Yo. Floridians. Find me an Elise. Plz. Yo.

I'm gonna be in south Florida in a couple weeks. Tampa, specifically. I want an Elise. I've been searching Tampa CL, etc., but can't really find what I want. Anyone in the south or central FL area know of any Elises for sale? This is my criteria:

Price: 25 large. Would really like one with a hard top. 2005-06 cars sell in this range. Note that the asking prices start out at 32 large, then 6 months later, start dropping to 25 large where they suddenly sell.

Title: Clear and un-leaned-upon at the time of the sale. Going to the local bank for the release is OK, but sending off for the title is not. Title in the previous or 2nd previous owner's name (like the last 2 Lotus I bought) is not OK. Must be titled and registered in the name of whoever is selling it (or at an actual dealer).

No salvage titles. I don't care how great the paint shop was at fixing the "minor" parking lot fender bender. Salvage title is a deal killer. The only POSSIBLE exception would be for one well below 20K and with a genuine Lotus dealer's full check out, including an ECU dump, and I'm not really sure about that.

Uh, all one color.

Color: Not pink.

General condition: Good (excellent, whatever.) Beat to crap is out. It has to make it 1500 miles home, unassisted. So, at least reasonably good tires. Rear tires wear out every 10K miles, I know.

So, anyone know of anything down there? How's about keeping your eyes open? Oh, and Hagerty was great on paying for the Esprit (RIP). I had the check in about a month from the tragedy. Slight discussion on limited partnerships, general partners, signing titles, etc., but it all worked out.

One on AutoTrader: http://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-sale/vehicledetails.xhtml?zip=33010&endYear=2013&modelCode1=LOTELISE&startYear=1981&makeCode1=LOTUS&searchRadius=300&maxPrice=27000&minPrice=21000&listingId=327765099&Log=0

Aside from the scheduled trip, is there any other reason that you're limiting yourself to Florida cars?

Sounds like an excellent reason for a Tampa M&G.

Thanks, Argol. I sent him an email. Don't know how I didn't find that one, but that's what I'm looking for.

Woody, there seems to be quite a few Elises in the So.Florida area, relatively speaking. I'm not limiting myself to Florida in my search, it's just that I'll be there in a couple weeks on business for a few days. Besides that, I'd really prefer something within about a 1 day drive of NW Arkansas, so, kinda mid-west-ish to Texas. Maybe the L.A. area as well, as I'm planning a trip out that way, but not for a while.

Orlando Craigslist Vero Craigslist

The guys at wirewheel_DOT_com that advertise in GRM always seem to pop up in my searches with interesting Elise/Exige cars.

They are showing a bunch of them in their online inventory.

Saw that one on Vero CL, and the others at GRM ADVERTISER wirewheel.com. That one has a salvage title. The Orlando one is priced too high. KBB also shows the sales price on these to be 25-ish, so that one is in the "needs to ripen 6 months" class to get it down to selling price.

Keep 'em coming, guys. That Tampa one is looking tempting. We'll see what the details look like.

Not that this really helps or anything, but a couple of years ago, I looked at a 2005 that was BRG with Oxblood interior and it was an amazing color combination. I've never seen another one like it.

I found two interesting ones:

Stage II (?) Red Elise

$27K @ a dealer

I'm corresponding with the Tampa one now. Wish I was closer and I'd probably be driving it home.

I hope it works out for you Doc!!

If you need local eyes or want some additional photos, let me know.

Dr. Hess wrote: I'm corresponding with the Tampa one now. Wish I was closer and I'd probably be driving it home.

Is his name Lee?

No, Greg.

I'll keep you in mind, hobie. The only major thing that goes wrong with these is that Toyota seems to have had a bad run of cam shafts, and they seem to all have gone to Lotus. As long as it hasn't eaten the cam, you are OK. So, it's a matter of listening to the motor, which should sound like a Camry (or a Celi, more specifically). That is, no valve noise. If they did eat the cam, then it seems to be best to get a replacement from Toyota, plus the followers if they got eaten too, and replace the oil coolers.

Of course, there's other little stuff like the AC, just to remind you that the more things change, the more they stay the same.

I didn't look at these too closely, but any possibilities here?

http://www.lotustalk.com/forums/f94/fs-2006-krypton-green-elise-117233/

http://www.lotustalk.com/forums/f94/fs-2005-lb-elise-29k-111520/

http://www.lotustalk.com/forums/f94/2006-lotus-elise-oakland-fl-33334-a-109117/

I've been over the lotustalk ones. There is one on there that is interesting and meets my criteria, but the owner won't reply to simple questions like "do you have the title." Actually, all correspondence stopped with that question, despite my saying, basically, let's go. Others are priced still in the "wishing" range. One was asking 30 something, reduced to 29. He put it on ebay for "offers," something I never saw on ebay before, but I haven't been watching ebay that close for a while. Anyway, he turned down 28. He also never replied to my PM. There was one in Idaho or Wyoming, I forget, about a month ago that followed the typical price progression and dropped to 25, where it sold immediately with BIN on ebay. But I didn't have the funds together at that point.

My car went to S Fla when I traded it for the 911. I havent seen any ads on it yet.

No more contact with the one in Tampa. You ask about the title and suddenly all communication stops. Weird. Even left a voicemail. Oh well. Next time I think I'll just ask for a phone number and not bother with emails after that.

There's a silver one on WPB CL.

Yeah, I've seen that one. The front clam shell is a different color than the rest of the car. It is priced reasonably, but I kinda suspect a lot of damage and a salvage title. That car fails my "all one color" criteria.

Gotcha. Didn't look at the ad. just saw it on craigspro.

Psssst! Dr. Hess, there's this black one for sale up by me for $25K with a clear title in hand and a hardtop. We have good beer and great weather and I can pick you up from the airport, look at the Elise for you, and even offer you a drive in the Javelin.

I just want to drive the Elise once...

Needs more black crap on it.