What chassis number is the earliest recorded 5 speed?

[M.J.S]

I'm just writing up some notes on my car, and came across a conundrum - and puzzles I can't answer annoy the hell out of me.

One would suppose an auction like Brooklands would have their facts straight, especially when selling a car for ?72,000. But in their catalogue entry for the Ronnie Peterson +2 they state:

"We are proud to offer chassis #1 - the first Elan Plus 2 that was fitted with the five-speed gearbox. Not only that, but this special Elan was given new to Ronnie Peterson by Colin Chapman in 1972. A letter from Lotus Cars Ltd. within the extensive history file states that the Lotus Elan unit number 1001L was supplied to Ronnie Peterson on 23/11/72."

My car is chassis 0939L and is a 5 speed (although due to lost records Andy at Lotus cannot 100% confirm the gearbox was fitted before it left the factory; although it almost certainly was - but he can confirm preceding chassis 0938L definately was a factory 5 speed, as the records for that build have survived). This is some 63 chassis numbers before the Peterson car, although I don't know when this car was registered, or if 0938 survives.

I know Lotus build numbers can be erratic, but not by 63 cars surely?

This suggests to me the Peterson car was not the first Elan fitted with a 5 speed box, but may have deliberately been the first one registered and delivered to their superstar.

Do any 130/5 owners past or present know what the earliest chassis number was to be factory fitted with a 5 speed, and on what date was it registered?

Cheers.

[trw99]

Bear in mind that Elans did not role off the production line to be given a Unit No in sequence. In other words, it's almost always the case that cars with Unit Nos considerably different to each other would have been invoiced on the same day or during the same working week, others could be months apart.

Unfortunately this does not help us when we come to look when changes were introduced, since service bulletins, workshop manuals and parts books all relies on Unit Nos. Hence we have lots of folk on here saying 'my car has such and such feature but is 30 odd units earlier than the book says'.

I suspect that this is very much the case with your car. In the absence of a comprehensive list of invoice dates from the factory I have to rely on VIN plate dates and registration dates. The 5 speed box was revealed to the public at the October 1972 Motor Show. Production probably began in earnest shortly afterwards. The Peterson Plus 2S 130/5 Unit 1001 was first registered on 22 Nov 72. It is the earliest /5 registered in my records. However, Tony Rudd was running around during November in a similar car but on trade plates; it was thence first registered on 1 Dec 72, the same date as yours was. His Unit No is quite some numbers on from yours.

The earliest un-authenticated /5 on my records is 0923. 0961 is the next and that was not road registered until well into 1973. 0999 is another /5, and again it was first registered in May 73. In other words, no rhyme or reason as regards Unit Nos and the definitive first /5 car. However, Lotus did like roundish numbers on occasion (Twin Cam Engine No 20000 for example was presented to Walter Hayes, though totally out of sequence at the time). Therefore I think it a fair comment to indicate that Peterson's car was the first publicly registered /5

Tim

[mikealdren]

0923 is mine, it was registered on 14/11/72 and the gearbox has serial number 7!

The car has been off the road since the 1980s when the chassis failed. I've never found time to restore it but also don't want to part with it.

The good news is that I have just retired and I'm back into working on cars. I'm currently sorting out the garage!

I also have another car that I am now building as a Zetec. However I also have a new toy, a 996 Porsche 911 and that is also taking some of my (now ample) time.

Mike

[M.J.S]

0923 is mine, it was registered on 14/11/72 and the gearbox has serial number 7!

And so the plot thickens. That beats the Peterson car by 9 days, which rather puts pay to it having been the first registered 5 speed; unless your 5 speed box was a later fitment? Does the factory have its build record, or like mine was it lost in the flood?

[mikealdren]

Sorry I've never checked the build recs. I'd never really thought about it being such an early 5 speed before.
The log book is an Elan +2S 130/5 and everything about it looked original when I bought it in 1981 and of course, the gearbox is serial no 7 so if it was a retrofit, it was an early box.

Mike

[trw99]

Mike, does your VIN show 09 or 10 as the month digits? The 1972 Earls Court Motor Show was held from 18-24 October, so it's unlikely that your car would have had a 5 speed if its month digits indicate a September build.

Having said that, the few Sprints fitted at the factory with the 5 speed box were in fact standard 4 speed cars which, once off the production line, were wheeled around to the Service Garage at Hethel, had the engine and transmission lifted, gearbox swapped and reinserted. It is therefore conceivable that this happened to a small number of +2S 130s as well.

Edit to add: I've just looked at my own web site and stand to contradict myself! "The five speed gearbox made its press debut in Autocar of 5 October 1972. The British weekly carried the first test of a Plus 2S130/5. ?The new box has been made available as a ?120 option on the Plus 2S 130; when supplies are sufficient the option will be extended to the Elan Sprint.? The test car was one of the first three fitted with the box. Therefore Lotus must have made the car by mid September at the latest, to allow for the road test. The gearbox must have had to be made up in August/September. The decision to make a 5 speed box must therefore have been made some two to three months before, May or June 1972. Bean Industries of Tipton, a British Leyland firm, manufactured and assembled the 5 speed gearbox for Lotus."

The test car mentioned above was registered HPW 358L, first registered in Norwich on 14 Sep 72, so it is clear that the 5 speed box was getting fitted to a few cars as early as September; these were probably development cars. What's you reg no Mike?!

Tim

[mikealdren]

Hi Tim,
the full chassis no is 72090923L and the reg is TWY105L. Lagoon blue/silver with black interior.

The car had lots of owners before me but was very standard. Any further info gratefully received.

Mike