibreglass...in general.

The body of this car...
is really very good.

I love it. It feels like a Lotus.

Look at this, little fuses.

This stands testament to Chapman
as a race car engineer,

because if a fuse goes
in the middle of a race,

you need to access it, repair it,
get back out on track.

I love the little map.
Look, it's like a rally car.

You've got your navigator
doing the timings.

Chapman was a famous magpie.
He would scour the Earth

and find and steal parts
from other people's cars.

The internals of that gearbox
are actually out of an Austin Maxi,

a car my dad owned.

Man, I am changing nothing in here.

Something looks really odd
with the ride height.

The car sitting up,
particularly on the front.

The space between the top
of the arch and the wheel,

it shouldn't really be that big.

I mean,
I can get my whole fist in there.

The cars are supposed to be lower,

centre of gravity planted
on the floor.

You're driving
as if it's a track car.

Surface level,
this Elan's in pretty good nick.

But if the engine's knackered,
any potential profit

will quickly go up in smoke.

So I'm gonna try and jump start her.

That is enough. That is an engine
that turns over freely.

No knocking sounds.

This suggests the crank pistons
and cams are working okay.

But the fact it cuts out
needs to be investigated.

Best case scenario
is a head gasket fix

and probably a skim of the head.

I mean, it's a risk.
The engines a risk,

but it's a risk worth taking.

Because the rest of the car...

Yeah, the rest of the car is solid.

I know I can get at least 20 grand
for a beautifully restored Elan,

which will mean a tidy profit
for the farmhouse,

if the engine doesn't throw up
any nasty surprises,

and I can negotiate
a good price with Paul.

How much do you want for the car?

Let's say...under 10,000.

Okay.
It's gonna be way under 10,000.

Well, I really didn't wanna sell it,

but obviously I think
it's 'cause I can't do it myself.

If I'm gonna let it go,
it's gonna have to be 8,000.

Well, look... I mean,
it's been crying out to be helped.

Ten years off the road.
I'm gonna put it back on the road.

I'm only gonna negotiate once.
I'm just gonna say 500 off. 7.500.

I'm not gonna do any more haggling.
7,500.

Job done.Yes?You can have it.
Yes!Perfect.Amazing!

It feels like 7,500
grands of good-bye.

You know,
the house needs a big risk car.

It needs a car that's gonna yield

a really heavy return,
and this is the car.

That's a sports car.

It shouldn't be parked up.
It deserves to be enjoyed.

So it's gonna be
one of those projects

that's gonna take more
than the profit box for me.

It's gonna put a Lotus
back on the road.

Everyone's gonna love it.
Everyone's gonna love this car.

Except maybe Darren.

I'm sure he'll find a million things
that are wrong with him.

Wicked. A Lotus?

Yeah. Don't hang around.
Give us a push.

It's supposed to be light.

It's been sat for so long.

It's kind of a bit seized up.

Handbrake works.

What's the chassis like, though?

I mean, I never really looked
at it in detail.

It was on a kind of a leafy,
gravelly driveway.

So you've bought a Lotus
that's been stud for a long while.

Yeah, maybe 20-30 years.
You've not looked at the chassis?

Turned over, didn't run.

Okay.

Problem with me buying cars
is if I love it,

I'm likely to leave with it.
And I do love Lotus.

So, the car was probably bought
on the journey down,

rather than having done
the assessment.

So, we are where we are.

I need my risk to pay off big time,

'cause builder Ollie's starting work
on my grand vision

for my parents' green garden.

Oh, the change is gonna be huge,

moving from a two-bedded bungalow
into a house of this size,

particularly with all this garden.
I do like my flowers.

But I've got a feeling
it's not going to be cheap.

So from that tree line there...
Yep.

..this is gonna be basically
a walled secret garden

that's gonna be dominated
by greenhouse around about there.

Patio area,

and then raised flower beds
so they can grow some stuff.

Down this line here,

we're going to put a trench
for a dwarf wall.

Yep.And every eight feet
will be a brick pillar.

So, if you do a trench

all the way down here
for that wall...

..to the corner pillar.Yep.

