Selling at last

The Marketplace Cars For Sale / Wanted
41

Kon by numberplate con by …

That’s a bit harsh, I’ve met Mark at various trackdays I’ve attended, and there’s certainly nothing shifty about him. I had even considered buying his car.

42

Erm, am I missing something ? It just looks like surface rust on a 10yr old car ? Lotus aren’t famed for their powder coating.

David


my very well used and tracked exige that i bought from damian murray was in waaayyy better nick than that and i bought it knowing it needed a bit of tlc.

marc.
Personally I would not consider that car to have been “maintained, regardless of cost” by anyone. Perhaps Franck are I are too picky!

43

Personally I would not consider that car to have been “maintained, regardless of cost” by anyone. Perhaps Franck are I are too picky!

Perhaps, I guess a buyer must make sure they’re happy with what they’re buying. I’m sure Mark will be along to speak for himself, but as far as I’m aware, mechanically it’s wanted for nothing. I don’t think surface corrosion on hidden bits of the suspension warrant replacing everytime the paint peels…

Yes, cosmetically it’s not wonderful, but as far as I can tell it’s not mechanically/structurally unsound, is it ?

I’d like to see pictures of the interior too

44

Erm, am I missing something ? It just looks like surface rust on a 10yr old car ? Lotus aren’t famed for their powder coating.

David

Personally I would not consider that car to have been “maintained, regardless of cost” by anyone. Perhaps Franck are I are too picky!

Whoa! What is all this about.

  1. The photos in the ad are entirely reprentative of the car as sold.
  2. It was last seen by Pat under a year from when sold, about 9 months in fact when new ignition leads were fitted, and there was no problem at all that I was aware of. He has replaced suspension components (rear passenger side most recently) when required.

Pesky, you have seen our car a couple of times at Donington remember. It is no different now to then.

  1. I’m not aware of any problems with the interior.

I resent any implications that I may misled anyone. It was still better than any that I looked at to buy 7 years ago.

It was also garaged every single day I had it.

Junks kindly showed me how to fit the cat bypass pipe a year or two ago and it can’t have looked any different then as the mileage change since that day is hardly anything and he didn’t comment on its condition either.

45

Mark

Yep, I saw your car at Donny…about 5 years ago (pre your sprogg days ), but I fail to see the relevence of that from 2003/4, sorry?

The comments in this thread relate to how the car looks now (well the bit in the picture posted by Franck), & people will make their own minds up about the condition, & the advert.

46

My own opinion of course. I have seen much, much worse surface suspension rust on more recent Lotus cars.

It appears very cosmetic and looks like an Exige that has probably not had a deal of recent use. It will not take a great deal of effort to make it look tophole again.

I would be more concerned if new components had been installed on any corner.

47

Kon by numberplate con by …

That’s a bit harsh, I’ve met Mark at various trackdays I’ve attended, and there’s certainly nothing shifty about him. I had even considered buying his car.

It was just a joke hence the smiley and the fact I said I would get it in first, then went on to say maybe the owner did not know.

cheers

Boothy

48

I agree it just looks like surface rust to me aswell. I have seen a lot of wishbones in a lot worse state than that.

Sometimes when I get my car home from a race weekend, if it has been raining on the journey and it goes into the garage wet, it can still be wet a week later. Sometimes cars that sit outside and have a constant breeze round them dry out much quicker.

I recently reconned my wishbones and they weren’t far off what those in the picture look like and my car has done a total of about 15,000 miles and has never ever spent a night outside and IS maintained regardless of cost.

As Dave has said, Lotus don’t rust protect anything, and the wishbones are always the first to cop it. I bet there are a lot of S1 Exige wishbones on here that look like that on original cars.

An hour in a sand blaster cabinet and a tin of paint and they would look better than new!!

Sean…

49

Well, it’s all down to personal choice then, I suppose, but it’s not just wishbones that need a good fettling is it? Even my car at 36K miles when the conversion was done, was nowhere near as bad as that, & it had been driven in all weather conditions, including prolonged periods of use on gritted roads. At that point in proceedings, the wishbones were refurbed & plated - not an expensive job per se, but removing/stripping down & rebuilding was not a quick job!

Personally, I reckon that pic says the car needs plenty of work, & wonder how much it would cost (a non d-i-y person) to have the wishbones/dampers/springs/steering arms/bushes/calipers etc refurbed/replaced as required?

PS Sean - I recall seeing your car with a thin covering of ice on it after a night outside in Spa

50

Yeah, It is a lengthy job for sure as stripping down all four corners is not something that happens in 5 minutes and I guess if you were paying dealer labour rates it could end up costing a fortune.

It was in its tent at Spa mate, but the weather was coming in horizontally from what i remember.

51

It was in its tent at Spa mate, but the weather was coming in horizontally from what i remember.

I was referring to 2007, when the weather was beautiful during the day, but bloody cold (at the circuit) overnight. I think it was over the Thursday night that there was a heavy frost, leaving ice on the cars (& tents!!!) in the paddock.

