1991 Lotus Elan SE Turbo

First registered on 28 March 1991, this Lotus Elan SE Turbo has had careful and diligent ownership across all 10 keepers and all 30 years. This is borne out by the huge history file that goes back to day one.

The last owner, a gentleman from the Hastings area, kept the car for almost 5 years and continued to lavish it with care and attention - and expense - as his predecessors had done before him.

The car is understood to have been resprayed in 2017 in its original factory colour and has also had its wheels, suspension, brakes and exhaust renewed. Showing 117,000 miles - which actually isn’t a lot for a 30 year old car - this Elan now presents in a very good condition and was taken in part-exchange.

The Calypso Red painted bodywork looks very strong, having been resprayed only a few years ago, and there are very few issues or blemishes. The only ones we can see are a small patch forward of the driver’s door where a flake of paint has been flicked up presumably where it was touched by the opening door and a tiny scratch on the offside of the nose.

Below the front valance, the black rubber lip spoiler has clearly been knocked and is slightly out of kilter over toward the driver’s side. This is a sub £50 part held on with screws, so it wouldn’t be costly to repair or replace.

At the back of the car, there was a perspex number plate cover sitting flush between the tail lights - which incidentally were from the Renault Alpine GTA. This has cracked and been taken off - in many cases these steamed up and obscured the number plate anyway.

The black manually folded hood looks in good order and operates correctly, the fabric is very good for the age but whilst the plastic rear window is intact, it’s not as clear as it once might have been and has a few light scratches on it. The vendor can attest to how waterproof the hood is, as when he picked the car up for transportation it was bucketing down with rain!

The Elan sits on its original 15-inch 7-spoke OZ alloy wheels, which were recently refurbished and are fitted with new Toyo Proxes high-performance tyres all round. Behind the wheels, the new red brake calipers can be seen.

The interior of the car is a combination of full leather upholstery with hard plastic trim. The seats are heated (having been upgraded) and are dark grey and black with red stripes, a pattern which is also echoed on the door trims.

The seats are, as you would expect, a little shiny and creased from use but generally in a fair condition, although there is a small patch of wear on (yes you guessed it) the driver’s seat side bolster. Aside from this repair they’d just benefit from a bit of leather reconditioning treatment.

Presumably to continue Chapman’s instruction to “add lightness” some of the trim materials are quite thin but have generally held up well. However, the foam padding around the hood cover’s landing area and the top corners of the doors are breaking down a little.

The simple three-spoke steering wheel’s rim is polished and the gear knob is a little worn, but this is a car that has always been in regular use so these things are to be expected and in some way admired. Needless to say the plastic sill kick plates have also been… kicked!

A later Sony radio/media player with a detachable fascia has been fitted which has analogue radio as well as USB, Aux and Bluetooth connectivity. As far as we’ve been able to test, all the electrics work as they should.

The engine bay looks amazing for a 30 year old car and is a testament to how well it’s been looked after. The cables, lines and ducts linking all the ancillaries look very tidy and in good order. This general neatness is topped off by the twin-cam cover which has just come back from being stripped and powder coated. Aside from the slight degradation of the bonnet lining and the patina on the block and manifolds, you’d think this was a much newer car.

Underneath the car, the central backbone is a little dented in places - probably from being jacked right next to the sticker that says no jacking! Being GRP (glass reinforced plastic) the floor pans are in good order but there is slight corrosion to some of the structural members as noted in the latest MOT. The relatively recent stainless exhaust system looks in good condition.

Inside the boot, the lining appears clean and in good order but has come unglued at the rear - possibly deliberate when dealing with the rear number plate holder. Under the red carpeted floor is a spacesaver spare wheel with jack and wheel brace.

Although weight restricted due to the fibreglass floor panel, the Elan’s boot is surprisingly spacious. As one owner claimed - “You can fit a full set of golf clubs in a tour bag and an electric golf trolley, battery, shoe bag and accessories and still have room for a winner’s trophy and a couple of bottles of wine!”

The Lotus has a current MOT valid until November 2021 and the large history file contains many of its previous MOT certificates back to the ‘90s.

There are also many invoices, again back to the early life of the car, and the original Lotus service book, handbook and warranty documentation. In addition, more recent instructions for the Cobra alarm system are included.

The service book is stamped from 1993 (4,482 miles) to 1998 (45,154 miles) by Lotus Main Dealers Murray Motor Company Glasgow.

More recent expenditure includes:

2015 brakes, water pump, cam belt, strip down driveshafts, track rods, ball joints

2016 stainless steel sports exhaust, GAZ adjustable shocks and springs front and rear

2017 complete respray

2020 OZ alloy wheels refurbished (December)

2021 cam cover removed, blasted and silver powder coated

The M100 Lotus Elan isn’t yet accepted as a genuine collectors’ Lotus. While it might drive brilliantly and be all but bulletproof in its reliability, nothing demonstrates classic car snobbery more blatantly than asking people to accept that anything with a front-wheel-drive chassis can ever be a proper sportscar, let alone a Lotus…

Clearly a ridiculous stance to take but one the canny Lotus devotee can take advantage of because it has kept prices way below where we think they’ll eventually settle; if an early Mazda MX-5 is now fetching five figures and more, then the more agile M100 Elan must surely be worth at least the same.

But the modern classics market is a fickle thing and even a good example like this SE Turbo - which looks great, starts instantly and drives very well indeed - will probably only fetch between £8,000 and £12,000.

That is a real travesty considering the performance, handling and dependability you are getting for your money. It’s being sold with NO RESERVE too, so there’s an even bigger chance of snagging this gem at a bargain price.

Inspection is always encouraged (within government guidelines of course), and this particular car is located with us at The Market HQ near Abingdon; to arrange an appointment please use the Contact Seller button at the top of the listing. Feel free to ask any questions or make observations in the comments section below, or try our ‘Frequently Asked Questions’.