Opinions on Lotus Plus 2 respray

[Scarface1]

Hi All.

I'm after some opinions to aid my decision please.

I have a 1969 Lotus Elan Plus 2 130/S.



Its a nice old thing but needs paintwork and I cant decide if I should go original colour or the colour I really want.

Its a matching number car with its original chassis (inspected and oiled and in very good condition) and was originally Lotus Yellow)

Its currently black but I am torn between original yellow (i'm not a fan of yellow but am a fan of originality) but I am toying with Silver.





Your views please.

Thanks

Steve

[castex]

Back to banana.

[Scarface1]

DDg said:

Is silver, and in particular that silver period? It doesn't look quite right to me... yellow.

Thats the problem, the silver was only on the roof from 1969 and not used on full cars until about 74 I believe.

This is my issue, I think, despite not being a fan of yellow, as its an original car I think I owe it to go back to standard, especially when factoring in the cost of respary and any future resale.

It just looks classier in Silver

Steve

[Dave Hedgehog]

silver is utterly boring for that car IMO

if it was mine i would go green

[Riley Blue]

Looks best in yellow, by a long way.

[Allan L]

Assuming it is also to be used, yellow shows up the best in poor visibility. Silver is probably the worst and dark green nearly as bad.
Go for originality!

[HustleRussell]

Being a fibreglass bodied car, I'd be concerned that lovely shiny black or metallic paint would show up the imperfections too much. Fibreglass cars look best in solid colours in my opinion. That leaves Yellow for originality unless you want to go for another solid colour.

[Scarface1]

yellow it is.

Thanks guys.

Steve

[HustleRussell]

I do think that photo of the yellow car looks a little unflattering and the little yellow Lotus will look far more at home whooshing through British countryside

[Lowtimer]

If it were mine and I were having a full respray I would also go for yellow in this case.

[Pat H]

It is a wonky plastic car, so a pale colour will hide all the ripples and the wobbles much better.

Yellow is a particularly forgiving colour, it is the original colour and I like it. So that's what I would pick.

But it is your car.

Are you ever going to sell it?

It is a classic Lotus, and most beardy Lotus types are going to be massively put off by a totally non standard colour. It wouldn't be so bad if you were contemplating a colour change to a contemporary standard Lotus colour.

Maybe it's worth seeing what else Lotus was offering at the time?

Nice motor, btw.

[Bobafett]

defo yelo

[williamp]

the lotus answer: which colour weighs the least?

Not a fan of yellow cars, but that yellow elan above looks great. Mind you, so does the black,

[marshalla]

williamp said:

the lotus answer: which colour weighs the least?

Not a fan of yellow cars, but that yellow elan above looks great. Mind you, so does the black,

The Lotus answer is really "what have we got too much of in stock ? Slap it on and call it a special edition."

Yellow might be original, but the black sets off the chrome far more elegantly.

[TR4man]

Yellow.

Will it have a silver roof?

[rallycross]

Metallic blue with a silver roof for the authentic 130/5 look ( my dad had one in that colour).
Not sure if they did the 130 in a plain colour like yellow stick to a colour that is genuine 130 edition.

Silver would be a super choice and a bit different if you are not aiming to maximise the value - also they look great in bright red.

[finlo]

Dave Hedgehog said:

silver is utterly boring for that car IMO

if it was mine i would go green

Are they Rover 2000 sidelights/indicators?

[Scarface1]

Pat H said:

It is a wonky plastic car, so a pale colour will hide all the ripples and the wobbles much better.

Yellow is a particularly forgiving colour, it is the original colour and I like it. So that's what I would pick.

But it is your car.

Are you ever going to sell it?

It is a classic Lotus, and most beardy Lotus types are going to be massively put off by a totally non standard colour. It wouldn't be so bad if you were contemplating a colour change to a contemporary standard Lotus colour.

Maybe it's worth seeing what else Lotus was offering at the time?

Nice motor, btw.

Thanks for the comment.
And as a bearded lotus owner myself I think I agree.

Will deffinatly be going yellow if I do get her painted.

Thank you all for your comments. Has confirmed what I suspected

Steve

[Scarface1]

finlo said:

Are they Rover 2000 sidelights/indicators?

Probably. As with many British cars the various manufacturers parts bins have been raided.
Still not as bad as my Tvr though that has bits from Landrover, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Vauxhall, Citroen......

[jr6yam]

finlo said:

Dave Hedgehog said:

silver is utterly boring for that car IMO

if it was mine i would go green

Are they Rover 2000 sidelights/indicators?

No