Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Hi

I have a question about the horn type for a plus 2. My plus 2 is a s130 model. What type of horn was original in the car? Air horn trumpets or electric horn?
My S3 has electric horn. Is electric horn original for the S3?

Regards

Diego

My S3 Coupe with only Malcolm Ricketts as one previous owner came to me with Air-horn Trumpets. It's possible it started as an S3 S/E, so that doesn't really answer your question.

Nowadays I have both a cheap buzzer type, plus air-horn trumpets. A quick bip on the button gives a beep for use in town as the air compressor does not have time to get up to pressure, a long press on the button starts with the beep then the louder sound of the Air-horn. Ideal for motorway etc.

I simply wired them in parallel.

My Plus 2 is a bit earlier, but it was originally equipped with air horns. I've never really been totally pleased with air horns in other vehicles, so I've removed them and plan to install a set of Hella Supertones. I use these on my motorcycle, where they're a tight fit but worth it as they're effective enough to make the soccer-mom in her SUV drop her latte in her lap when she tries to get into my lane. A nice piercing, dissonant, dual-tone that really gets people's attention. Perfect or a tiny car that could be easily run over here in the land of the behemoth vehicles.

My 1973 +2 130/5 is fitted with twin airhorns. I believe these are original by Fiamm, but they are in the nose & difficult to see!!
Mick

I read somewhere that the air horns were an option (maybe dealer fit?). My S130/5 has them. I had to replace the old ones which failed with el cheapo Chinese ones but they do sound very "classic car" and loud. Incidentally, on the S130 the only relay other than the starter solenoid operates the horn.

My +2S130/5 also had air horns fitted. Some Italian brand I believe. I ended up fitting a compact very loud all in one air horn to replace them. I generally think the horn loudness should be inverse to the car size and crash worthiness.....

I do wonder about going with none air horns to save a little weight and lower stress on the wiring. Also like the idea of Bill's dual horn setup.

The Maserati Air Horns were a ?8.00 optional extra on the Elan Sprint and Europa Special. They were standard fitment on the +2S/130. Jim

My Maserati(?) air horn compressor is still going strong - unfortunately a crash broke one of the trumpets and I had to replace with el cheap Chinese as Jon mentioned.
I've got the tinny compressor in the cupboard as a spare but I don't expect to need it. Will probably need new trumpets before then as im not convinced about all plastic rather than cast housings - we'll see.
For thread reference I think air horns were an option on sprints.

As I said in my earlier post air horns were fitted.

That's a great piece of memorabilia.

Jim, that's great info. So mine has the heated rear screen, centre lock alloys, metallic (roof only as it was Carnival Red originally) as options - the o/d 'box standard on the 130/5. Lovely. Makes me think of the first owner wondering what to specify as extras while contemplating his / her purchase. What a pity it hasn't got Sundym glass.



The horns I took off the car had red plastic trumpets and I am not sure I kept them or the compressor. Darn. Might have been original?

Interesting to see what my original owner decided to cough up for. I inherited sundym glass and rusted up air horns but no radio or heated rear screen (mine's an FHC). I think I'd have gone for exactly the opposite. The sundym glass is interesting as only the side windows seen to have survived. They've got sundym etched on them but if they go darker in the sun these days it would need some kind of scientific instrument to measure how much. The front and rear screens seem to be just normal glass.

I have a couple of sets of Maserati air horns if anybody is in need.

My 74 +2 came with all the extras. I believe (but stand corrected) that the sundym glass didn't extend to the heated rear screen. That said, when the factory serviced my car in the 70s/80s, they offered to fit a sundym heated rear screen which I accepted. The air horns were made by Harry Moss (London) and the trumpets were red, the compressor light metallic blue. Jim

Here's the invoice for my Sprint showing air horns as an ?8 optional extra. Jim