The original!

[Splat]

With thanks to Jon, who sent me a link to the eBay listing…….

Chris Smith’s original car is up for sale, as of February 2025. So I thought that I’d post the ad here, for posterity.

Is thirty grand a bit bullish? Maybe. Certainly, I felt that my own car, pretty meticulously restored by myself with ALL of the tasty mechanical improvements and a few carefully executed cosmetic ones too, was worth somewhere in the high twenties five years ago. But the market has softened somewhat since. Still, it IS an historic vehicle. But…….

I note that it was recently restored by Jim Bickley. Well, there’s a name I’d not heard of in a while. Twenty five years ago Jim was the factory development driver for Westfield (and Marcos too!). And, just like Chris Smith twenty five years before HIM, he funded his own racing career by running a race prep and restoration shop. And, back in the days when the kit car manufacturers weren’t allowed to assemble customers’ cars for them, Jim was the chap that Westfield would steer you towards if you’re weren’t able (or simple didn’t want) to build your car yourself.

And the first owner of my car was just such a customer. A wannabe racing driver with a Caterham Academy car which he towed behind his e39 BMW M5, he had no mechanical nouse (or sympathy), so had Jim build his car for him. It was the fifth of five cars that Jim built for the factory, so he was able to build a neat car. And it had many of the right parts (Weber 45s, T9 ‘box, etc). But by the time that I bought the car from from the first owner (in 2010) it was a four-year-old wreck!! He’d driven it into the ground.

Fine! I’m NOT mechanically incompetent, so set about a rolling restoration and upgrade program. And it was then that I discovered that (trying to be polite) Jim had been running a “commercial” operation. So the engine looked clean, but was in reality a well-worn bitsa of A and A+ parts. Which, save for a coat of paint, hadn’t received significant attention in 20 years. Same with the rear axle: clean and repainted, but with a diff more slack than an onlyfans “actress”. Same with the front uprights, same with the…..

Perhaps this was a thorough restoration, given the historic nature of the car? But has repanelling the chassis removed important history?

But it DOES look pretty!!

(As ever, tapping (or clicking) on a photo will open it up full-size, full-resolution.)

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[alleggerita]

I contacted the seller this afternoon, to ask if he would take my Elan+2 as P/X. He declined. Maybe because the ad is still fresh and they are hoping for big bucks.

[biggles]

Hey Splatters, long time no see!
Agree, it’s a nice car, but as you say, somewhat pricey!
How has the refreshed engine bedded in?
Regards Tim