Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

You may be right, but techinically/legally, except for seatbelts, whatever was standard equipment during year of production is probably enough. Safety wise and aesthetically, an outside mirror on the driver's door is probably best but still I drive mostly in the city without one and "always" turn / glance back, both ways.
Another solution is to drive fast enough to stay ahead of ------------e v e r y b o d y

Therein lies a question. When did the U.S. require an outside rearview mirror? This car came from the Bahamas and I guess was configured for their requirements (if any) as it has no outside mirrors, nor did it have any holes, filled or otherwise.

Mike G

My S4 has a little square overtaking mirror that just clamps on to the window frame. So no drilling and easy to take off for shows. It works well, does not vibrate and give a pretty good view of behind. The car came with it already fitted but I have seen them advertised in all the classic mags.

Solution, if it came from the Bahamas and is original, holes are a mistake, try the exterior clamp on mirror or those two little convex stick ons I mentioned...
I'm working on when exterior mirrors were required, guessing 1968, and will follow up.

I also fitted one of the small rectangular mirrors which clip to the window frame on the drivers side. It's great, works well and best of all you don't have to make holes in your bodywork. so if you change your mind....

Drilling holes is what is making this so tough. Right now I have one of those little oblong parabolic mirrors (autobahn) stuck to the windshield. It works acceptably well. You just need to always remember "Objects are WAY closer than they appear". I am probably going to stick with it. There was a British car meet here in Tampa and I checked out other cars. Many had no outside mirrors. So I don't feel too unsafe. I guess I am just going to have to turn my head!!

Mike G

I have used the bullet type mirrors on a few classic cars and always find they give a very limited restrictive view especially the passenger side and can be a pain to position and always a compromise between where to position them for asthetics and still be usable. On my Sprint I use period wing mirrors (which I believe were fitted on British Leyland cars during that era.)
Check out the before and after pictures on my web site :-
<a href='http://groups.msn.com/cliveyboylotus' target='_blank'>http://groups.msn.com/cliveyboylotus</a>

Clive,

Well they certianly look very good, the car does too! If I can't get used to turning my head they are certainly an option. I have never been really keen on the bullets, but saw no acceptable (to me) alternative.

Mike G

<!--QuoteBegin-gjz30075+Sep 23 2003, 06:55 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (gjz30075 @ Sep 23 2003, 06:55 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->I've got one Sebring Mach I (yeah, the original type with the metal body) [/quote]
Actually, the Sebrings were chrome plated plastic. For years they were hard/impossible to find, but you can get them now from Aardvark<a href='http://www.fullspeed.to/lotuselan' target='_blank'>Aardvark International</a>.

Tim Mullen

i use those small formula car mirrors from on my 7 and :rolleyes: am putting a set on the doors of the elan no vibes and the convex lens sees all ed

Hi to You all

I bought me my own christmas gift and now it?s installed

Looking good ...or ???



Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

From Lotus country Sweden


Johan Thoren


<a href='http://fullspeed.to/lotuselan' target='_blank'>Orange LOTUS</a>

Johan, that looks great. Very nice.


Greg Z.

Victoria British (www.victoriabritish.com) has some talbot-style mirrors that are universal (they sell them for MG, Sunbeam, Triumph, etc. They are about $40 each.

Question: How do you get inside the doors? Do you have to remove the windshiels frame and window unit?

Steve B.

Hi there,
I fitted two mirrors to my S4 Elan just as shown in the picture of the orange Elan. They look just as good but mine are so poorly positioned that I cannot adjust them sufficiently to make them really useable. Big problem because there are now two bolt holes in each door.
My tip don't do this job on your own. Sit in the car and get a helper to hold the mirrors in position and then determine where to drill the holes.

Johan,

I mounted the same mirror on my Elan and I can't tell by your picture, but the front of the base on mine had to be angled down about 13mm (1/2") rather than level with the rear of the base in order for the mirror to work. Looks kind of funky, but it's functional!

And Steve B.,

The window frame does have to come out of an S4 or Sprint to install the mirror. Not sure about the earlier models.

Frank Howard
'71 S4 SE
Minnesota