1969 Elan S4 on BaT

[BDA]

I’d like to have an Elan. It won’t happen but I enjoy looking at nice examples. A ‘69 S4 has recently been posted on BaT. Now I wouldn’t normally post here about an Elan here but I was struck by the very early bidding on this car. I don’t know how to tell when bidding began or even if you can tell but the first post was an $8,000 bid at 10:38 today (April 12). That was followed by several more bids till 10:45 when a bid of $32,000 was posted!

It’s a beautiful car and it’s not original. Instead of the Strombergs, it has SUs. I believe the tail lights are from an earlier Elan. It also has CV joint rear axles. None of these would offend my originalistic proclivities (if I had any such proclivities). Indeed, CV joint rear axles are a desirable modification even among originalists. The paint scheme would not be my favorite but that’s a relatively minor point.

Anyway, I found the car and bidding action very interesting. Maybe you will too…

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1969-lotus-elan-s4-13/

[TheKid#9]

This one is really nice! Should go for about $40-$45K IMO. I too have the CV axles and I have been toying with the idea of doing the 26R headlamps.
Mine is a good runner and still needs some work this year to get it right. Slowly but surely it will be really nice. If you are thinking of getting an Elan, you should get one.

[BDA]

All it takes is money and it seems like more money every day!   

[TheKid#9]

All it takes is money and it seems like more money every day!   

Tell me about it… I’ve been looking at the housing market and I think I’ve gotten to the point where I’m giving up.

[lotusfanatic]

That seems like a lot of money for an example that is so far removed from the original specification?

Good news for other classic Elan owners though!   

[BDA]

In spite of the early bidding action, the final price was $32,750! In 2019, the same car sold for $36,000. This is a really disappointing sale (except for the buyer, of course). It is only one data point but it seems to be in line with recent Europa auctions where the final price was somewhat disappointing (at least to my eye). At the same time, from a very peripheral reading, MG prices seem to be seem to be rising.

Hopefully things will turn around for Lotus owners.

[Rosco5000]

@BDA the car did not sell for $32,750.  Reserve was not met.  I think it was a little to non-standard to bring top dollar on a site like bring-a-trailer.  Seems bone stock is highly regarded.  I would however love a car like that.  I like a little bit of extras like that.
R

[BDA]

Thanks for the correction, Rosco! I just saw that the price hadn't moved much and didn't look further.

You may be right about the mods. It's hard for me to factor that sort of stuff since I'm not that worried about originality. I can see preferring Strombergs rather than the SUs on the car because they were more standard but they really aren't THAT different. The pain was a turn off for me in spite of its being well done. Maybe it was a turn off to a lot of people.

And maybe the $36,000 that was paid the last time it was sold on BaT was just lucky for the seller. I hope it's not indicative of future pricing of classic Loti. I guess we'll just have to see...