After hitting a pretty big milestone birthday recently I’ve started to realise that I probably need to start experiencing things now , rather than putting them off until tomorrow .
I was originally looking for a Porsche 914 .
I’ve well & truly missed the boat on having a 911 or 912 , but have always liked the 914 as well .
Seriously started looking around & it looks like i’d need to buy something that’s a non running/driving project .
Due to my own health issues this isn’t really an option for me , I really need something that’s together & driving , that i can tinker with .
That leads to eBay & Facebook marketplace , browsing through & looking at what’s available .
A Lotus Excel catches my eye .
So i contacted the seller & had a good chat . Seemed ideal , needed a bit of work , but fundamentally a driving/roadworthy car .
We went over to see it , but it was a bit worse than I imagined . I really think the seller had no idea the extent of the issues .
I made an offer , based on condition , but he wanted £1k more .
We left & by the time i got home he rang me & offered to meet me halfway , but i just couldn’t get there , so left it at that .
A couple of hours late & back on eBay , a Lotus Eclat gets listed .
Less than the Excel & looking a lot better .
I made arrangements to go & see it a couple of days later .
We went to see it in the dark & in the rain .
Obviously not ideal , but the car was cheap & I didn’t want to miss out .
I couldn’t drive it as the clutch was seized , but everything else looked ok , so a deal was done .
Then the Excel owner rings & wants to accept my offer .
I explain I can’t as I’d just done the deal on the Eclat .
I honestly think i have the better car now , so that’s a relief .
We picked it up the next weekend & I have to admit i was a little worried .
Pulled up & it definitely didn’t look as good in the dry & bright sunlight , but it was still a lot better than the Excel & i was happy with it .
All the paperwork done & it was time to try & break the clutch free .
Afer driving around the block 3 times , on & off the throttle , it finally broke free & i could actually drive my new purchase .
The previous owner was happy to see it driving again , it had been stood for around 4 years in storage .
Drove it home , mentally making notes of things that need sorting , without any real issues .
If you’ve got this far , thanks for reading through my waffling , here’s a couple of pics from when i got it home .
👍
I was originally looking for a Porsche 914 .
I’ve well & truly missed the boat on having a 911 or 912 , but have always liked the 914 as well .
Seriously started looking around & it looks like i’d need to buy something that’s a non running/driving project .
Due to my own health issues this isn’t really an option for me , I really need something that’s together & driving , that i can tinker with .
That leads to eBay & Facebook marketplace , browsing through & looking at what’s available .
A Lotus Excel catches my eye .
So i contacted the seller & had a good chat . Seemed ideal , needed a bit of work , but fundamentally a driving/roadworthy car .
We went over to see it , but it was a bit worse than I imagined . I really think the seller had no idea the extent of the issues .
I made an offer , based on condition , but he wanted £1k more .
We left & by the time i got home he rang me & offered to meet me halfway , but i just couldn’t get there , so left it at that .
A couple of hours late & back on eBay , a Lotus Eclat gets listed .
Less than the Excel & looking a lot better .
I made arrangements to go & see it a couple of days later .
We went to see it in the dark & in the rain .
Obviously not ideal , but the car was cheap & I didn’t want to miss out .
I couldn’t drive it as the clutch was seized , but everything else looked ok , so a deal was done .
Then the Excel owner rings & wants to accept my offer .
I explain I can’t as I’d just done the deal on the Eclat .
I honestly think i have the better car now , so that’s a relief .
We picked it up the next weekend & I have to admit i was a little worried .
Pulled up & it definitely didn’t look as good in the dry & bright sunlight , but it was still a lot better than the Excel & i was happy with it .
All the paperwork done & it was time to try & break the clutch free .
Afer driving around the block 3 times , on & off the throttle , it finally broke free & i could actually drive my new purchase .
The previous owner was happy to see it driving again , it had been stood for around 4 years in storage .
Drove it home , mentally making notes of things that need sorting , without any real issues .
If you’ve got this far , thanks for reading through my waffling , here’s a couple of pics from when i got it home .
👍
