Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Hello everyone! I'm from the U.S. and have a 1970 +2 in Lotus Yellow. I just came across this forum this evening and could easily spend all night reading through just the +2 posts. I must say I'm very impressed with the knowledge and friendliness of the members here.

As it seems with every classic car, there's always a few things to work on with my +2, but my wife and I love it! After I got it running my first thought was "where has this car been all my life?" because it is such an incredible car.

Anyway, just thought I'd say hi first of all and hope to get to know y'all a little better. I don't know if I'll be much help, but I'll provide what I can!

Hi There

My favourite colour for them. Best of luck. Over here in the UK we have really bad roads and the suspension on the plus 2 is really good. Very liitle harshness bearing in mind the fact that it is a sports car. They are just beautiful and very useable cars. Yours must have the high backed US seats. Ours have no headrests and it is the one thing that worries me about driving the car. I have crashed one fairly heavily going forwards with no problems (a 1968 yellow one) , but I would really hate a hard shunt from behind (fnarr)

I would like to see a picture of the car if you have one. My email is [email protected]

Have fun!

Berni

Hi,
Glad to hear that you are enjoying your Lotus. I have a '70 plus2S that has been off the road for 15 years and I am hoping to put it back where it belongs this year. I also have an S4 SE in Lotus yellow and in the sunshine it is a fantastic colour B)

regards
Mark

I agree that the Lotus Yellow is beautiful -- I can't think of a color that it would look better in! Of course all of the Elans are attractive cars, regardless of color.

<a href='http://unabled.com/show/cars/elan/TheShow/' target='_blank'>Here's a few pics</a> of mine. It's not perfect by any means, but I catch myself staring at it all the time. And of course the heads turn when I drive it around!

Oh, and by the way, what is a "JPS +2"?

Hello again

Beautiful car. I like that a lot. Here is a link to its British sister pre crash. Notice the low backed seats. I drove my car nearly every day for 8 years. The pictures of yours has bought it all back.

<a href='http://www.searchsmart.co.uk/car/lotus3.jpg' target='_blank'>British sister</a>

If you can bear to see what happened later you can go to

<a href='http://www.searchsmart.co.uk/lotus/' target='_blank'>My Webpage</a>

A JPS car stands for the "John Player Special" it was a black and gold colour scheme of the cigarette company. A 130/5 with gold metalflake roof and sills. 80 or so made. It had a couple of other detail differences as well. Not sure what though. Someone else on here will know them all for sure! If you go to the above site and look under restoration and January you will see one. The thing is that the car you can see has to be ready for a 1000 mile round trip to North Wales (where I crashed the last one) for the weekend of the 12th March.

Many thanks for posting the pictures I really enjoyed seeing them.

Berni

I could look at pics all day -- it's such a beautiful car.

I picked mine up from the original owner that purchased it in Norwich in 1970. He was living in Florida at the time and flew to Norwich to pick it out and drive it for a few months before shipping it back to the U.S.

He drove it regularly for 10 years (put 78k miles on it), then took it apart to rethread the plug threads. Apparently when he was disassembling it, his life went nuts -- got married, got transferred, laid off, moved, divorced, new job, transferred, re-married, kids, transferred, etc. He had nearly completely disassembled the car and had been carrying it around in boxes for 25 years when finally last year his (current) wife convinced him to sell. I was the lucky buyer. My guess is that as he was disassembling it, he must have decided to start some other work on it (maybe restoration) but only got to the disassembly phase.

Took me four months to put all the bits back together, and making lots of guesses as to where/how some things were put together. The Lotus workshop manual is great, but it lacks certain details that made it a challenge to put it together.

The great thing is that the car is in nearly complete original condition with only a small amount of damage. As you can see in the pics, the front bumper has some damage. On close inspection, the body has lots of minute cracks in the fiberglass, which is to be expected for a 35-year-old original car. Overall, however, the car is gorgeous for being an unrestored original that's quite old (relatively). It runs reasonably well even though I have not tuned it at all yet. It has a jittery high-speed misfire, but I can still squeal the tires (oh sorry, I meant 'tyres') shifting from 1st to 2nd!

I've got some bugs and things to work out, but it's all worth it. It's a hobby for me and I can't think of a single car that would be able to replace the +2 in terms of beauty, appeal, exotica, handling, and all-out fun. Like I mentioned above, as soon as I got it I said to myself "where've you been all my life?"

My most recent issue is that the lotocone on the left side just busted and the shock (damper) on the right side is gone. Now I have a bouncy rear-end car that rides about like my 1968 Ford Falcon!

Thanks for the messages! It's great to chat with people that "understand". One of my most frustrating experiences is when the subject of "what cars do you have" comes up when chatting with someone. I answer that I have a Lotus and a Triumph. If they answer "Who makes that?", then the conversation is over!

Sorry to ramble on, but I could talk all day about it! Can't wait to get it back in good shape and take it to the shows this year!

If you're interested in more pics to have a little trip down memory lane, my collection is at <a href='http://unabled.com/show/cars/elan/' target='_blank'>http://unabled.com/show/cars/elan/</a>. "TheBuy" is my initial inspection to purchase, "TheClean" is it's first bath in 25 years, and "TheWork" is my progress over the 4 months of work. The most recent pics are "TheShow" and "TheLife". Hope you enjoy! Oh yeah, the person in "TheLife" pics is not me, but a friend who appreciates and loves cars as much as I do. He couldn't stop drooling!

They are lovely cars. I am in the process of refurbishing mine a '72 +2 S130. Your car looks to be very solid and original. I'd love to see it, but from the mountains it looks like you are out west. I'm in Virginia and my car is spread out in my shop, and at the body shop. I miss the wonderful drive and pleasure! Have Fun and maybe some day we'll meet for a drive! Regards.
Greg

Thanks for that chaps I needed some insperation to get me back in the garage. I recon another month without seeing the wife and kids and my 70 +2s will be on the road! probably be divorced but what the hell!

Hi All.
My yellow 68 Plus2 still has a way to go.
Viewing the photos of other owner's cars certainly helps to keep the enthusiasm up.
<a href='http://www.fishinternet.com.au/~lotuselan' target='_blank'>Photos of my project.</a>
Nigel

Nigel,

Judging from the sticker on the wall, you must be down under. A picture tells a thousand words. Thanks for the 48,000 words.

Frank Howard
'71 S4 SE
Minnesota

It's amazing how much more energy you have to do work when you know others are going through the same joy/pain.

Thanks for the replies. I took mine out over the weekend for a bit and took some pictures. I feel guilty because I really need to get my shocks reconnected (Loto-Cones busted a few weeks ago), but it's so much fun to drive, even without suspension. I just can't bear to see it up on blocks again for too long!

<a href='http://unabled.com/show/cars/elan/ThePhoto/' target='_blank'>New pics from the weekend (if you care)</a>

Mine's only partly Lotus yellow, but here it is:

<a href='http://members16.clubphoto.com/rick711292/2055639/owner-6de9.phtml' target='_blank'>Lotus Photos</a>

Currently, it's hibernating for the winter.

Hi There Hegg

I notice that you have a windscreen rubber on the front. Is your bodyshell an early one or have you managed to use a rubber on a later bodyshell? I have just taken mine out and am not looking forward to having it bonded in, plus the plastic surrounds are very difficult to fit without damaging them. If there is a way of getting the screen in with a rubber I would much prefer it.

I might post this question as a new thread.

All the best

Berni

This is an early bodyshell and I believe the windscreen rubber is original. This is a U.S. spec car which I understand had some differences from the U.K. spec cars of the same years.

So, in short, I have no idea where to get the rubber from. Sorry!