A trench all the way down here.

Do the L-shaped trench
for the walls.

And then
we can pour the foundation in.Yep.

We're gonna be in fighting position
to go and build the...

Yeah...the secret wall garden.
Yep.

Good to go.Are you on?
Yeah, I'm on.

The garden works are set
to cost at least 10 grand,

so it's vital I rinse as much profit

as possible from
my 7,500 grand Lotus.

Sleek, sporty and steeped
in British racing history,

it could make upwards
of 12 grand profit,

once we fixed the suspension,
restored the bodywork,

spruced up the interior
and figured out

why the engine doesn't work.

But I've got a hunch.
To make an engine run effectively,

it needs to have an oil system
that lubricates the moving parts,

and then a cooling system
that keeps it cool,

because if it gets too hot,
the engine's gonna blow up.

The oil system and the water system
should never mix.

And when they do,
something in the engines failed.

A common failure
is a head gasket failure.

That's the piece of gasket that sits
between the top of the engine,

the head and the bottom
of the engine, the block.

When that fails,
you get sludge in the head.

Oh, yeah. Look at that.

Sludge. Yeah, that's a problem.

All right. The best case scenario
is now its head gasket.

Hmm.

Or at worst, we could have a crack
somewhere in that block.

Or the head. The head is Lotus.

The head's the expensive bit.

Well,
there's only one way to find out.

Let's put the head off.
Off with her head.

I've bought a 7,500 grand

1973 Lotus Elan
that doesn't run properly.

I'm praying
it's just a blown head gasket.

Once we take the head off,
determine that it's a gasket,

it will be a simple gasket swap.

But if we take the head off
and there's damage to the head,

yeah,
we're into a whole world of pain.

That's because
unlike the mass produced block,

the cylinder head
is an expensive part.

It was precision designed
by Lotus engineers

out of a lightweight
aluminium alloy,

and was cutting edge at the time.

Using lightweight materials
like aluminium

and fibreglass was an obsession
for Lotus founder, Colin Chapman.

His motto was "Simplified
and add lightness."

And the result was a very fast car,

leading Lotus to seven
Formula 1 Constructors

and six
Driver Championship victories

across the 60s and 70s.

Chapman put all this world beating
know-how into the Elan.

I love these twin-cam engines
or twinkies,

and it's called a twin cam
because it has two camshafts.

One camshaft runs
the exhaust valves,

one camshaft runs the inlet valves.

These things, by nature,
make screaming rev sounds.

They're awesome.

A new head can cost around 3 grand,

but with the carburettors out,

it looks like this one
could be even more valuable.

Wait a minute.

That looks ported.

Oh, yes.
That is a ported head.

That is, isn't it?

That's lovely.

It's been given a major upgrade,

These four inlets, where the fuel
and air travels into the engine,

are normally quite rough.

And the smoother and faster
the air and fuel flows in,

the better the performance is.
And someone has actually

taken a lot of effort
on this engine and gas flow.

They've polished and ported
the four inlets

on the carburettor side.
It's a performance upgrade.

It can add 10, 20, 30,
more brake horsepower.

If you're a race guy

and you're looking to buy a car,
you look for that.

Aw, that's such a great surprise!
I fell over the moon.

You know, that adds
probably £1,500 to £2,000

I agree. Yeah.
Yeah, that is a big bonus.

I just pray it's not damaged.

You got it?Sure.

The head itself looks
in good condition.

Oh, that's the result.

And the clues point to one culprit,

the head gasket.

That's the piece that sits between
the block on the bottom

where the four pistons run,

and the head on top
where the two camshafts run.

And, quite clearly, this has failed.

You can see residues of gunky,
oily water,

where the water has obviously joined
the reservoir for the oil.

A new head gasket
will cost us about 50 quid.

But the best news is that
we can keep the precious

Lotus built ported head,

and once we fit that gasket,
the engine should run.

I feel like Sherlock Holmes,
just dirtier.

Seeing the diggers arrive
and the garden works

begin has got my mom and dad
excited about the idea of moving in.

I think the house is amazing.
There's no doubt about that.

I think the house will be amazing.
It is. It's a beautiful house.

