Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Only a couple from the '70s.

Roy
'65S2

batfish wrote:Hi Tim

This was my Elan at Silverstone for the Birkett 6 hour race in 1966 however I did not own it at the time of the photograph having only bought it 7 years ago. The fastback body unfortunately has disappeared.

Andy

I currently have a Z3M Coupe, so it won't be a surprise that I'm a big fan of the fastback look...I've never seen an Elan breadvan - where the hell can I get a bodyshell like that?! Was it a one off? It's gorgeous! :mrgreen:

Hi

The fastback was a one off, I have met the person who built it using fibreglass over a chicken wire former. When I bought the car it did not have the fastback and I do not know if that body still exists More info on page 4 of the racing thread.

regards

Andy

trw99 wrote:Here's an idea. If you had an Elan in the 1960s or 1970s, post a photo or two on here. Thus we can see what they looked like 'in their day', what ideas folk had about colours, added extras etc. Just a bit of fun but also we can build an archive of contemporary photos to help future Elan nuts.

I'll start off with my first Sprint, a July 1971 DHC bought in that very hot summer of 1976. The snap of me looking very serious was taken by my girlfriend at the time, just as a 3 litre Bentley was passing by. The colour scheme was inherited from the PO, who took a perfectly good Colorado Orange over White Sprint and turned it into a bee!

Tim

Was your Sprint one of the converted ones - having Silver wheels and bumpers? Also was the single sun visor standard from the factory?

Cheers

K registration ran from August 71 to July 72.

batfish wrote:Hi

The fastback was a one off, I have met the person who built it using fibreglass over a chicken wire former. When I bought the car it did not have the fastback and I do not know if that body still exists More info on page 4 of the racing thread.

regards

Andy

Hi Andy, thanks for the response - it's an impressive design; shame it's a one off.

Ollie

Hope this is open to plus2 as well.

Here is a young man and his dads newly acquired plus 2 in 1977. The plus 2 is still recognisable but the young, slim, hairy, fashionable boy is not

This is one from either 1977 or 1978, I wasn't so picky about labeling or explaining the photo albums back then. It will be some time after I'd bought it as it originally had a score down the driver's door & rear wing which I sprayed in the first few weeks of ownership.



I think the bonnet with Stromberg bulge is original to the car as it's one of the last S3's and registered after the Stromberg S4 had been shown. It also originally had a silver stick-on band underneath the stainless steel sill trim which I removed at the same time because it was stone-chipped away at either end and of course I hadn't any spare cash to buy another one from Lotus

elanfan1 wrote:

Was your Sprint one of the converted ones - having Silver wheels and bumpers? Also was the single sun visor standard from the factory?

Cheers

Nope, it was in July 1971 that it left the factory. It had had, if I recall, something like five owners in five years and it was one of them that painted in the black and silver details, including the wheels. Twin sun visors were standardised as a fitment from mid 1971 onwards.

Tim

Roy - does yours still look like the pics from the 70's or is it more like the avatar picture now?

gordont wrote:Roy - does yours still look like the pics from the 70's or is it more like the avatar picture now?

Sadly, it's as in the avatar!

However, I can see light at the end of the tunnel with the work on the house so I am aiming at 2012 to restart on the Elan.

Whoops, sorry! Off topic.

Roy
'65 S2

Roy

I think the S2 is great. A coat of paint and toss the engine back in and Go!

Please don't remove the flairs and loose the past history. It would make look just like all of the other sweet Elan's. Yours has great character and and a clearly defined past that says this is "MY" Elan.

p-a

as far as photos go, I think there may be some from the 76 to 78 period at my parents house but they won't be found until some time in the future

Roy

Definitely keep the history - quick polish, put the engine in (maybe engine in first then polish) and drive it!

Come on time is ticking and I reckon there are less than a few of us driving our elans as it is.

A quick polish? Ah, if only........!

What MUST be done is rebuilding the sill latices and sills. Not a job I am looking forward to as I am a 'nuts and bolts' man, not a 'fibre fill and paint' man.

The engine is ready and waiting.......

Roy
'65 S2

Here are some older snaps of my Elan.

The first is from a camping trip to Torquay in 1972 when the Elan belonged to a friend. My car was the cracking little modified Mini (I wish I still had it). The 'L' plate was because I was teaching my Mum to drive (In fact the car was hers - but I took it over, modified it and made it just about impossible for her to drive!!).

Down the lanes the Mini and the Elan were very well matched. The Corsair GT didn't stand a chance.

The second photo is from '73 after I had bought the Elan and painted it in JPS colours. I had also taken a trip through a fence! Mini is in the foreground.

I wonder if I've still got the tanktop?

The third photo shows the Elan rotting in a garage sometime in the early '90s prior to its restorarion