Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

A few photos of unit no 3071.

For the originality nuts:
- body is Bourne original but with 26R arches (fitted by PO)
- chassis is (anonymous, presumed Lotus) replacement

There are lots of original bits but I'm sure you'll have fun pointing out the bits that aren't

Paddy

Paddy -

Thanks for the pictures ! these help with motivating me to get going on my S1

BTW you never claimed aiming for the concourse lawn, so can't see you catching too many remarks, unless of course you are asking, then its like proof reading , the editors will always find something....

George

Paddy, it looks gorgeous and I really like the wide body treatment. Although an originality nut, I like seeing what others do with their cars?.there?s no right or wrong, just original and not original. Most Elans were modified in the day, especially when they got to 10 years old / 4th owners. I have two Elans that were given the JPS treatment in the 70s, including my S2, but they are going back to the original scheme. There only so many black with gold stripe Elans you can have! And my S2 is / was the same colour as your car, which I think suits it well.

Interesting that there seems to be an original S1 dashboard under the black vinyl?have you had a peep yet? Look after that dash top / crash pad?it?s one of the few S1 / S2 bits that are unobtainable.

If you get tired of the car, and would like top swap for a lovely super-original white S4 dhc?I?m your man

Mark

Apparently the dash is new, cut out using the original as a template.

I'd like it to look as original as possible within the constraints of what is still obtainable and, of course the body (which I like and do not intend to change). Where something is not obtainable I think it's OK to go with what might have been an aftermarket item at the time. I've put a few things back to "orignal" since the photos were taken such as oil filler cap and petrol cap.

There's a fair number of non-original parts which are sensible reliability/maintainability things such as electric fuel pump, Aldon ignitor, CV driveshafts, etc. I do want to drive it and not put it in a museum - so I'm not going to be a slave to originality, but equally I don't want to "improve" things that were perfectly adequate in orignal form.

Paddy

I saw a wide-body S2 many moons ago that had the 'standard' bolt-on wheels and hubcaps, and it looked superb. They were in fact the standard centre pieces, with the wider Plus 2 rims. It was a very subtle mod, and the wheels filled the arches perfectly. The car looked absolutely standard at first glance, and it took a while to see what had been done.

It would be interesting to see what's under the vinyl covering on the passenger side. The main dash (oiled teak) is available from Paul Matty / Sue Miller, so that would be easy to sort. Very few S1s seemed to have the lockable glove box. There was a thread running on here earlier this year discussing this subject...but no conclusions regarding whether it was only early cars / late cars had them...and an easy mod to do of course.

An interesting project to play with and get right.

Just found this pic of a '63 which shows a car with glove box door.

The other two pics are of a '64 in Donnington this year...an excellent restoration.

Mark

The glovebox is not original - see pic from prior to rebuild.

Paddy

The arches look great. And the tires and wheels fit so nicely. What size are they? Almost looks like 14" wheels? Thanks. Dan

Wheels are 5.5J x 13

Offset is +13mm

Tyres are 165/70

Paddy

Out of interest: can anyone identify the (original) blue colour in the photo above (old-dash.jpg) ?

Paddy

Better pic of rear arches (for those interested on other thread).

Paddy

Elanintheforest wrote:Interesting that there seems to be an original S1 dashboard under the black vinyl?have you had a peep yet?

So, with what looks like a month's rain in prospect, I decided to bite the bullet and start the refurb of the dash and rewiring.

It turns out that it is the original dash. After taking off the vinyl, the foam and the glue, the original surface is there but with a few holes that shouldn't be there. So my plan is to repair the wood and re-veneer it and try to reinstate the original look.

There is a lot of scorching under where the map light was - I'm not sure if this is usual or the result of a short circuit.

The wiring is in pretty bad shape - to call it a loom would be generous - it's more like a plate of spaghetti, nothing taped up at all. I have a replacement loom from Autosparks.

I have most of the bits to put things back to original spec although I'm still missing one or two bits. If anyway can help out with the bezel for the washer pump (below) I'd really appreciate it.

Paddy

paddy,

Are you saying you need the whole assembly ? or just the cup that goes through the dash ?

George

PS - I can tell you the dark blue on you car is not the listed as an option blue available for the S1 ( aka medici blue).

Hi,

cabc26b wrote:Are you saying you need the whole assembly ? or just the cup that goes through the dash ?

I need the inner and outer cup, but not the switch.

cabc26b wrote:I can tell you the dark blue on you car is not the listed as an option blue available for the S1 ( aka medici blue).

Yes, according to the DVLA the original colour was yellow. I have no idea when it turned blue.

Thanks - Paddy

paddy wrote:There is a lot of scorching under where the map light was - I'm not sure if this is usual or the result of a short circuit.

Paddy

My S2 came with a pristine restored dash, and when I pulled the map light to replace the bulb, the wood/varnish was badly scorched. Goes with the territory, I guess.

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