Cardiff, on ebay as an auction with a buy-it-now price of £25K.
Lotus VI
Edit: relisted -
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1956-RARE-LOTUS-6-RACING-CAR-/182615341552?hash=item2a84b8f9f0:g:B3YAAOSwjk9ZPCDb
I know this car, the owner is friendly with my Father and consulted him frequently during the restoration.
Issue: Being pedantic I think that someone could pull him up on this being called a Lotus VI.
There was all sorts of odd stuff going on in the early days of Lotus, the Mk VI was their first production car. Colin Chapman seems to have regarded 'XML 6' as the only Lotus VI and subsequently advertised sale of Lotus VI replicas which technically meant that every Lotus VI apart from 'XML 6' was a Lotus VI replica. You could buy one which went through the Lotus works; frame by The Progress Chassis Company Ltd, bodywork by Williams & Pritchard and tuned engine from Lotus Engineering, (might have come from Arch motors or similar). If you wanted to do it yourself, you could buy the Progress Chassis frame from Lotus and make your own arrangements for bodywork & mechanicals, these cars were often badged as (whatever) specials. I believe that the paperwork for this car has it as a Ford Special although it wears Lotus badges. Originally it was raced in some very primitive diy panels and looked very different to its current appearance.
Having scrutinised the space-frame I have no doubt it's from Progress Chassis. The car suffered front end damage in a race and the front of the space frame was replaced, unfortunately this meant the chassis ID was lost. The Historic Lotus Register know this car and think they know which of the missing numbers it is. Mountains of paperwork with this car.
You could drive this to a classic car show tomorrow but it has various issues which the new owner would want to gradually sort out, ill-fitting poorly shaped / mis-cut panels, Heath Robinson bracket arrangement for cable brakes, engine poorly set-up, atypical instrument arrangement, etc.
The owner isn't mechanically minded and paid for the restoration, the 'mechanic' was an enthusiastic amateur.
The owner is, sadly, in poor health and battling cancer he has hardly used the car since it was completed.
What do Lotus VI's sell for?
The 2 most famous, (arguably), Mk VI's 'UPE 9' & 'XML 6' haven't been advertised or sold publicly but it would not surprise me if they were worth in the region of £100K.
Well known Coventry Climax engined VI's with a historic racing pedigree sell for £65K - £75K.
A 'basic' (Ford 1172cc sidevalve engined) well restored Mk VI is probably going to be worth in the region of £35K-£40K.
The total number of VI's produced is somewhere in the region of 120-130, records are sketchy and some cars have been lost although survival levels are quite good overall. There are now companies producing replicas, unscrupulous owners have attempted to pass these off as restored original VI's.
These are an uncommon Lotus and don't come up for sale very often.
This is as cheap as you're ever likely to be able to acquire one!
This car would also qualify for many historic race events.
A Mk VI on it's way to another win in the mid 50's.
Lotus VI
Edit: relisted -
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1956-RARE-LOTUS-6-RACING-CAR-/182615341552?hash=item2a84b8f9f0:g:B3YAAOSwjk9ZPCDb
I know this car, the owner is friendly with my Father and consulted him frequently during the restoration.
Issue: Being pedantic I think that someone could pull him up on this being called a Lotus VI.
There was all sorts of odd stuff going on in the early days of Lotus, the Mk VI was their first production car. Colin Chapman seems to have regarded 'XML 6' as the only Lotus VI and subsequently advertised sale of Lotus VI replicas which technically meant that every Lotus VI apart from 'XML 6' was a Lotus VI replica. You could buy one which went through the Lotus works; frame by The Progress Chassis Company Ltd, bodywork by Williams & Pritchard and tuned engine from Lotus Engineering, (might have come from Arch motors or similar). If you wanted to do it yourself, you could buy the Progress Chassis frame from Lotus and make your own arrangements for bodywork & mechanicals, these cars were often badged as (whatever) specials. I believe that the paperwork for this car has it as a Ford Special although it wears Lotus badges. Originally it was raced in some very primitive diy panels and looked very different to its current appearance.
Having scrutinised the space-frame I have no doubt it's from Progress Chassis. The car suffered front end damage in a race and the front of the space frame was replaced, unfortunately this meant the chassis ID was lost. The Historic Lotus Register know this car and think they know which of the missing numbers it is. Mountains of paperwork with this car.
You could drive this to a classic car show tomorrow but it has various issues which the new owner would want to gradually sort out, ill-fitting poorly shaped / mis-cut panels, Heath Robinson bracket arrangement for cable brakes, engine poorly set-up, atypical instrument arrangement, etc.
The owner isn't mechanically minded and paid for the restoration, the 'mechanic' was an enthusiastic amateur.
The owner is, sadly, in poor health and battling cancer he has hardly used the car since it was completed.
What do Lotus VI's sell for?
The 2 most famous, (arguably), Mk VI's 'UPE 9' & 'XML 6' haven't been advertised or sold publicly but it would not surprise me if they were worth in the region of £100K.
Well known Coventry Climax engined VI's with a historic racing pedigree sell for £65K - £75K.
A 'basic' (Ford 1172cc sidevalve engined) well restored Mk VI is probably going to be worth in the region of £35K-£40K.
The total number of VI's produced is somewhere in the region of 120-130, records are sketchy and some cars have been lost although survival levels are quite good overall. There are now companies producing replicas, unscrupulous owners have attempted to pass these off as restored original VI's.
These are an uncommon Lotus and don't come up for sale very often.
This is as cheap as you're ever likely to be able to acquire one!
This car would also qualify for many historic race events.
A Mk VI on it's way to another win in the mid 50's.
