Built from 1962 – 1975 the original Lotus Elans are known as the ‘1960’s’ Elans and, despite the inaccuracy in their given nickname, were exactly the car that Lotus needed at the time. As one of the cars that helped Colin Chapman and co. gain notoriety in the British car game the Elan has morphed into somewhat of a highly regarded little car.

The unofficial Lotus slogan ‘Lots Of Trouble, Usually Serious’ could have been written specifically for the Elan as they were known to have a myriad of faults, despite their sporting prowess. Rust, poor electrics, water pump problems, oil leaks, ignition faults, coachwork defects? The Elan had them all!

Not only was the car plagued with issues, but it was also immensely dangerous and poor performing in a crash. Due to the steel backbone chassis both passengers in the car sit outside any protected areas, so impact safety was akin to that of a paper plane.

Somehow the faults that made the car such a no-go for the past 50 years serve as less of a deterrent now more than ever. Through the sheer number that UK mechanics have dealt with over the years the knowledge base on repairing an Elan has never been stronger. With enthusiasts taking up an Elan as a 2nd or 3rd car the impact safety serves as less of a deterrent and more of a weight saving bonus.

So why are talking about a famously unreliable car as if they are selling like hot cakes?

Because they are.

 

In possibly one of the greatest automotive surprises of the last 20 years Lotus Elans at auction are selling fast and for increasingly lofty prices.

Looking at the graph above of values from UK auctions in the last 20 years the average sale price has risen from around £5,000 to nearer £15,000 and values are clustering at a higher mark significantly higher than at the turn of the millennium.

So why are more people buying into the Elan now?

With the recent FBHVC survey showing the classic car market in better health than ever, it makes sense that values of an early iconic British car would start to pick up. Despite the car’s known reliability issues there are fortunately only a handful of things that can go wrong, as the car is explicitly simple and light-weight any problems are often singular and have easy fixes.

One of the main problems that plagued early owners was dealing with the Twin-cam engine whenever it went wrong, luckily as we mentioned earlier, there is a wealth of knowledge surrounding these engines these days as mechanics nationwide either know someone who has or have worked on the engines themselves. Let’s not forget, a lot of the internals and moving parts were from the Ford Cortina, hardly a specialist fix.

As the cars age the Fibreglass body can crack and thin from constant flexing throughout it’s life but once repaired the car is as good as new and the bodywork will be good for 40 more years of light weight motoring. Aside from engine and bodywork issues the suspension is known to need maintenance, however other than that the car goes some way to dispelling the Lots Of Trouble… rumours.

People are buying the Elan as it still presents a relatively cheap way into what is called by many the best handling car ever made. The Elan weighs less than 700kg, let’s not forget, so is well documented as a dream to drive as well as returns fantastic MPG figures.

Since the Lotus Elan is shooting up in value now seems like a good time to get in to the market. How much further will prices rise? The market looks strong for the Elan with many buyers preferring to opt for a restored version in the classifieds than the uncertainty of visiting an auction for a car with known reliability issues. If you’re patient and have a good mechanic then picking up an Elan at a UK auction might just be the most positive investment you’ve made!