Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

I was watching a US TV show: "Real Time with Bill Mahre" which is a political satire show and Bill was making a. point about how people(in particular politicians) and things evolve and we shouldn't take people to task for changing their earlier positions and becoming more enlightened over time.

All of a sudden to prove this point, they show an 8-track cassette player in a dash and declare you don't castigate this for not being a satellite radio. The 8 track was consistent with the times and widely accepted.


Sure looks like an Elan dash to me. Am I wrong?

BTW: I did have an 8 track in my Elan (positioned in the back board behind the seats). The hole is still there but carpeted over. Now, having evolved, I have a bluetooth player hidden in the trunk - driven by my iPhone. But, I don't really listen to it much, preferring just to listen to the car.

8 tracks - great big clunky things. I remember my father buying a secondhand car that had one fitted and my brother buying one tape (all he could afford). Everywhere we went in the car that tape was played non stop. Drove us all mad to the point where I blanked it out and now can't even remember what it was. Cassette tapes were almost as bad but at least you could record your own.

I actually had a rare 8 track recorder so I could make my own tapes. Problematic and troublesome but sort of worked.

More evidence of a lifelong problem of being on the ?bleeding edge? of technology.

Sure does look like an Elan dashboard, with a white ashtray and tan colored under dash valance. And
right hand drive. Maybe an English advert?

what goes around....comes around! you just watch, wait and see....
LP vinyl albums are back
cassettes are back
who knows, maybe 8-tracks will return??

For me 8 tracks were the worst format ever. But there is still some love for them and a search of the internet brings up a few sites that celebrate, buy and sell tapes and players.

Looks to me like an Elan Series 3 dash. Interesting that the under dash plastic trim and ashtray are tan. Usually those pieces are black.

tedtaylor wrote:what goes around....comes around! you just watch, wait and see....
LP vinyl albums are back
cassettes are back
who knows, maybe 8-tracks will return??

I'm banking on minidiscs I picked a few of them up at fleamarkets over the years for pocket change. They all work and you can still buy discs + the quality is amazing. I've been looking to buy a plug in bluetooth transmitter so I can use them, either direct in the moderns or via a bluetooth cassette in the Elan. And yes, my phone would be a lot easier, but there's something pleasingly tactile about the way the disc clicks mechanically into place and the whole thing whirrs like a 90's version of a John Logie Baird TV.

1owner69Elan wrote:I actually had a rare 8 track recorder so I could make my own tapes. Problematic and troublesome but sort of worked.

More evidence of a lifelong problem of being on the ?bleeding edge? of technology.

Could have been worse - you could have bought into laserdiscs

1owner69Elan wrote:I actually had a rare 8 track recorder so I could make my own tapes. Problematic and troublesome but sort of worked.

More evidence of a lifelong problem of being on the ?bleeding edge? of technology.

My type 75 Elite stereo radio/cassette came with a microphone to allow potentially pretentious dictation to my non-existent secretary - and yes it worked.

Don't miss it.

Wow. I watched that episode but didn't pick up on this - must have been looking away.
Looks like an RHD S3 Elan dash to me - it's the reverse of my own, but with customized with tan colored lower valances and white ashtray.
Bizarre.

Turns out that was a stock image they must have paid for, since the watermarks are removed:

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q ... 3242976554

Is that leather wrapped steering wheel from an S4? Definitely an S3 dash, I jammed an 8 track player in mine after a rebuild in ~1970/1.

I still have one in my sprint.

There?s a Jensen Interceptor that comes to most of the British car shows in the Atlanta area, and it has an 8-track player that looks pretty close to period-correct; could be original equipment I suppose. The silly thing is that every time I see this car it has the same Stevie Nicks tape in the player!