Not An Elan, But...

[CBUEB1771]

I toured a local restoration and vintage race preparation shop yesterday as part of the search for someone to paint my Elite. This shop has had the Type 47 GKN Special in for quite some time. Yes, it is the real GKN Special, even Beauregard agrees. It was good to see this project reactivated. I have not seen this Lotus on the road for many years.

[GrUmPyBoDgEr]

Looking very good!

I hope you will be able to post more pictures of it in future.

Thanks
John

[RotoFlexible]

Russ,

I would be interested in the results of your search. There may be a body restoration in my future (or rather, in the future of my car).

[Elanintheforest]

On a similar theme, although maybe without the pedegree, this Europa was parked up at Donnington show earlier last year. It looked very impressive...the right sort of flairs! A quick peak into the air vents hinted at something very tasty lurking within.....

Mark

[cabc26b]

Russ,

What a find - The 47D is quite a car and one that makes you wonder what could have been had they gone this route versus the twincam.

BTW, I to would love to know what a decent shop charges for paint job these days.

George

[Jas]

Hi Mark

Yes it was quite impressive!
Didn?t sound anything like a Twink though

[RobL7/Elan]

Good God! It has to be at least a 289 CI! You'd think the torque would twist it like a pretzel. And to think I once had a Europa with a Renault engine......

Rob

[garyeanderson]

There is one problem, one of these cars is a real period piece with all of the provenance that goes along with it, the other looks like one of Richard Winters creations. One of them probably runs and behaves on the street, the other came into BCD in Brookline back around 1992-4 popping, steaming and in general looking like a bad hair day. When the owner got out you could see the relief on his face. But the one-off car from the correct era is probably worth a quarter-mil or more...

The one at Donington looks like a Ford to me, You could probably drive it anywhere.

[Jason1]

That's a complicated exhaust, 8 branches and the angle of the rocker cover suggest a V8. It must fly

[cabc26b]

Believe it or not that's a pretty standard exhaust now that GT40's are being knocked off .

[CBUEB1771]

one of these cars is a real period piece with all of the provenance that goes along with it

The GKN Special does have a ton of provenance. The first time I saw it was in the 80s when the owner drove it to a friend's home/shop for a look at the four Weber IDA downdrafts (Dyno Dave Comeau for those in the eastern Massachusetts area). The owner arrived complete with three-ring binders full of the history of the engine development. I recall reading through something like four stages of development with full build records and dynamometer run sheets. I also remember the GKN Special's appearance at the British Car Day event mentioned by Gary. My job was to get the owner and the car out of the park and onto the road on a stinking hot July day. What fun running in front of the special, the wrong way on a one way drive! That was the quickest way out. The Special was popping and banging like a dragster and on its way to boiling after ten minutes of running. I was waving people away and even the Brookline police stepped aside! In some respects the GKN Special is not much different from the Donington beast with the 5.0 litre Ford V8. The GKN Special has no race history, no special place in the Lotus story. This was just an executive perk and show horse for GKN products.

[GrUmPyBoDgEr]

I'm sure I've seen that monster before; at Donington & at the NEC.
The Body is, without doubt, a Banks (Europa Engineering) 62R by Richard Winter.
There are either 2 of them around now or that one was previously painted Silver & was up for sale for some time.
I'll search for some earlier Pic's

Cheers John

[GrUmPyBoDgEr]

Those Pic's: Taken at Birmingam NEC Classic Car Show Ca.2003

[garyeanderson]

The weather was sunny yesterday, good two days in a row so I took advantage of the 20 f degree day. After seeing the Donington photos I called my friend Bill Fortini and made arangments to spend some time over there. I got my friend Willie Hough the take a moment from his fiberglass work and we went over to look at the progress on Bill's Europa clone (type 62?).
Bill has a bit of time in it. He designed the chassis with Solidworks, then fabricated and welded it. The body was bought from Richard Winter.
Lots of progress since I last saw it.
Front spindles are Miata, the rears are Lotus 23 type uprights from Mamba motorsports. The power is a Ford Ranger 2.3 and uses a Focus 5 speed. I don't know the weight but I wouldn't guess it will be much.


Bill and Willie

[Jas]

Boy that looks exiting, please keep us posted.