And it's the space
for our family get-togethers,

particularly in the back garden.
Yeah.

Grandchildren.
And space for crafting, please.

Maybe. We'll think about it.

Instead of using
the dining room table.

But it's not just the garden I need
the profit from our Lotus to cover.

I'm helping my little brother,
Michael, insulate

what will eventually become
a bedroom.

Oh, my God,
have you ever looked in here?

Check. Come here. Check it out.

That's a hornet's nest.

That's pretty crazy, isn't it?
Yeah.

Oh, my God,
it's gonna be toasty in here.

Hopefully.Nice.

That's so much better.

These old heritage homes
have no insulation.

This wall here is made of mud,

straw and horsehair.

It's called
wattle-and-daub, apparently.

This would be in here.
This is maple.

That creates the lattice effect,

and then you throw mud at it
a few hundred years ago,

and that's effectively the wall.

So all Michael and I are doing
is we're putting these

new modern timbers in to batten it,
and then they do two jobs.

First of all, they give a a space
to house the insulation,

and then on top of that,
they actually add

some structure and strength
to the relatively fragile oak frame.

So by doing this,
it'll make the house more efficient,

but also structurally, it'll help
the house survive another 100 years.

Over the insulation
we're fitting wooden laths,

which will eventually
be plastered over.

Was it expensive?
300 pieces for about 240 quid.

What's that in square metres?
Do you know?

We need 2.5 square meters.

So it's gonna be £1000 in lath?
At least.

Man, I thought cars were expensive.

That's the first pack gone.
This is getting expensive.

If insulating just one room
is gonna set me back over a grand,

making a big profit from the Lotus
just got even more vital.

But there's bad news.

Darren's cleaned
the precious cylinder head

and found it's not as
flawless as we'd thought.

What?

That is a obvious cable.

That's right across
that waterway as well.

This gouge was caused
when someone trapped a cable

between the delicate aluminium head
and the cast iron block,

before tightly screwing
them together.

It might look small, but it means
even with a new head gasket,

our engine will not be watertight.

So there's no way
we can put that back on,

because that's just not --
That'll leak.Yeah.

It's gonna absolutely spray water
out in the back of the head.

There's a couple
of second-hand ones online.

How much? Cylinder heads
are like, 3, 2, or something.

3.5.

We're not blowing 3.5 grand on it.
No.

Yeah, this is bad.
This is expensive.

Buying this Lotus
is turning out to be a bad choice.

The last thing we need is the car's
draining money as well as the house.

Right now, the whole project
feels like it's unravelling.

Let's keep it real.

I think it's gonna take a long way
to get from here

to where you want it to be.

And I think at the moment
with the house and this,

this is gonna to be a big ask.

I hear what you're saying,

but this isn't just about...
flipping cars and making profit.

You know, when I got
the keys for this house

and looked in my parents eyes
and said, "This is gonna transform

"the last season of your life,"

it actually reconnected
everyone in my family.

This is my chance to say thank you.

And the best way for me
to say thank you

is represented in the house.

So, the best thing I can do is...

..do what I do best.
It's smacking me in the face.

And I want to be here with my dad.

I've known him a long time.

I know his family and his parents,
so, yeah, I kind of --

Yeah, I get it.

You know,
as everybody gets on in life,

you kind of appreciate
your parents more,

and we need to support him.

We need to make these things happen.
We need to --

We need to get him out of a pickle.

And this is one big pickle
at the moment.

Yeah, I guess
I never realised the impact

that this project was gonna have.

I feel like I'm probably
a relatively composed person.

Yeah.
This is really important to me.

Don't hold your breath
Let's have a look.

I've sent my Lotus Elan's
damaged Lotus cylinder head

to a specialist
to see if it can be repaired.

But while we wait for news,
we need to examine its chassis.

If it's in as bad nick
as the engine,

this really is game over.

You know what?

That's much better
than I thought it was gonna be.

It's a Lotus that hasn't been raced.
It's really clean.

Yeah, there's no battle damage
on the bottom here,

so it's never been off-road.

Yeah. They always pick up scuffs
and scrapes.Scrapes, yeah.