52

Yes, cosmetically it’s not wonderful, but as far as I can tell it’s not mechanically/structurally unsound, is it ?

I’d like to see pictures of the interior too

Totally agree. Advert does not mention any suspension refurb, therefore, what condition would you expect 8 year wishbones to be in?

It would be interesting to see the condition of wishbones at Anglesey. I would expect most (that have not been refurbed) to be in identical condition; and all of them will be in perfectly serviceable condition.

I have no sympathy the a person who buys a car without seeing it in person and then has the cheek to moan about what they bought!

Pesky - you are far too picky.

I have also seen a few cars that had all the spit and polish, all the latest must haves from the web but were never driven sympathetically. Never judge a book by the cover.

53

Steve

You may well be right. I just know how mine looked in 2005, so was using that as a comparison. However, I still maintain that a thorough suspension refurb is required on the car in question, & that it won’t be cheap for someone not doing it themselves.

PS We now all know what state your wishbones are in, so no wonder you’re scared to take it on track - it’s not cos it’s got a K series engine after all

54

The wishbones I took off my car are in much better state than those with some plating still visible. The worst ones are the front upper ones and mine has done 29k now. To me it seems that the car in question might have been driven on salty roads and stored as is maybe in a garage that is a bit humid.

55

Thats pretty bad i have seen one as bad but that was a P reg elise with 70k on the clock, i know the wishbones dont have much protection from new but even the bilsteins have started to rust on this car !!
Not the end of the world to sort out but not something you would expect to have to do on a 20k car

56

Exactly !
My MK1 Exige has 40 000 miles on the clock and the wishbones are OK !
My MK1 111S 48 000 miles and the wishbones are OK !
So strange they also come from UK…
Tell that such a rust is “normal” after 10 years his really unbelivable…
mark’s friends on one side : rust is great !
The others on the other side : what a shame !
So funny…

57

I bought mine in UK from NZ without seeing/inspecting the car, although I DID pay a dealer to have the car in and inspect it and give me a report on it, noting things like the condition of the wishbones. Money well spent when you see pics like this. While that’s NOT structurally bad rust, those will never clean up perfect (there will be some pitting and I’d be disappointed to see that on a car that’s supposed to be tidy and I’d imagine that that’ll be typical of nearly every nut and bolt in the car.

Having said that I’ve ended up stripping the whole thing and giving it a refurb anyway, despite mine being in pretty good nick initially… call me pedantic.

This is what mine looked like:

[image]http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d129/esprit350/Exige%20Rebuild/MayRebuild02.jpg[/image]

[image]http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d129/esprit350/Exige%20Rebuild/WishbonesOff.jpg[/image]

And NOW!

[image]http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d129/esprit350/Exige%20Rebuild/WishbonesDriveshaftsFinished02.jpg[/image]

[image]http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d129/esprit350/Exige%20Rebuild/FirstWishbonesHung02.jpg[/image]

[image]http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d129/esprit350/Exige%20Rebuild/WishboneFinishedDetail.jpg[/image]

58

mark’s friends on one side : rust is great !
The others on the other side : what a shame !
So funny…

Frank - I’m no friend of Mark; but clearly aren’t going to be your best friend either.

You have not said whether the car was viewed by anyone before the sale or was bought “blind”?

It’s hardly like Mark has deliberately hidden something or done something underhand. You seem to imply that he had some duty to point out the condition of suspension but from the range of posts it would appear that this could be viewed as “normal” by some; whilst to others maybe not.

Either way I think you have been unfair to the seller. Why did you not post the pictures under a tag line “Look what my plonker mate has just bought?”

59

Steve : the buyer has trust Mark and sent the money WITHOUT seeing the car…
Anyway there’s no problem the car will be entirely rebuilt.
We just think that a so big rust problem could be told honestly to a buyer

60

Steve : the buyer has trust Mark and sent the money WITHOUT seeing the car…
Anyway there’s no problem the car will be entirely rebuilt.
We just think that a so big rust problem could be told honestly to a buyer

I really really object to the word “honest” there.

For a start I wouldn’t have even known if that was normal or acceptable or not. I am not a mechanic, nor have I ever claimed to be a mechanical expert.

I drove the car often on salty roads, all year round, but never did I pretend anything other than the truth.

At no point did anyone servicing the car think it was a problem. I never experienced any problem on track or otherwise to make me think there was a problem.

I did not force anyone to pay for the car before seeing it, I never even suggested it! In fact as you well know I even put him off doing that in order to give YOU the opportunity to see it first for over a week!

If Stephane had been unhappy with the car the day he picked it up I would have had NO hesitation in letting him have the whole amount back! But no complaints were made.

Personally I would have had it inspected as I did back in 2002 first, but that is up to the person to decide for themselves.

Anyway, you can tell Stephane why I am no longer prepared to let him have the extra set of wheels now. Because I am fed up with all these comments. They can go to someone who will appreciate them.

This is the way I want to remember the car.
http://www.auto-journals.com/journals/Lotus?model=Exige&journal=23