Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Hi all you lovely lotus enthusiasts, and lucky Elan owners. I will start by apologizing for future spelling mistakes and any misunderstandings that may arise, as English is not my native language. I can assure you that I do not mean to offend anyone in any way. I live in Norway with wife and two children. I have always had an interest in cars and motorcycles, and especially vintage vehicles

I have in my possession a car body, which is apparently a lotus Elan S + 2. My 14 year old daughter has always had an interest in cars, and her greatest wish is to rebuild this car for her 18th birthday.
Unfortunately, I know little about the background of this car. First, I want to find out if this is a genuine Lotus or if it is a copy
I have had correspondence with DVLA, but they could not help me as the request came from outside the UK. I hope someone in the group can help me with information or advice on how to proceed. The license plate is Black Whith White Letters UU 708F.
My daughter and I will be very grateful for information or any kind of information.
With best regards

Welcome Jerikan and welcome to the forum (knowing your name is always a good start - I put mine in my profile so it?s at the bottom of each post).

Your English is superb you probably put some of our native speakers to shame!

As to your car - the registration number appears to be missing another letter at the front as that format usually have 3 letters a single/double or triple number followed by another letter which designates the year of registration. A photo of what you have is always well received and will probably prove to be a mine of information. If you have a chassis plate or chassis number then post it up as this will give a lot of information. If you don?t have that I think you might struggle to positively identify it.

If all you have is a body shell my advice would be to buy a complete car instead. I?ve been there and done that and finding, buying, shipping all the bits will cost a fortune and will likely take years and years and then there are parts you will struggle to find.

Welcome jerrikan. Whereabouts in Norway are you? Lovely country, great people.

That registration is from 1967. You therefore have the bodywork of one the 200 earliest +2 Elans. It will not be the S version. As Steve says, the UK registration appears to be lacking a third letter. If UU are the 2nd and 3rd letters, then the car was first registered in London Central, so in all probability came from one of the well known London Lotus dealerships.

Often the Unit No of the car was written in black crayon along the central fibreglass section that sits over the transmission tunnel. If you can see that and let me know what the number is, I may have additional information for you.

However, again as Steve said, without the correct VIN plate all you have at the moment is a bodyshell. You may be better off by buying a more complete car.

Tim

Welcome Jerikan!

Welcome!!!

Welcome Jerikan

As I understand it the UK 'F' suffix indicated the car was registered between Aug 1967 - July 1968. This was the year the authorities changed the date the suffix ran from Jan - Dec to August - July. This was to stimulate car sales in the quiet autumn months apparently, and is why 'E' reg cars are rare as that suffix ran from Jan - July 1967.
So the shell is 1967 - 68 - as suggested check for hand written numbers on the inside of the roof and doors which should indicate the actual car's VIN number, from which an accurate date of manufacture can be established. Eitehhr way it is a 'standard' Plus 2, not a Plus 2S.
If it is just a body shell then you'll have a big but not insurmountable job to get it on the road! Good luck

Matt

welcome to the gang! you're in good hands - 99,5% of the elans data-bank is here - a few have the 0,5% missing AND those are quite often highly experienced engineers OR those who have it under their fingernails, as they say here: those dudes are the real magicians!! sandy (i guess/hope i'm part of the 0,5!!)