We've got really lucky
with the chassis.

There is a rust problem
on these cars.

The I-beam chassis that runs
underneath the fibreglass shell

sometimes suffers,
but this one hasn't.

Next, I wanna look at its suspension

and work out why it's sitting
so high off the ground.

There is something
definitely going on.

That ride height is awful.
Yeah, it's like a 4x4.

An Elan is meant to sit
low to the road.

It's a race car at heart,

as these Formula 1 inspired
centre locks testify.

Taking off just nut in a pit stop
is way quicker

than taking off four or five.

Got it.Yep.

Look at us.
We're like a Lotus F1 team.

Only slower.
A lot slower.

Done?Done. Going up.

What's also really important
is the thread on here...

Actually that's okay.
The thread on here is also handy.

On the right-hand side of the car,
you do it up

clockwise in a conventional way,

but on the left-hand side,
it's left hand threaded.

That way,
the wheel nuts are constantly

tightening themselves up
as the car drives forward,

and it produces the risk
of the wheel nut coming off.

This car has been set for so long...

..bolts like these wanna fight you.

Lotus is famous
for the way their cars handle.

One of the critical things
is the weight, the mass,
the centre of gravity.

You want the heavy parts of the car
as low as possible.

The higher the weight goes,
the more it acts like a pendulum,

and then you've got a car
that's almost uncontrollable.

So lowering the car will actually
improve its performance.

It's gonna handle like a Lotus.

I managed to get this out,
but...it definitely looks too long.

This worn-out damper
could well be the cause

of this Lotus's
ridiculous ride height.

Oh. Well, this is that damper unit.

It works with a damper cylinder
in the middle

that's full of viscous fluid,
that softens the impact

when you go up and down.
The spring on the outside

is set to return it back
to its starting point.

But if I put this other arm
back in here...

..Lotus have opted for a double
wishbone suspension system,

an upper wishbone and a lower,
which worked together in harmony.

So as the car goes up and down
the bumps and lumps in the road,

these ride up and down seamlessly.

Now, our damper unit, this one,
that sits on the angle

between point A and B is too long.

What that means
is it forces the wishbones

to resting in a low position,

increasing the gap between
the tyre and the arch.

These damper units
are clearly wrecked.

A new one will give
the perfect height.

But there are two options.

We either measure
the perfect arch gap

and order a fixed damper,

or you can get an adjustable damper.

You may incur some extra costs,
but it will increase desirability.

It's gonna give our new owner
the option to modify their car.

They might drive it on a country
lane with a nice, soft ride height,

take it to a racetrack, lower it.

This is one of those cars.

But if we get the setup right,
it handles as it should,

the car's as good as sold.

Yeah,
I'm going for adjustable dampers.

Adjustable dampers
will cost around 120 quid each,

but could add thousands
in desirability.

Just as I thought I was making
some gains, I've had more bad news.

It seems our garden works
have spooked the locals,

and their complaints have had
a knock-on effect with the council.

Michael's called me
for an emergency meeting.

Two members of the council,
one from the Heritage Department

and a enforcement officer
came around yesterday.

I hate that word,
"Enforcement Officer".

Can I share it?
Okay, what happened?Erm...

Well, they've received complaints
from local residents.Okay.

They have been told that we have
dug a trench around the house.

This person in the office
is imagining

we put a moat around the house.

Two guys came from the council
for two hours?

Yeah, had a full tour of everything.

Michael reassured them that
there will be no moat,

not even a drawbridge.
So garden work can continue.

But they have spotted
something else, our insulation.

The main issue is it's got
an impermeable membrane

on both sides.
It's like a silver cover.

Yeah.
Which in an oak framed building

condensation builds and it'll attack
the frame of the house.

We have to redo the whole thing.
Yeah.

So that wall that we've done
in the bedroom

needs to be completely redone.

Yeah, the four days of lathing
needs to be redone.

Awesome.And some of them
will get wrecked taking them down.

We'll just lose the money on that,
unfortunately.They're so expensive.

I wanna engage with the community.

I want everybody around here
to be happy.

