1999 Lotus Elise 111s - Ex Development / Press Car
Discussion
A friend and I have shared a track car for a couple of years, and after breaking it for parts were on the hunt for a new project. We wanted something that could be fun on the road but handle a few track days without worrying about multiple wheel sets/tricky mots etc. We’ve had a lot of hot hatches, MX5, BMW etc so wanted something different to our norm, I’ve wanted a Lotus for 15 year’s and in passing said friend mentioned with a little bit more money we could scrape ourselves into a written off/project Elise. We couldn’t do it now, but maybe a goal for a year or so.
48 hours later, a curious check of autotrader and couldn’t believe my eyes when just listed was a car not only in our tiny budget, it was a 111s in a great colour with an amazing backstory! I forwarded the link with an immediate reply of ‘in meeting, will call straight away’. A few hours later a train was booked and the car collected!
So here it is, our 1999 Lotus Elise 111s in scandal green. Originally used as a factory test and development car, it was then transferred onto the Lotus press fleet and featured in auto car, Evo magazine as well as being driven in topgear by Vikki Butler Henderson. The colour was used to launch the Sport 160 later that year and I believe only available on that model, but I’m sure some people may have special ordered it. Photos in the dark in Sainsburys for now sorry…
So how was it in our budget? The car has covered 163,000 miles and it very much shows. The paint condition is horrendous, there might be 20% of the original lacquer left, and on the panels it’s gone the paint is so flat it looks like a primer. There are areas where there is genuinely more stone chip than paint (paint spots?). It has a mot and drove well on the way home, although we’re expecting some issues to come up. Known fault so far are that the heater is stuck on, the drivers seat/seat rail are broken.
I’ve no doubt we’ll find some horrors, it was previously owned for over 20 years but has done very little for the past few years before being traded in somewhere which is never a great sign! Enjoy this fabulously ‘of it’s time’ Topgear video, more to come soon!
https://youtu.be/2etn0yTMj6w?is=UWlLdn_jsYi-B69a
48 hours later, a curious check of autotrader and couldn’t believe my eyes when just listed was a car not only in our tiny budget, it was a 111s in a great colour with an amazing backstory! I forwarded the link with an immediate reply of ‘in meeting, will call straight away’. A few hours later a train was booked and the car collected!
So here it is, our 1999 Lotus Elise 111s in scandal green. Originally used as a factory test and development car, it was then transferred onto the Lotus press fleet and featured in auto car, Evo magazine as well as being driven in topgear by Vikki Butler Henderson. The colour was used to launch the Sport 160 later that year and I believe only available on that model, but I’m sure some people may have special ordered it. Photos in the dark in Sainsburys for now sorry…
So how was it in our budget? The car has covered 163,000 miles and it very much shows. The paint condition is horrendous, there might be 20% of the original lacquer left, and on the panels it’s gone the paint is so flat it looks like a primer. There are areas where there is genuinely more stone chip than paint (paint spots?). It has a mot and drove well on the way home, although we’re expecting some issues to come up. Known fault so far are that the heater is stuck on, the drivers seat/seat rail are broken.
I’ve no doubt we’ll find some horrors, it was previously owned for over 20 years but has done very little for the past few years before being traded in somewhere which is never a great sign! Enjoy this fabulously ‘of it’s time’ Topgear video, more to come soon!
https://youtu.be/2etn0yTMj6w?is=UWlLdn_jsYi-B69a
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