Registering an Elan in California?

[Ianashdown]

It has been said that San Clemente DMV is a good office to try these processes, I’m told because the Representative that wrote the SB100 Bill was the local Representative. My experience registering a few salvage/rebuilt motorcycles supports that. It is generally a quiet office and with an appointment you can be in and out very quickly.

I’ll be going though this exact process in a year or so as I try to register my ‘61 7 from AZ and my ‘66 Elan, neither with titles although they do both have some supporting documentation from the Lotus Factory, Historic Registrar etc.

Ian
San Clemente, CA

[1owner69Elan]

Next challenge is finding a way to mount a CA plate on the back of the Elan with minimal modification!

Since you brought your Elan across from the UK, you might attach the California plate to the UK plate (if you still have it) with some simple fabricated aluminum clips, as below:

This also keeps some of the car's history and provenance.

No new holes, and quite secure. Need to use a narrow license plate frame to fit between the boot handle and the bumper.

The original UK plate is screwed to the body in two places. I kept those two original screw holes and my original plate. The yellow border on my plate indicated that the car was for export (to the US). When I redid the paint on the car I matched the yellow number plate border to the Lotus color: Norfolk Mustard.

[mbell]

On my plus 2 I just removed the UK plate, then used double sided tape and some foam spacers (+2 had more of a curve).

This has worked fine, even in Texas heat. Will find out how excited in a few months when I need to take the Texas plate of it.

[Wolfman]

Since you brought your Elan across from the UK, you might attach the California plate to the UK plate (if you still have it) with some simple fabricated aluminum clips, as below

That's somewhat my plan - keeping the original reg and actually want to get the same reg no. in CA but going to have to figure that out as I've been rebuffed by the DMV online because the original reg no. has '69' in it

The S1 has less vertical space on the vertical part of the rear panel so the CA plate is too tall. Could see about trimming it top and bottom to fit of course.

[1963 S1]

Updating this as I've just been through this process with an Elan and a Seven brought over from the UK...

Going to a quiet and patient/friendly DMV seems to be the way to go. I got VIN verifications in Thousand Oaks where they did some quick research online to see that the cars were indeed pre-1967 so didn't need secondary VIN tags, smog etc. Made sure I had as much historical paperwork as possible with me - latest UK registrations and even the original green logbooks, which might have helped but maybe not as much as their enthusiasm.

Both now registered as of this week. Next challenge is finding a way to mount a CA plate on the back of the Elan with minimal modification!

Congrats to you Wolfman! The prior owner of my S1 bent the rear CA plate along the lower edge so it would fit. Only the two upper fixing holes are used to secure the plate. No front plate is attached. I've seen some Elans where the plate is not modified and therefore the bottom of the plate sits on the bumper, angled, and secured with the two bolts.

[Wolfman]

Thanks! Most likely the route I’ll take considering I can’t think of a better route than 1owner69Elan suggested. Could depend if I can get the same number as the original number on the car.

[Wolfman]

Had to cut the plate down top & bottom and some stainless steel cable ties were effective in securing the plate to the original one. All this before I put the Year reg sticker on the wrong side, like an idiot, so had to follow suit with the month. Suppose it matches the steering wheel being on the wrong side as well.

[1owner69Elan]

A "G" registration (68/69) on an early Elan? Must not have been the original number plate? FWIW - 99.99% of persons(in the US) wouldn't know the difference.

[Wolfman]

It’s the format pre the XXX ###X format that started in 63, though it’s a 63 car. Original number, on the plate behind, is 6978 LG

[1owner69Elan]

Thanks for the clarification. I learned something.