This house has been derelict
for long.

Maybe we should just get them around
and have a few beers and go, "Guys,

"what do you want?
What you want us to do?"

Okay, maybe not that,

but I am going to attend
a parish meeting

to explain my vision for the house.

Fingers crossed,
I don't make things even worse.

To get our Elan's body work
back to its best,

I've sent its shell to specialist
fibreglass restorer, Daryn O'Leary.

So then we're getting
the oven up to temperature,

and we'll be baking for 30 minutes
at about 65 degrees.

Just go slow.

Daryn's baking the shell
to reveal cracks and remove

trapped moisture
from the fibreglass.

Because it's made from a mesh
of fine glass fibres

embedded in a resin,
moulded into one seamless shape,

it needs to be filled
in a different way to metal panels.

And although it doesn't rust,
it's prone to cracking with age.

Not everybody likes doing fibreglass
'cause it's a very messy job

and time consuming.

To repair them, Daryn sands
then grinds the cracks

before filling them
with a fibreglass paste.

Once filled, Daryn gives the shell
a final sand down, ready for primer.

It's gonna be
a very long day and evening.

It's a new day,

and with my Lotus
now sitting in primer,

I'm heading
to Darren O'Leary's workshop...

There's our Lotus.

..as it's the perfect chance
to fit the shock blasted

and shiny new suspension parts.

Dude, how's it going?
Good.She looks great.

Yeah, so we've finished primary,
and now we've blacked the arches.

Yeah, that looks brand new.

It's ready to fit the suspension.

My Darren's brought
all the bits and bobs

we need to turn the Lotus
back into the perfect

road-to-racetrack sports car.

Here we go. Take a look at that.

Including those adjustable dampers.

Unlike in our dusty workshop,
using this lift means

we can fit the parts
with total precision.

All right. I'm stretched.

Perfect.

The sun has definitely disappeared,

but our Lotus is finally
on suspension, on wheels.

I'm gassed.
You want a beer?Definitely.

Its bodywork restoration complete,

our Lotus is back at the workshop.

I can't wait to see
the finished paint job.

What do you think?

Wow! Oh, my God!

She looks fantastic.

It really is a transformed car.
It's totally different.

Now we can refit
our cleaned-up interior,

including some snazzy new carpeting.

The contrasting blue
is the right decision.

I mean, look,
it lifts the entire interior.

The most difficult part of this
whole rebuild has been the engine,

but now we have a box-fresh
head gasket.

Beautiful.

And the damaged Lotus cylinder heads
back from being welded and skimmed

is setting me back 200 quid.

Then it's on with the cam cover...

..carburettors, and radiator.

Can I finally get
this Lotus running

for the first time in decades?

Right. Sanity check me.

Fuel's in the car.Yep.
So the fuel system was buttoned up?

Yep. Done all that up.
Connected all the hoses,

wired ignition,
it's all connected up.

Get ready.
You wanna turn the key?

Go on, start her up.
The moment of truth.

Yes!

Keep going. Keep it going.

It's a Lotus!
She lives!

Yes! This just reminds me
of a race car.

Right, let's get
everything else buttoned up,

because I just desperately
wanna give this car a drive.

If it sounds like that,

a freshly rebuilt engine
is gonna pull like an Elan.

After complaints were made
to the council about
our building work,

I've decided to put my case
to the locals, face to face.

I've got in my hand...

the agenda
for tonight's parish meeting.

The parish council is quite big
in these rural villages.

In fact, this is the whole agenda.

Nearly half of it is the planning
application for the farmhouse.

And as it's a public meeting
and I'm a member of this parish,

I'm going.

While I'm fighting our cause,
as a result of the council visit,

Michael's removing
all the insulation

and wooden laths
in the upstairs bedroom.

We need to switch out insulation

for something more appropriate
to the style of the building.

What I'm trying to do
is take down the laths

in order to try to reuse them.

And try not to waste money
like that.

It was a bit frustrating when we had
to take those steps backwards,

because we have upstairs.

An hour and a half later
and no tea and cake,

I've had my first introduction
to village life.

It wasn't as bad as I feared.

