If you’ve seen the Bangers & Cash TV show’s spin-off programme, Bangers & Cash: Restoring Classics, you will know what this is all about. If not, here’s a brief guide.

The production team buys vehicles at the Mathewsons auction, in the lovely village of Thornton Le Dale, to restore. They take them to professional restorers across the country, film the process (paying their way throughout), then sell the cars back at the auction. 

Andy Joynson, the programme’s executive producer and a director of Air TV - the company that produces the show - recently took a big punt on a Lotus Elan S1.

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It wasn’t an obvious choice. A tatty, sad-looking non-runner in the yard. The picture doesn't tell you the full grim story, however. I have always loved and appreciated the Elan and admired the Lotus marque from afar since childhood. On the face of it, this Elan was too much for us to take on. I knew that this was a car to be restored over time, but every so often we take on something iconic that on the face of it is going to be tricky, but hopefully doable.

So, I gave the Elan a second look and with the bonnet handily hanging off, the handwritten VIN plate was there to see - Chassis Nos 26/0078, Engine Nos. LP 148.

After an evening reading through various forums, I was convinced this would likely be a Bourne-bodied car. In the early 1960s, the construction of the bodyshell was first outsourced to Bourne Plastics Ltd in Nottingham. Due to issues in production, the fabrication was brought in-house after fewer than 200 Bourne-bodied Elans were finished.

The next day, I was back up to the Pickering yard. The car didn't look any better but I was starting to see beyond that somehow and began to realise that it may be a good thing - originality would be key if I had the history right. Crucially, it didn’t have the Bourne manufacturer plate on the bulkhead that I was hoping for, but there were two rivet holes and tide marks where I thought the plate should have been.

Clearly, I know that as knowledgeable Lotus owners you know that I am out of my depth here. I still don't know if it is a Bourne-bodied car or not. I am sure someone will put me right here, but forgive me - I am a passionate enthusiast. I admit I was in over my head, and the auction was the next day!

Bidding started at £12,000 - for a ‘tatty Elan’ there was clearly very keen interest. The number of bidders made me increasingly confident, but there were no bargains to be had here. Several bidders proceeded to drop out at £20,000 - three were left in, plus me. Shortly after, the auction ended at £25,700. I had successfully bought myself an Elan and I genuinely didn't sleep that night.

I had seen the Elan had its original brown log book which is always a magnificent aid when trying to piece together its story. I began looking through the previous owners. There had been five in all, two seemingly in the trade who passed the car across to each other in a matter of weeks, and the last owner for over fifty years, with the car being off the road for forty-five of them.

MK 567 is a Middlesex plate but the Elan’s first owner was a chap called Michael Laird with a smart Edinburgh address.

Search results came up trumps and as many people in Scotland will probably know, Michael Laird was a very famous Edinburgh architect. The practice he founded that has played a significant part in some of the city's iconic buildings and is still thriving.

I rang them and tried to explain that I was attempting to find out about a car their founder had purchased in May 1963. Michael was by reputation a flamboyant character, given to adventure and speed. He had passed away but his son, Simon, also an architect, was still in the city.

Simon Laird, who has clearly inherited his father's love of cars and motor racing, was delighted to hear that his dad’s car was still around and going to be restored. Simon told me MK 567 was the second Type 26 to come into Scotland, the first famously being Jim Clark’s - 997 NUR. 

Aged just four and a half, he remembers the car arrived in two boxes at a mews garage in Canning Street Lane, Edinburgh, to be put together by a young racing driver called Edward Labinjoh. Edward worked there for Jack Fisher developing his race specials. Jack was an acquaintance of Colin Chapman who helped him with the supply of parts.

There’s more... Simon put me in touch with Edward Labinjoh.

Edward, now 81, has spent a lifetime in motor racing and the trade. He still runs a specialist Alfa garage in Edinburgh and remembers putting MK 567 together and that would have been in May 1963. 

The car was registered on June 21st 1963 and it was green, not primrose yellow. This is an Elan with an interesting and potentially significant history, and I am sure some of you may be able to shed more light on it.

I am aware that with being the temporary custodian of a car like this comes a responsibility. The restoration has to be right and the Elan is currently with Phil Webb, James, Ben and the team at South West Lotus Centre in Devon  - and they are doing just that. Some of you may recall they also helped us with the restoration of the 1979 Lotus Esprit S3 in season one.

I hope to have the opportunity to tell you a lot more about the restoration and the outcome of the auction in a future issue. Bangers & Cash is on the Yesterday Channel at 8pm on Thursday and all episodes are available on UKTV Play.