Reopening 26R arch thread.

[Tahoe]

After seeing the 26 R for sale mentioned in "Items for sale on other web sites" I'm see evidience of the early 26R arches using the standard front bumper. So if this is a ral 26R is this indeed the way early 26R's came, and then later the front arches were modified to use the standard headlight pods with a 26R bumper, and then again modified to have "chinese eye" headlight covers? Altogether 3 variations? See pictures and link http://www.silverstoneauctions.com/lotus-elan-26-r:

[elancoupe]

There are no absolutes with these cars, but GENERALLY speaking...... S1 cars (like the one pictured) came with standard arches, bumper, and the narrower K/O peg drive wheels. Notice the lack of holes in the wheels, this is the S1 style wheel. Some S1's came with pop up lights, some with fixed units. Most S1 cars have been converted to the wider arches and wheels over the years, so S1's in original form are pretty rare. There was a recent thread here showing an S1 in a Japanese museum, it looks just like the one pictured here.

S2's had fixed lights, in at least 2 different designs, as well as the wider arches and wheels and short front bumper. There are a quite a few other differences which are detailed elsewhere.

Contrary to what you may have read here before, at this point, there is no proof that any 26R came LHD, or had anything other than peg drive magnesium wheels.

[vstibbard]

It very similar to the Japanese car indeed, i'd love to know if there is a siurce for early 26R wheels, the narrow guards lowered ride look sensational. V

[Tahoe]

I really like this early look. When I emailed TTR they told me they only have style of arch for sale even though there catalog mentions an S1 and S2 version. After several emails they still didn't understand what I was talking about. I wish I had the pictures to show them at the time. I know the wider arches are readily available, but has anyone ever seen the early arches for sale? Probably not if early cars were converted.

Here's another picture I found of an earlier car.

[EnfoKen]

The Silverstone Auction car was at Paul Matty's a few weeks ago. I shot images of it and I don't think it has any flare other than the standard Elan flare.

I shot this car below last week in Japan. It was built as a tribute to the blue 26R that was raced
in Japan back in 65, that was mentioned recently on this forum. Note the early solid wheels.
They were produced in Japan in the past. They are not truly knock-ons. The spinner
is just for looks. There was a set recently on Yahoo auction Japan.

I just picked up an S1 that I am converting to a 26R tribute, but I too like the early look
and may not add the larger later flares.

[Tahoe]

Thanks Ken, I just assumed it had a slight flare.Very interesting that it all fits under the stock fenders.

[EnfoKen]

They are using 4.50 L 13 Dunlop CR65 Tires. They are pretty short compared to the
145 and 155 R13 Tires. I think that's why they fit.

[elansprint71]

The Silverstone Auction car was at Paul Matty's a few weeks ago. I shot images of it and I don't think it has any flare other than the standard Elan flare. ..........

Correct. From what was written at the time S1 lightweights had normal production bodies.


Why have we now got two new threads discussing the same subject?

[Old English White]

I shot this car below last week in Japan. It was built as a tribute to the blue 26R that was raced
in Japan back in 65, that was mentioned recently on this forum. Note the early solid wheels.
They were produced in Japan in the past. They are not truly knock-ons. The spinner
is just for looks.

Don't think there's enough place for "fake" in the hub of an Elan.
Despite the fact that some may have the 5 std stubs, to allow these type of wheel to cope with std KO hubs(some of us have made this mod.),
On the wheels of your picture, as on the wider 26R S2 wheels(my picture below), the 4 steel stubs are/were bolted on magnesium.

Christian.

[EnfoKen]

I shot this car below last week in Japan. It was built as a tribute to the blue 26R that was raced
in Japan back in 65, that was mentioned recently on this forum. Note the early solid wheels.
They were produced in Japan in the past. They are not truly knock-ons. The spinner
is just for looks.

Don't think there's enough place for "fake" in the hub of an Elan.
Despite the fact that some may have the 5 std stubs, to allow these type of wheel to cope with std KO hubs(some of us have made this mod.),
On the wheels of your picture, as on the wider 26R S2 wheels(my picture below), the 4 steel stubs are/were bolted on magnesium.

Christian.

I'm not really sure what you are saying in your response but to be clear, the green car I photographed in Japan above has bolt on wheels. I am aware the typical and genuine 26R wheel uses a bolt on pin but this car, as the builder was keen to show me, had "fake" spinners that he secured to the wheel. I have seen these bolt on solid 26R wheels before in Japan. In fact there was a set on Yahoo auction several weeks ago.

[bigvalvehead]

Hi Russ
Car no 59 is my 26R .
That pic was taken from a French film about Michelle Vailliant.

It was from the 1965 Sebring 12 hour race.

Att'd is a pic of a 26R Shapecraft having recently had its bumper put back to full width.

Tony THompson does the early wheels as special order. I have just ordered a set for my car

Cheers
Dave

[Old English White]

I'm not really sure what you are saying in your response but to be clear, the green car I photographed in Japan above has bolt on wheels. I am aware the typical and genuine 26R wheel uses a bolt on pin but this car, as the builder was keen to show me, had "fake" spinners that he secured to the wheel. I have seen these bolt on solid 26R wheels before in Japan. In fact there was a set on Yahoo auction several weeks ago.

I wasn't sure what you were saying in your first comment but to be clear, I wanted to tell than the bolts on the big part of 26R wheels are here to secure the pins.
Having said that, I 'll be more than interested in a closer view of that lookalike assembly...
Anyway, thx for the wonderfull work you are doing on your website.
Christian

[Elan45]

Although my car is not a real 26R, the original owner bought all the 26R bits to fit to his early S3 back when it was new. He fitted S1 wheels to it for street radials and S2 wheels for the M series Dunlops he raced on over the weekends. These solid S1 wheels are true 4 pin KO wheels, not fakes that bolt on.

I have wondered if there were any LHD 26Rs for years, because the original owner didn't do a great job on the balance bar and pedal box. So I'm going to need to borrow a real 26R pedal box to make a mirror image. The nose sitting on the front of the car is not original but another S3 nose I traded for. The rear flairs were not damaged in the crash, but the front ones are gone. I'm planning to fit flairs just big enough to cover the 6 in wide S2 wheels with fixed laps under covers and the shortened front bumper. Oh, this car also was modified on the inner faces of the rear wings, ie the side walls of the boot.

Roger

[cabc26b]

The resurrection of this thread caused me to re-explore the solid 26r wheel as an option for one of the s1's . Am i dreaming that these use to be available in 5.5 inch ? All I can seem to find now is 5 inch or 6 inch wheels . I have been the 6 inch route and am not willing to cut the fenders off the car. i would like to find them in 5.5 inch if i can get the same back space as the 5.5 inch wheels as are on the car now.

Can anyone point me to a supplier of a 5.5 inch solid wheels ?

Dave or Roger do you dimensions of the wheels you all have ? I am particularly interested in the offset/backspace dimensions for the 5inch or 5.5 inch

Thanks,

George

[Tahoe]

Thanks to everyone so far. I think I may pursue the original (reproduction) bolt on wheels as well. I'd like to keep my car with the stock arches if possible. I'm at a point where I can cut off the bad flares and do what ever I'd like, but I really like the clean look of the early 26R's. George,please post if you find the info on the offset, supplier, price, etc. for the early wheels.