It's nice that this village
has a parish meeting,

and they share concerns.

They did have concerns
around the farmhouse,

but those concerns are relieved.

We press on!

They've approved everything,
from my newly restored dormers

to my vision for the garden,
to my plans to remove

the concrete cladding
and replace with lime plaster.

Which means I need to get
that car profit rolling in again.

The auction is just three days away,

so the pressure's on
to get my Elan looking its finest.

We've painted the bumpers
and cleaned up the number plate.

Oh,
this is such a cool number plate.

And I've had the wheels diamond cut.

Oh, mate, they're, like, brand new.
Yep.

It's meant another long night,

but tomorrow I plan to do
what our Lotus was born to do,

drive fast.

This is the day
I've been waiting for.

I need to put more fuel in.

Yeah, we wanna go for a good drive.

But before I take my Elan
for its first spin in decades,

I need to work out what we've spent

and how much we need
to make an auction.

Right. I've done a tally up
of the numbers.

I know exactly where we are
expenditure wise.Uh-huh.

Now remember, we paid 7,500 grand.

Yes.Great buy. Love this car.

But we have added up
quite a bit of expenses.

Mm.The paint material's 1,800 quid.

Diamond cutting the wheels,
425 quid.

And the carpet set 226 quid.

Everything mechanical on the car,

sorting out all
the wishbones and suspension,

everything is in one bucket
at £2823.84.

Plus, of course, the 200 quid

to get the cylinder head
welded and skimmed,

We spent £5,992.22.

So, right now as it sits here,
this car owes us

13.5 grand, for an Elan.

The labour's been hard work,

but because it's us,
there's no extra charge.

When you think
what we've actually done to the car,

mechanically it's transformed.
Oh, yeah.

And what I love the most
is that this car

has basically sat idle for decades.

This car's not turned a wheel
in anger...Mm-hm...until now.

The moment has arrived.

My Lotus Elan
is finally about to fly.

Oh, yeah!

And this is what
I've been waiting for.

This car has sat idle now
for a couple of decades,

and all of a sudden
the Lotus Elan is alive.

It's everything
that a British car boy loves.

It just gives that
driving experience.

Restoring that suspension,
it handles like a race car.

I can go around this corner
as if I'm at Silverstone Racetrack.

Ultimately, this car was built --

Oh.

Yeah, guys,
we've got a problem here.

Coming to you. Coming to you.

Yeah, she just packed in.
Literally, the engines died.

Oh, man.

My Lotus Elan has failed.

The engine started making
a clanking noise.

That's the moment,
you gotta k*ll it.

And then it lost power instantly.

I need to get this car off the road
and figure out what's gone wrong.

But this one's hard to take.

I'm currently being towed back

on a car
that's been freshly rebuilt.

I'm gonna have to make the call
I've been dreading.

Hello.
Dad, I've broken down in my Lotus.

If you could grab the trailer.
I'll just text the location.

Okay. All right.
I'll get there as soon as I can.

Thanks.See you. Bye.

You know, I've been building
classic cars for decades,

and there's been loads of times
when there's been loads of setbacks,

but this is a real kick in the guts.

This just doesn't feel fair.

I mean, the costs, they just don't
even bear thinking about.

My fear is that there's
a problem in the engine.

And when it comes to Lotus engines,
that's gonna be expensive.

So what's gone wrong?
Where we put all the attention

and focus into restoring
the top half of the engine,

the head.Yep.

We took an educated guess
that the bottom half was okay.

It rotated. It felt smooth.

My gut says it can mean one thing
and it ain't the head.

It's, you know, potentially
complete engine rebuilding.

Are you joking?Or a new engine.

Driving it might've been
the only way to discover

the truth about our engines.

Now, with the auction in 48 hours,
I'm pushing the panic button.

I'm calling my mate, Ralph,

who's got a fully kitted out
garage nearby.

Hey, Ralph, it's Ant. How are you?

Living the dream as always,
as you know.

What trouble
have you gotten into now?

I need a bit of a favour.
I have an engine issue.

I'm literally 15 min away
from your workshop.

