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lotus eleven

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twigworker

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Hi! I just wandered over here from the MGB list and thought that someone here might be familiar with Elevens. I had a couple of them in the seventies, see my photobucket album in my signature for some shots of the Le mans car, and like a fool let them go for a song to a fellow up in Michigan as I recall. I think I have the chassis numbers somewhere and if anyone can help I would just like to know where they are now. Jack
 
Try www.lotuseleven.org . I'd suggest e-mailing him your serial numbers & asking about the cars.

I looked at your pictures - the car looked pristine. Most Elevens I remember weren't nearly that well finished. If your cars still exist, they shouldn't be hard to find but you'll need the numbers for sure.

We owned a '57 Eleven, #324, way back when. It'd been a team car at Le Mans that year, driven by Jay Chamberlain and someone else. Chamberlain brought it to the US (he was the Lotus West Coast dist then). My father sold it to a guy for autocrossing & we never heard of it again. Like yours, it went for cheap & I wish I had it today.
 
A friend of mine, Ron Lee, raced a Lotus XI very successfully in the Pacific Northwest in the 1950s and 1960s. My father spun the car into the infield while testing at Shelton Raceway in 1961 or so, and caught the thing on fire...luckily it didn't burn to the ground!!!
 
I think they are just about the prettiest lotus ever built. I'll take one in LHD though please - with the drivers side tail. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/devilgrin.gif
 
I second that emotion. There are a few that race here in the area, and they are simply gorgeous!
 
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I think they are just about the prettiest lotus ever built. I'll take one in LHD though please - with the drivers side tail. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/devilgrin.gif

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I'm not sure there is that much difference between RHD and LHD --- maybe 20"?? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
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I'm not sure there is that much difference between RHD and LHD --- maybe 20"??

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If I'm right then the difference is about 20" and $100,000. I don't think Lotus ever made LHD Elevens, but there were LHD copies.
 
what does a decent Lotus 11 go for these days ?

and does anyone make alloy copies ? and how much are they for body, chassis and suspension ?

neat cars
 
Only copies I've seen so far are handmade. The guy I rent my mobile home lot from has a neat handmade aluminum bodies car he's been working on for years. I still have yet to identify it, and it may be his own design. I'll have to ask him about it sometime. Could be just a go-cart though - but a very old one!
 
Don't know of any car company where I would have such a problem choosing between a car made 50 yrs. ago (the XI) or today (111S)

(Yes I considered Aston Martin & Ferrari)
 
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what does a decent Lotus 11 go for these days ?...

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$50-75,000 according to the Sports Car Market 2006 price guide. They rate it a very good investment, although prices of Elevens and Lotus's in general were about flat last year. I've seen a couple for sale for more than this but maybe they had some history or selling prices are significantly less than asking prices.

I was surprised to see that the most highly valued Lotus on their list was the Elan 26R with a high of $125K.
 
50-75 is pretty low for a good Eleven. No offense to Keith Martin's SCM, but it has a tendency to play favorites, and downplay the values of cars they either don't know or don't like.

I suppose for a base Lotus XI Club, 50K is probably fine, but for anything with good documented race history, add in at least $15K, and since most were raced by serious racers, I'd think you'd have a hard time finding one at that level.

I could be wrong, but I'd think that if you were to try to get a good Eleven with the DeDion rear and in good shape, you're probably looking closer to $90K.
 
If I had to pick a car that was most like the Lotus XI, it would be the Lola Mk I.

[image]https://www.britishcarforum.com/ubbthreads/download.php?Number=173170[/image]
 

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Looks like a great project. The engine appears to be from an early Elite, which means it's a bit larger displacement than the original FWA. If it's a series 1, then it may have the swing axle front suspension. Very low serial number.

Can anyone loan me $52,500?
 
Actually it looks like there is enough stuff there to almost build 2 cars!
 
Trust me, You're not the only one. Last year on ebay (and these weren't scams)... I watched a 1967 Ferrari 250 GT sell for $15,000 (it had a chevy 350 in it tho)... and a Lambo 350GT with a lightly cruched right rear quarter panel sell for less than that (with the original running engine). If I had money, I'd have way more cars and projects than time would allow... But I could hire someone... Sigh.
 
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