Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Maybe I should try one.

But the seats in these cars have almost zero side support - would putting a thick woolly cover on them make it worse? Only one way to find out I suppose...

My fleece is bog all use for side support. What you need is a left foot rest to brace against.

Spyder fan wrote:

JonB wrote:P.S. Thread drift alert!!

Topic love.... Topic!

What?s got a hazelnut in every bite?

Are we onto Squirrel jokes now?

Sheepskin: I've lived since age 3 in the hot, sticky, humid sub-tropical southern states. Years ago I heard about a sheepskin cover for motorbike seats that was reputed to improve airflow between one's bum and the seat. Due to the depth and thickness of the fur, I found the opposite to be true so I removed it and then tried a wooden bead seat-cover and did get some nice airflow. Of course this might not work so well inside a car where there isn't much relative wind.

JonB wrote:Regarding the Cortina seats, I think the shape of them had much to do with comfort...

Could well be, they certainly had NOTHING to do with support, dreadful seats.

They are not standard seats in the works cars, but rally seats made by Contour, which were the seats to have at the time. I had a pair in a Plus 2 and they fitted perfectly, and another pair came with my Escort. They are nearly (but not quite!) as comfy as a modern Recaro type seat, which for something from the 1960s is quite incredible.

This is what they look like in my Escort, the same type as those in the works cars but without the wool!. And you are right of course, the standard seats in a Cortina and in an Escort are very uncomfortable!

They certainly are a very comfortable seat Mark - I had some faithful repro Contours in my Mini and I'm still considering a set in the Plus 2 (but would have to mod the sub frames as they are only made for Escorts and Minis).

I paid ?800 - they are a bit less if you don't want the headrests.

The one I had in the Elan was a Contour recliner Jon, usually used by the 'navigator' who could recline it back a couple of notches and have a snooze between stages.

It was required by the previous owners wife when they went touring Europe in the Elan, and she used to nod off when he was trying out the BDA in the car to see just what it would do. She was completely oblivious to him touching 140 mph @8000 rpm with the nose of the car starting to lift!

I really didn't know what it was when I bought the car, and replaced it with the original passenger seat straight away. When I noticed the 'Contour' badge and had a look on ebay, I was rather surprised what they went for. A chap in Japan bout it for ?750, plus air freight to Japan! He really wanted it, and it's in pride of place in his Lotus Cortina now.

Well worth getting for the Elan I think. I do have a spare pair of Plus 2 seat runners if you need them. The Contour looks like it was made for the car with the basket-weave trim.

With an ever increasing number of enviro - mentalists telling us that the " End is nigh " for the planet , and politicians keen not to seem out of touch with the youth voters , I wonder if there is some doubt creeping in to the idea that classic values will always go up .What will the recent announcement that the UK will be carbon emissions neutral by 2050 mean for long term classic values ?
To meet the targets it might be necessary to force all IC vehicles off the road by a combination of incentives for EV s
and taxes on petrol.Ok,so those blue chip classics ( pre- 80s Ferraris , Astons , E-Types etc )might still retain their values even as static display items , but what about so-called modern classics ( Aston DB 7 , 9 , 11 , Ferrari 599 , Lotus Evora ) , how will values hold up if they become less convenient to use on the road ?

persimmon wrote:With an ever increasing number of enviro - mentalists telling us that the " End is nigh " for the planet , and politicians keen not to seem out of touch with the youth voters , I wonder if there is some doubt creeping in to the idea that classic values will always go up .What will the recent announcement that the UK will be carbon emissions neutral by 2050 mean for long term classic values ?
To meet the targets it might be necessary to force all IC vehicles off the road by a combination of incentives for EV s
and taxes on petrol.Ok,so those blue chip classics ( pre- 80s Ferraris , Astons , E-Types etc )might still retain their values even as static display items , but what about so-called modern classics ( Aston DB 7 , 9 , 11 , Ferrari 599 , Lotus Evora ) , how will values hold up if they become less convenient to use on the road ?

were going to see allot more of this....... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PREftlfZuXA&t=780s

Having seen one of these conversions first hand i think it takes the cars soul.

Oddly enough, I've recently been doing some thought-exercise of mentally 'designing' an electric conversion of a Plus 2. Let me be clear, *I HAVE NO PLANS TO DO THIS AT THIS TIME.* But it's an interesting idea- assuming the the chassis could be modified to accept it (and it would be a major modification), using a front-axle motor from a Tesla Model S would be exciting, as I have read that this unit is good for about 188 hp. Batteries could go where the transmission used to live and in the lower part of where the engine used to live, for a nice low distribution of mass. The car would probably gain some weight, depending on how much battery is aboard, but with that extra power and the stupendous torque-curve and throttle response available from electric motors, the performance should be quite fun.

The Veg wrote:The car would probably gain some weight, depending on how much battery is aboard, but with that extra power and the stupendous torque-curve and throttle response available from electric motors, the performance should be quite fun.

No question...but range is still a major consideration.

I am working on this nonsense at the moment for a vehicle of this era - I will get back to you in about 7 years as this tends to be how long it takes me to get from start to finish.

Range will ALWAYS be a major consideration for me.

Agreed about range, but the light weight of a Lotus should play in favour of range.

Not the range for me, it's the infrastructure......... Electric cars just aren't for long distance use right now but they do have an advantage if you live in or around a major city.

I know some one who has a Tesla, he uses it to commute and he loves the thing but he is lucky the shopping center he uses has Tesla fast charging points so he just plugs it in once a week whilst shopping.