Odd S3 SS color

[nhhiker]

I hope some of you can help me out. I just brought A '67 Elan S3 FHC -SS 36- 7502. This to go with my +2. The car was last used in 1982 and 3/4 apart. The paint in very bad silver. But this is over an orange color. This orange looks like the original color. If it is a repaint, they would of have to total strip the car to the bare shell. The orange has the original primer under it and is everywhere. Under the glass, in the door opening, boot lip, just everywhere a quick job would not do.

Here is a photo of the color.

Bill Fralick
69 Elan +2
67 Elan FHC -SS
66 Mini Cooper S
02 MINI Cooper

[1964 S1]

Perhaps a super secret super safety color of which only a few Elans were painted. Does your car have Nader nuts? I'd check out the # history and see what color it was when it left the factory. Do you see any other color anywhere? In the boot, around the top rear edge of the passenger compartment, front edge of the door threshold???? After scraping off layers of paint one by one in a small space using a razor blade?
Good Luck, Eric

[nhhiker]

Eric

The car has bolt on wheels. Red lettering on the dash and gauges that are recessed to be flush. Picture #1 is the front of the door threshold. (You need to look at the picture @ 90 degrees!:oops:) The orange is under the rain gutters too.

I have e-mail Lotus about the history of the car. I will tell everyone what it is when I know.

Bill
69 Elan +2
67 Elan FHC -SS
66 Mini Cooper S
02 MINI Cooper

[Elanintheforest]

It sounds like an exciting find to me, Bill. Check it out with the archive guys at the factory. Colorado orange wasn?t a standard offering for another couple of years after your car, but of course, the factory would paint the car any colour you (or they) wanted. I?m just wondering if yours may have been a show car to launch the SS?

Erik's identified the right places to check for other colours, but another place to look maybe in the headlamp pod. Take a headlight and headlight bowl out, and scrape the orange paint underneath the bowl lip and in all the nooks and crannies. If there?s nothing under the orange in these places, I would bet it left the factory in orange.

Has it still got all the SS bits? I think that it should have the turned-in three-ear spinners, rather than the Nader Nuts, and of course the rocker switches and special interior door trim / handles.

More pictures please!

Mark

[cabc26b]

Hmmm Looks like BRM orange

[garyeanderson]

I got out of the house yesterday and saw the Wednesday lunch crowd at Tiny's restaurant for lunch. Bill has been busy with the Type36 SS Coupe.
here are a couple photo of Bill's new fuel tank that he has fabricated.



a couple pre-purchase pictures too.
Dash in fair shape with all of the important SS stuff (not the hex bolts or slotted screw)

Pretty clean too

[Alasdair]

Bill,

I own 36 7658, 1968 (UK F registered) S3 SS Coupe' it was an overseas delivery hence registered in the UK for 18 months then shipped to Canada where I am. Very original with bolt on wheels, not an SE. It use to be Burnt Sand, yuk! It was painted some years ago a Bronze/Tawny colour. The chap I purchased it from put flares on the rear, looks not bad, fronts are original.

I did not have the two rare SS badges, a very kind Lotus.net subscriber sold a pair to me!

Quite a few different items, like the door handles, S4 dash with S4 switches, sun visors, red dash lettering (try to find those!!) recessed gauges, S4 bonnet latch, fixed seat runners like Sprint etc..

Enjoy the restoration!

Alasdair.

[Lincoln62]

Of course these cars are old enough to have had numerous resprays in their lifetime and are often taken back to bare fibreglass when chasing gel cracks.

There may be no evidence of the original paint.

Peter

[1964 S1]

I'll stick with the super safety secret color from the factory as my guess. Have you learned anything more from Lotus and/or Mike?
Red dash lettering, what's that about? I love the recessed gauges, no crescent shaped gauge bruises on your forehead after impact!
Eric

[garyeanderson]

This photo is an area that we looked at, it was a flaking silver paint on top before rubbing down. The last color is white so maybe that is the color coat or may be the primer for the tangerine, I don't know.

[StressCraxx]

According to the archivist my late S3 Elan was also supplied with Super Safety equipment, including the rocker switches, recessed gauges, interior door latch pulls, SS badges, and bolt on wheels. Somewhere along its life, it was converted to standard eared knock offs. I have owned the car since 1978, but I am the fourth owner. I know the previous owner did no mods to the car, other than bodging the electrics.

The vin is 45/7279, supposedly "too early" according to the books, but I can't see why anyone would go through all the trouble and expense to convert. I have seen a car that is 10 vin numbers earlier and it is all genuine S3. Roger Sieling's SS is 3 numbers later and also has all the SS equipment like mine.

Lotus was known to paint to customer request, of course for a fee. The color in the photos resembles Ford's "Competition Orange" color code "CY". Congrats that you have the original "autograph" wheel. They are quite valuable and worthy of a proper restoration. Best wishes your restoration goes well. I am planning to restore mine from the bare chassis when I get my Formula Ford racing out of my system.

Best regards,
Dan Wise