HLO 1C - Monaco Red Mk 1 Lotus barn find 1965

[Keith Halstead]

After I was offered this car (a Monaco Red Lotus Cortina Mk1) in 1974 for £300 when a workmate of mine went to Australia, I have always wondered where it went - now I know.......

After I became interested in Mk 1's again in 1992, I tried to trace this car & I phoned the workmate in Aus in 2005 to see if he sold it here or took it to Australia when he emigrated. He said he sold it to a a buyer in Essex & as it hadn't been seen since I guessed it must have been laid up somewhere.

Anyway, I was at a Ford Motor Company show in 2010 and a man said to me the usual "I used to have one of these years ago..." & when I asked what the reg was as I may be able to tell him if it was still around, I was surprised to hear that it was the very car I turned down in 1974.

I told him the story & he said that the workmate of mine actually bought the car from him as he owned a nearby lockup & they were friends. I kept his contact details & said if I ever came across it I would let him know.

The next time I heard about the car was when a friend of mine was working in his shop & a customer came in and saw a photo of his Mk1 Lotus replica on the wall & said - "I've got one of those in my barn" - he told him the reg no. & said he could come & see it if he wished. As it was a close reg to the one I was seeking, he mentioned it to me. So we waited for a phone call to view.

Two years elapsed & we got a call - on the day we viewed it, I was convinced it was the same car & when we opened the doors, there it as after 38 years - covered in junk & old tyres.

We went over the history & it tied in with what I knew so we agreed a price & I left.

The car is now in Ermine White with Sherwood flash but if you scratch below the surface you can still see the original Monaco Red - this was the colour of the works cars back in the day.

It is a unique car as only a handful of these started life as red cars and some works cars were eventualyy resprayed in ermine & green. The car has been authenticated by the Lotus Cortina Register & will now commence a full restoration.

Watch this space.................

 

[colinrnk]

Wow; what a great find. I wonder who bought it - oh yes that was me!

A red Lotus is a dream, I'm well pleased.

I'll post some pictures when I start it - thanks for your help Keith . :lol:

 

[Keith Halstead]

Wow; what a great find. I wonder who bought it - oh yes that was me!

A red Lotus is a dream, I'm well pleased.

I'll post some pictures when I start it - thanks for your help Keith . :lol:

No problem Colin - I know it will be done properly & look stunning when it's finished. How different is that - a red one! Shame you need to sell RNK, but you can't drive them all - let someone else have a go.

 

[GoLotus]

ooooo you've gone public with it

You should have said, I'd have got some pics for ya

 

[L2Man]

How much in Greek euros???

Cash before sunday night!!!!!

 

[colinrnk]

How much in Greek euros???

Cash before sunday night!!!!!

You taking them funny pills again Brendon , im not sure when im going 2 start it time and money are against me, im prob going to sell RNK i can't keep them all but having a red lotus will be great catch up soon .

 

[428cobrajet]

hello all...so this was the car my mate viewed a few weeks back...as i can recollect, it was a car that was "re-shelled" years ago into a works shell, as many did as you know...and it must have seen more action over the years with the cover up vinyl roof...maybe a sunroof, or been on its roof with hard driving.
but a question to the main lotus people on here, as its been asked many times...if it was re-shelled as owner said, i was told by the club that reshells are only worth parts only value.
and as this car does not exist on the dvla site now, as i checked the reg number out....i was told before, any lotus cortina not existing anymore would have to be inspected by the lotus club before being issued a v5, or the original id/lotus cortina name would not be given out to re-shells...i tuned downed this car because of that, and anther mk1 a few years back.
so how will this car be come up after inspection, or will the lotus cortina id be remove being worthless.
i only ask this, as that was what the club told me about re-shells.
please re-enlighten me on this issue, as i left this car because of that.

 

[Steve 155C]

HI Cobrajet , your reference to a reshell only be worth the value of the sum of its parts was when the car was reshelled into a non Lotus shell. It sounds like this car has been inspected and the shell is an LC one. Thats the big difference.

Its a DVLA requirement that the cars have to be inspected by a club rep if the car reg does not exist on the DVLA database before a V5 will be issued. That is so the club can verify if the car is genuine or not. I am in this situation myself. It doesn't mean there is anything shady about the car , it just means for what ever reason the car was not registered with the DVLA when the records were computerised - ie the car was off the road etc.

 

[428cobrajet]

i've been in the motor trade for many years, and this is still classed as a re-shell as owner told us.
unless there was paperwork/proof of new shell bought/old one scrapped, what is the id on the car....the original car, or new shell id.
unless there is much proof, this could still be a car that went missing/stolen years ago, and came out in different colour/vinyl top fitted, and put on another v5....this happened a lot years ago, so i ask what proof/paperwork is that the original car was re-shelled with a new lotus shell, and id changed by dvla....you can't use a new shell, and change id onto it, as this would still be a classed as a ringer in todays world.
things would have to be registered/receipts to proof of re-body.
so what does club know about this re-body/reshell.
i should have bought it, as would have been a cheap car at the money.

