26r identities and other info

[bigvalvehead]

The general concensus is that Surbiton Motors sold approx 10 Alloy roofs fitted to Elans. Where did you get 1 car from in my last post?

[twincamman]

One type of car-IE THE fast back in question -and no other car bodies ----- were playing semantics are we??----e

[bigvalvehead]

The Shapecraft company were involved with the manufacture of many different car panels for both racing and road cars. I was always led to believe they were all in aluminium (aluminum) not fibre glass. Look at the current Shapecraft Company website for an indication of what the original company did. http://www.shapecraft.com/

[twincamman]

from here on in this thread is like a dog f85KING A FOOTBALL ---- running from end to end AND ACCOMPLISHING NOTHING -- --e [sorry Beau ]-------------or like sh%t on a pump handle ---maybe smells like 4 barrels of pig sh#t-- --e

[gordont]

I love a nice heated 26R converstaion going round in circles... now go for a drive and forget about it.

[Elanintheforest]

I like a good debate as well, but this is not one.

We?re very lucky here in the UK to be able to get together with guys who used to work at Cheshunt, race factory and privateer cars in the day and restore cars to perfection because they know what originality is. There is also a small group of collectors of rare and original Lotus cars and taken altogether, these guys form the real ?knowledge base? for Lotus cars built in the 50s and 60s.

Dave is recognised in that knowledgeable group of guys as one of the very few experts on the 26R and Shapecraft cars. He is not a self-appointed expert.

<= Comments removed by Mod =>

Mark

[garyeanderson]

I like a good debate as well, but this is not one.

We?re very lucky here in the UK to be able to get together with guys who used to work at Cheshunt, race factory and privateer cars in the day and restore cars to perfection because they know what originality is. There is also a small group of collectors of rare and original Lotus cars and taken altogether, these guys form the real ?knowledge base? for Lotus cars built in the 50s and 60s.

Dave is recognised in that knowledgeable group of guys as one of the very few experts on the 26R and Shapecraft cars. He is not a self-appointed expert.

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Mark

Mark

I agree that sometime Ed. you. Pete, myself and a few others appear to blowing ones horn for the wrong reason. We all think about things in a different way. We don't have to agree and if we all did there would be nothing but brown lips. This thread has lived on for several years and some tidbits of info have been dropped. This is a forum for sharing of information, As of late there seems to be a greater sense of joy by some of its member of intentionally trying to antagonize others. I don't seem to understand why. When I said there was something wrong with the forum and Jeff picked up on it, the format was not specifically what I was referring to. I guess that you could say that there is a serious lack of respect here. You could go a bit farther and say that some folks are down right rude and arrogant in how they address other members. I even may be one of them. I don't know what the solution is other that to keep this forum on a straight and narrow path that talks about Elan's and topics are on topic and don't wander after the first post. This may be one of the few topics that hasn't wandered too far as we all feel quite passionate. I think there is a thin line at times between passion and respect. Sometimes its easy to miss where the line is. If folks really thought the the forum "was great" and "leave it as it is" and "don't change a thing", well I guess that some of us didn't really think that, but we also didn't know how to say it. More to the point WHAT the HELL to do about it. OK soap box over.
Maybe its time that we play vote em off the island until the forum is dead and then call back a couple of folks before the grave is back filled.

Gary

p.s. there is plenty of blame and I will accept my share, I am not sure that some others will.

[gordont]

maybe just a reminder to read your post before you press submit and ask yourself if it is something you sould say to someone'face to face or if it will cause offence that hopefully is not intended.

Or as my mother says if you don't have anything nice to say don't say anything....

Gordon

PS - a reminder for some that if you write in CAPITALS it is generally accepted that this implies you are angry or raising your voice.

[gordont]

PS - Dave I love the Shapecraft pics, very nice.

[batfish]

I have seen a photograph of an Elan with the same frontal treatment as Eds. It is in one of the Lotus books I have and I think it is being driven by a PE Blackadder at a race in England in the mid 60s. I sent a copy to Ed at the time this discussion kicked off and will post the photograph later.

regards

Andy

[elansprint71]

I have seen a photograph of an Elan with the same frontal treatment as Eds. It is in one of the Lotus books I have and I think it is being driven by a PE Blackadder at a race in England in the mid 60s. I sent a copy to Ed at the time this discussion kicked off and will post the photograph later.

regards
Andy

And there was a French one which raced at Le Mans with a similar (but less neat) frontal treatment. I don't know who made them like that but it was not Lotus. I do know WHY they were made though- the 7 inch headlights on the 26/Rs fitted with the perspex cover which fits over the hole for the pods (not the "Chinese-eye" version) do not work properly. This is because to fit the lights they have to be set low and therefore the bottom couple of inches of the headlamp is behind the lower edge of the aperture. This is clearly no good if you are racing in the dark, so the bottom of the aperture was cut away; this means the the bumper either has to be cut away too, or has to be moulded in. A model of the French car is here:

http://www.racingmodels.com/lotus-elan-26r-38-le-mans-1964-950-p.asp

Of course if this car had been entered by any nationality other than French, the organisers would have chucked it out.

More recently some racing folks have fitted 5 inch diameter headlamps, these were not readily available way back when.

[Old English White]

PS - Dave I love the Shapecraft pics, very nice.

Still like it !?!


yes, that car ... Tour Auto 2004.
Christian.

[twincamman]

A serious amount of damage there on that shapecraft looking coupe . It is a good thing fiberglass is easier to repair than an all aluminium body from Shapecraft -e ----------------- HOWEVER the link to that race history site took me back to the in field side of corner 2 at Mosport when that Rodreguz kid drove the Ferrari 250 past me , the sound gave me a woody for racing that will never ever go away ;;e

[bigvalvehead]

Hi Christian
The car was repaired by Miles Wilkins (badly) the underside is 25mm thick in places and the S2 style front bumper is a really bad fit. It is currently being returned to full width bumper as it was when it left the factory. Also a complete mould is being made so that should the aluminium roof be damaged a buck will be available to effect a repair. TTR used this car as a pattern to reconstruct the roof on his which had been replaced by a std hardtop at some stage.

BTW I should have the rear antiroll bars in a few weeks.

Cheers

[gordont]

ouch oh nooooooo...