If I could run around
and maybe if you could jump on

and give me a hammer, spanners.
And then I've got Darren --

Oh, man.I know. I know.

Okay. Yeah, well, yeah, no problem.

Bring it around,
we'll get it sorted.

Dude, you're a legend.
All right. I'll see you then.

I think I'll put the kettle on.
Don't lock up!

We're at my mate Ralph's garage.

I've asked Darren
to look into a new engine

just in case
the unthinkable happens.

And this one can't be saved.

Yep.
I'll start going up slowly.

To find out what was causing
the tapping sound

before it conked out,
we'll need to dismantle the block.

Something in the bottom end
of the engine has failed.

That's a lot of glue.
Oh, my God!

Can you hear that?

The bolts that hold the bearing cap
on the big end have come loose

and look like they've
previously been barged.

That one's absolutely ruined.

Look at that.

So, obviously, something very bad
has happened to this engine.

It's taking a chunk out
of the crankshaft.

You're lucky it didn't throw
a piston out the side.

The only option
is a complete engine rebuilt.

We're better off
just getting a new engine.

Yeah, I think that's your best bet.

If there's an engine available,
we should buy it.

And then and only then
there is the tiniest,

slimmest chance
we'll make the auction.

There's less than 24 hours
until the auction.

So I pressed go on Darren,
buying a whole new Lotus engine.

The total Lotus engine
is right there.

I hope it didn't cost too much.

Yeah, it was almost 10 grand.

Almost 10 grand?
Almost 10 grand.

Yeah, this is a pretty beautiful,
sordid engine,

but it's come at a premium.

This is our only window
to get it done in.

Ultimately, the auction's tomorrow,
so it's night shift or no sail.

We've got fuel.
We've got spark.

So we could fire up?Yeah.

Confident?Absolutely.

What can possibly go wrong?

Oh, my God,
the suspense is k*lling me.

All right.Crank it!
Come on, crank it.Fire in the hole.

Yes!

I'm really happy.

I'm not happy about the money.

I mean, ultimately,
this has been a financial hit,

but we were at a point
where we had to make a choice.

Do right by the car or not.

So I'm gonna go to sleep
tonight tired,

but...I know we did the right thing.

And someone's gonna get
a really, really good Lotus Elan.

It's the big day.

The Classic Car Auction
at the NAEC Stoneleigh.

After forking out 10 grand
for a new engine,

my Lotus Elan needs to make at least
23.5 grand just to break even.

And in this climate,
that's a big ask.

Looking around the other lots,
you know,

I like to think,
"Who are we competing against?

"What's our car similar to?"

There's not a lot here.
There's not a lot of British --

There's a couple of little Triumphs,
sports cars,

but it's not a lotus.
It's not a Lotus.

Lot 765.

The 1973 Lotus Elan + 2.

The S130, type 50 this.

There's the car on the screens
for you. Here to sell.

What shall we say?
Start me at 10,000.

10,000 I have bid.
Let's go 11 anyway.

At 10,000 is the bid.

Oh, man.

New bidder now, 11,000. Get it to my
earlier online bidder. 11,000.

Someone's getting a really,
really amazing car. 11 grand.

Well, I can sell, of course,
at £11,000. No one's offering more.

12.12,000. Thank you.
Go 13 if you like online.

Come on, man.
Come on, folks. Wake up.

Bid's here on the right.
Seated bid alive at 12,000.

Do we go 13?

13,000.

This is absolutely painful.

At 13.5. 14,000.

Are we all done elsewhere?

Selling the Elan then at 14,000.
We're all done?

14,000. Well done.

Nothing's guaranteed
in classic cars.

Take the engine blowout,
It wouldn't have been as bad.

It's gutting to think that

if my luck had held with the engine,
I would have turned a profit.

You know what?
This is the rollercoaster
of being a car restorer.

And it's kind of romantic
and poetic justice

that we've built
a really beautiful Lotus.

And at the last minute,

it bit us in the bum.

It's really disappointing.

I had so much invested in this car
at a pivotal point for the house.

I was not only relying on recovering
the cash flow back,

but also making a profit.
And, unfortunately...

..the car wins, but the house loses.