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CHASSIS SHIPPING Lotus Elan Plus 2

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TomMull

TomMull

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Can anyone advise or have experience with shipping an Elan chassis to the Northeast US from the UK. The usual sources do not reply to my email and their phone systems reject my Skype calls.
Tom
 
Spydercars, one of several suppliers, is in Peterborough, which is in the Midland region.
Tom
 
My tentative inquiries say it costs as much to ship one as the price of the chassis itself. A bit discouraging.
 
DrEntropy said:
My tentative inquiries say it costs as much to ship one as the price of the chassis itself. A bit discouraging.
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While the published price of the chassis is quite reasonable, x2 would certainly get into the pricey range and you can get the whole car shipped for that or a bit less even. This would also be more than a small container. (I do realize that you also need to get the chassis to the container)
I know there have been lots of chassis replaced here in the US so someone mus have shipping experience.
Mine chassis is certainly repairable but a new and improved one might be a better option.
I also wonder if anyone would be interested in sharing a container if that turned out to be feasible.
Tom
 
NutmegCT said:
Tom - shouldn't the seller of the chassis be providing you some shipping help?

Tom M.
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They do but as I said above, they do not respond to email nor to my Skype phone calls. I will be outside the US until mid April and trying to get a head-start on chassis plans.
Tom
 
Thanks. I didn't realize when you wrote "the usual sources", you meant the seller!

If seller won't reply to emails and Skype calls ... that might be a negative on any idea to buy from him.

Just sayin' ...

Tom M.
 
English tend to not answer the phone during tea time. They also don’t tend to put folks on hold to get another line.
Tom is dealing with a firm in long standing and I wouldn’t worry much.
 
Grantura_MKI said:
English tend to not answer the phone during tea time. They also don’t tend to put folks on hold to get another line.
Tom is dealing with a firm in long standing and I wouldn’t worry much.
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:iagree: I've had email responses from Spyder, no problem.

Both of my frames are repaitable as well, but I'd like to put a Spyder frame under the S-3. Alternately, do the Thompson treatment. Still weighing options. Have to clear the garage of other projects first.
 
DrEntropy said:
:iagree: I've had email responses from Spyder, no problem.

Both of my frames are repaitable as well, but I'd like to put a Spyder frame under the S-3. Alternately, do the Thompson treatment. Still weighing options. Have to clear the garage of other projects first.
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Interesting, I got no response from Paul Matty nor from Spyder. Will try again perhaps without "shipping" in the subject.
Thompson Treatment??
 
The contact I provided is near Paul’s place. Was there not long ago with him....large grounds with two small buildings.
 
TomMull said:
Thompson Treatment??
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Welding in gusseting at specific points along the regular frame to further strengthen/reinforce it.
 
DrEntropy said:


Welding in gusseting at specific points along the regular frame to further strengthen/reinforce it.
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Ah, Tony Thompson Racing? I'm a bit green around Lotus. Tom
 
That's it. In the days before Spyder came along, there were a number of folks putting out articles on where/how to reinforce the box section frames. Those mods should be quite adequate for a street car.

But the "allure" of a tube chassis is hard to resist. The down-side is that once that frame is acquired, how could you NOT go ahead and upgrade all the suspension and brakes? Then there's the temptation to up the engine output, I have a five-speed gearbox to bolt behind it... almost better off hunting down one of the six-cog, early Miatas!
 
All true enough and I do want to avoid a makeover. It looks to me like the body has to come off in order to do a proper repair. I am quite skeptical of welding with all that fiberglass around. I'm not totally sold on the space frame either. Paul Matty has an original style chassis kit, at about twice the price of a bare frame, with most of the suspension with it. Still affordable if shipping is not a killer. I'll let you know when I get a quote.
https://paulmattysportscars.co.uk/product/elan-2-chassis-kit/
 
Tom said:
All true enough and I do want to avoid a makeover. It looks to me like the body has to come off in order to do a proper repair. I am quite skeptical of welding with all that fiberglass around.
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Yup. Take no chances. The body is attached by 16 or 18 fasteners, four fit folks can lift an Elan shell off the frame, BTDT. The +2 weighs a bit more, but with some Yankee ingenuity, planning and good tackle it should be do-able.
 
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