Chapter 4 : Tidy Up Time
As the mechanics were slowly sorted out, we moved on to the bodywork. Considering the car was over 18 years old it wasn't bad at all, but there were a few problems.
The windscreen was going milky around the edges and showing delamination, so that needed replacing. And the door had been damaged when some kind soul decided to try and steal the radio one day.
They were clever enough to break the lock and damage the door panel using a screwdriver to get inside, but not bright enough to realise that the radio was a slide in job using those U shaped wire tools.
As they only seemed to understand screwdrivers they tried to lever it out, resulting in one broken radio plus cracking the laquer on the dashboard. Then, realizing the radio was broken, they left it behind.
Apart from the door damage the car was wearing it’s original factory paint with only one area of previous repair that I could see, but even so I stripped it back to bare fibreglass to stop potential paint reactions. And of course that door needed a bit of work.
The Elan was pressed into daily duties for a month whilst the Europa received layers of spray filler, primer and finally the original Lotus Yellow in cellulose paint.
I decided against putting back the black pinstriping and left the car quite simple with just a plain colour finish and lots of polish
The final touches were new bumpers, the front an old stock item from an autojumble and Chris Foulds managed to get me a brand new one from Lotus for the princely sum of £12.
We’re slowly getting there.....
