should I change my rear lights?

[jono]

Love the Plus 2 but have always thought the rear lights don't sit properly with the overall design. Given that my existing lights are in poor condition and I am not going to pay over ?400 for a new pair , I am thinking about doing a 'sensitive' bit of customising whilst the body is stripped for repainting!

I was thinking of a pair of these - L539 half way down the page:

http://www.s-v-c.co.uk/lights_rear.html

Any thoughts? Also thinking of filling in the front fog light recesses - I think Chunky got a bit carried away and gilded the lily with those horrible lamps - even my 8 year old think they 'don't look right'!

[peterako]

No...no...No...NO...no

But this is coming from someone who thinks the original lights look just right

I DO think the L539 'type' lights look good on the Baby ( ) Elan though.

Personal taste....

Peter

[TimButDim]

Hi Jono,

I've got to agree with Peter that the standard ones look god. It depends if your +2 is in quite good nick, if it is I wouldn't mess to much and risk taking the value down.

Still, a modded +2 is a rare thing, it would get you noticed!

[Spyder fan]

Forgive the slightly amateur photoshop work, just did this quickly to get an idea how this would look. Those lights are 80mm diameter and assuming that you gave a 10mm spacing they would be 260mm wide for 3 which is slightly longer than whats there now. You may have to mould mounting plates as the existing panel is slightly concave. Not sure this would be something I would choose to change, but it's reversible I suppose if someone wants to change back in future.

As for filling in the fog light recesses, thats a personal choice thing, I only kept mine standard so that I could use the fog lights to flash thanks etc to other drivers.....

[jono]

That looks good

I think at 80mm dia they may actually appear a little bigger than the mock up suggests and I was thinking of using only 2 lights, the reversing light being a single Wipac type slung under the rear valance.

As the car is being treated to a full paint strip and glass repair respray, it would not be too much trouble creating flat mounting faces by frenching in the concave rear panel on each end.

I like it, and it is reversible withou too much hassle.

Chunky may not approve but then again ISTR he only used those E Type lights as he negotiated a good deal on a job lot

[Elanintheforest]

That's probably right about the E Type style lights. You could always put the original Plus 2 lights on.....
very clean and sharp.
Mark

[Spyder fan]

Ah! I should read posts properly, just 2 lights would look more balanced:

[jono]

Well personally I think that looks Elitastic!

One of the things which got me onto this was the Metier at Donnington. That proto car has only one circular rear light on each side but somehow I just thought, and still do think, that round lights look much more in keeping with the overall shape of the Plus 2.

...I'm very tempted I must say!

[GrUmPyBoDgEr]

To be honest at first I would have said chuck the old lights.
The reason being is that on my S4 Elan those lights just overpower the rear end of the car but the +2 is that much wider & sleeker looking from that angle it wears its original lights very well.

Cheers
John

[TimButDim]

I've got to say that the 2 lights looks good.

[john.p.clegg]

Jono

Why not go for the LEDs?...cheaper/better?

John

[reynard]

I got a peek at the prototype of the Plus 2 (I think, there were cobbled up bodies stashed everywhere) at the factory way back in the sixties. The one I saw had the three light setup, like the S1 Elan, and I always loved the look. So, when the clutch wnet out on my current Plus 2... well, one thing lead to another (frame off rebuild) and i decided to go ahead and replicate the light setup(s) i had seen, and had always admired. The photos were taken with my phone, so take that into consideration, and I did a quick coat of paint to check the final bodywork, but it's pretty much exactly what I wanted.

There are some other little changes, but I will hold off on them until I finish the car in the next few months.

Now, what color to paint it? Red, but there are a lot of red cars... Green? I love the color combo with the yellow wheels, but I live in Texas, and it just makes it harder to see, and easier to hit. Advice.

As for the modifications, I don't see them that way. I see them as the car a saw peeking out from under a tarp when I was a kid. If it wasn't for Federal Regulations and sourced parts, I think the Plus 2 would have been closer to the one I saw. And it can always be returned to stock if Plus 2s become auction fodder... until then, Enjoy.

[dusty]

What about these? As fitted to the Plus 2 prototype.

[RichC]

I put the round lights off an opel mantra onto the back of my Clan Crusader years ago instead of the awful hillman hunter rear light clusters & it transformed the car's rear end appearance
the trick is to make sure the lights point rearward absolutely in parallel & horizontally . not an easy thing to do on the back of a plus 2 i would say ...
Good Luck

[richgilb]

yeah the big ones off the protype look fab and you could argue you were being ultra purist to shut all the fogeys up - dodgy exhaust though.