1986 Lotus Excel, Holmfirth, West Yorkshire, £995

With winter setting in it occurred to me that I actually need some slightly more sensible transportation, rather than another project at the moment. This Lotus has the potential to be a great retro B road blaster and track car as it is the SE model with 180bhp.

I have done quite a bit of work on it, I have freed off all the brakes (The fronts have new calipers and it it has new flexis and pads all round) and I have got all the lights and wipers working, including replacing the wiper motor. I have also replaced the rotten seatbelt mounts with stainless steel items.

The engine is a real peach, the Lotus 2.2 litre twin cam. It starts straight up and revs really cleanly. It pulls well through the gears and the gearbox is nice and slick. It sounds great too with twin Dellorto 45s and a dual stainless exhaust.

The not so good parts are...
I have taken it for MOT and fixed all the things on the fail sheet. However, on the way home from the test station, the clutch failed. I have installed a brand new master cylinder and slave cylinder but it still isn't right. It looks like the clutch itself needs replacing and I haven't really got the time or space to do it at the moment. This is frustrating as, if I could take it back to the garage it would get a full MOT.

The interior is tatty and the lifter channel that connects the drivers window to the mechanism needs replacing. The window motor is fine, even the electric mirrors both sides work. Also, the lacquer on the bonnet and roof has lifted. I have tried a test section and it looks like just re-lacquering it will bring the paint back up quite well.

I would happily part exchange or swap for something interesting that is already on the road.

If you want to know anything or have a look, please call or text on 07908 986562

Thanks

Stewart