 

[Steve 155C]

I'm not disagreeing about the fact that if a car has its body changed its a still a reshell. I was specifically answering your query about that value of the car.

 

[428cobrajet]

your club said they don't like re-shells, and this car has a bit of a history.
and they said cars with original shells are classed as originals, so this car would not be worth as much as an original car....this should be noted on the cars history when sold, as you are only buying a new lotus shell with a lotus id from another car in the past.
like to know what happened to original car???

 

[Keith Halstead]

hello all...so this was the car my mate viewed a few weeks back...as i can recollect, .

Where did your mate view this car?

How much was the owner asking?

 

[colinrnk]

Well that didn't take long , as i am the one that did buy this car i did my homework very well on it, this car was last on the road in 1994 so it must be know to the dvla but not as a quick check, your right about shell changed cars if a lotus or any other make or model of car is put into a donor car it would be a ringer but this is not the case the full history of this is not known but what we do no is that this car or shell is a gen lotus it also started off its life as RED the chassis plate shows clearly a RED colour code of BS im not claiming it to be a well known race car worth millions of pounds but just that its a very rare car, what ever i find out about it im pleased to own it ,a Red car is a dream and as iv been in the motor trade all my life and have restored more of them then most people im pleased with what iv got just one thing maybe you should of gone and looked at it yourself and then maybe you might of brought it ? Colin.

 

[Rick]

This Car has been inspected and found to be a genuine LC shell, the corresponding chassis plate also states that the car is a Lotus Cortina with the colour being Monaco Red. there is evidence of Red throughout the car. some of the running gear is non Mk1 LC. but the shell of the car ties in with the chassis number, so this car is not a reshell as such, because the chassis plate matches the car, ie red on the chassis plate, red on the car.

 

[colinrnk]

This Car has been inspected and found to be a genuine LC shell, the corresponding chassis plate also states that the car is a Lotus Cortina with the colour being Monaco Red. there is evidence of Red throughout the car. some of the running gear is non Mk1 LC. but the shell of the car ties in with the chassis number, so this car is not a reshell as such, because the chassis plate matches the car, ie red on the chassis plate, red on the car.

Thank you Rick your better with words then i am, if i thought 4 one min this was not a lotus i would of never brought it .

 

[428cobrajet]

but was this the shell it left the factory with ??? or the chassis plate left the factory.....if you put a plate onto a shell, its still a ringer i was told.
when i got into this discussion before, you said a reshell, lotus shell or what is not worth as much....so where did the shell come from, and what happened to original.
and yes i could have bought car a few weeks ago, as i had money in pocket, but walked away, as i don't like reshells, as i was told by the lotus club to leave alone, as worth parts money only.
it seems the lotus club members have now changed there thing on reshells....would have been different if i had purchased i think....its not what you know, its who you know in the club !!!!

 

[Keith Halstead]

and yes i could have bought car a few weeks ago, as i had money in pocket, but walked away, as i don't like reshells, as i was told by the lotus club to leave alone, as worth parts money only.

...you still haven't answered the questions I posed - where did you view it & how much was he asking?

 

[colinrnk]

but was this the shell it left the factory with ??? or the chassis plate left the factory.....if you put a plate onto a shell, its still a ringer i was told.
when i got into this discussion before, you said a reshell, lotus shell or what is not worth as much....so where did the shell come from, and what happened to original.
and yes i could have bought car a few weeks ago, as i had money in pocket, but walked away, as i don't like reshells, as i was told by the lotus club to leave alone, as worth parts money only.
it seems the lotus club members have now changed there thing on reshells....would have been different if i had purchased i think....its not what you know, its who you know in the club !!!!

WOW what an answer you really are upset about something ,when Rick viewed the car on friday i said to him i wonder how long it would b4 someone would try and prove the car was a wrongen, dont get me wrong i never expected everyone to pleased 4 me but then i never thought it would of been suggested i done a deal under the table or that a friendship would make a diff to the cars origanality, im not going to get into any silly debate about MY RED LOTUS ,4 the record iv only ever met Rick about 4 or 5 times so that hardly makes us best friends don't take this as bad feeling but your more then welcome 2 come and look at the car 4 yourself i might even make you coffee Colin.

 

[428cobrajet]

good luck to you colin, as i've no problems with you and your purchase, and i think its a good buy at the price....but if i had purchased, certain members would have said it was a wrong car/reshell, and never being able to get back as lotus....we have seen it on here many times, that a lotus cortina is no good unless it has original shell, and i ask did roger clark cars never get reshelled, and i was never answered.
but like i said good car colin, and nothing said about you, but i would like the forum stop running down reshells, when they are praising up your car.
answer me a question ?????
how many members cars have original from the factory shells ????

 

[Simon G]

Cobrajet - I think you will find that a lot of L/C's are still running on their original shells. Some members have in fact gone to considerable lengths to restore the original shell to maintain the authenticity of their cars.

Congratulations on your purchase Colin. I look forward to seeing it restored to it's former glory.

Simon