Rebuild 2
After a few years ownership, the black paintwork was looking a bit tatty so I had the top resprayed - twice! The first time round there was a problem with the paint shrinking and showing up all the 'defects', so the paintshop had to do it all over again. As a research student I did not have the money to choose a 'fiberglass specialist' and I had to make do with a small back street paintshop who was more used to spraying steel car. We both learnt a lesson here - I think they made a loss on the job after having to buy two lots of paint.
During the 80's the car benefited from a new chassis, rubber bushes, wishbones, shock absorbers, brake pipes, calipers, wheel bearings, bottom end engine rebuild, new water pump and lots more. As my local Lotus dealer, Peter Day of Daytune kept saying to me, 'I hope you are going to do it properly...'. This translated into think of your budget and then double it to get a rough estimate of your total costs. It was generally a case of, ".. while part 'x' is out of the car, it's a good time to refurbish/replace part 'y'...".
At least being a physics research student at the time I had access to a well equipped metal working workshop, with lathes, millers, presses and even a bead blaster....The stainless steel rear caliper brake pistons I made machined all those years are still working!!