Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

At LOG this weekend, there was a picture submitted in the photo
contest of many Elans lined up taken from the side so that just the
fronts of the cars were visible. In the picture there was a two tone
car (Sprint?) that was light green on top and white on the bottom.
Does anyone know what color green that was, or anything about the car?
It was a great picture, but after seeing it, I decided what I want my
next Lotus to be!

Tom

Tom,

Without seeing the picture, I can safely tell you that it is called Pistachio
Green. That color was offered as one of the four Sprint two-tone paint jobs.
It was so ugly that only six were produced. Consequently, the fact that
they only produced six makes them more valuable. Kenny Mance owns one of them.
The picture was probably of his car. I can get you Kenny's contact
information if you are interested.

Frank Howard
'71 S4 SE
Minnesota

Lads,

Add me to the growing horde of pistachio green fans - upon completion, my
current BRG S2 DHC will be transformed into such a glorious machine.

Cheers,
Bill Tebbutt

Is this the photo?

http://www.lotuselan.net/publish/eye_candy.shtml

If so, it was taken at the 1999 LOG by David Nagler.

Hi Frank,

Well, I have no reference for whether it is Pistachio, but I do know it
looked nice in the picture (of course color is very subjective). Or if
it is that ugly, maybe that wasn't it? Anyway, yes, I'd be interested
in contacting Kenny.

Thanks,
Tom.

I have only seen the Pistachio Sprint in photos but I think they look
great. I think the white section sets the green off nicely. It seems a
very 70's colour to me. I also think bright colours go with the smiley
face the Elan has.

Just my opinion.
Peter
66S2 (Yellow)

I suppose I should weigh in on this since the original color on my Sprint
was pistachio green over white. I didn't think it was ugly, but I preferred
another color (after 25 years). I agree that it seemed like a very 70s
color. I recall that comments on it were complimentary or negative, not just
OK. It was that kind of color, along with the two-tone.
Dave 72 Sprint DHC (red)

Frank

I was interested to see you say only six pistachio green Sprints
were produced and wondered how you came by this information? Was
this just in the US market?

I'm sure I saw more than six between 1971 and 1973 in the UK -
unless the same one kept passing me!

Tim

Then it might have been only five, because my Sprint FHC produced late
December 1971 was pistachio green over white according to Lotus'
registration, but all other papers and previous owners says, it always
have been red over white. When it was repainted 2 ? years ago, there were
no sign at all of pistachio green.
My Spint was registrated in January 1972 in UK, exported to Belgium in
1982 and then to Denmark in 1986.
/leo

My first Europa was Pistachio Green. I wasn't fond of the color but it
wasn't an issue for me. However, I can't count the number of times
passers-by made some comment like, "Oh, look at the little frog-car".

When the time to re-paint the car came around, I chose to change the color.

Regards,
Tim Engel

Here's another pistachio pic. Probably belongs to someone on the
list. I saved the photo because I really like the color and at one
time considered painting my Elan this color. Went yellow instead.

http://members.shaw.ca/mmg2/Pistachio1.JPG

Will Grainger
45/9693

That's from an old LOG, back when Elans were the dominant model. Was
that photo from Annapolis? That's the only one I can remember with water
in the background.

I was interested to see you say only six pistachio green Sprints
were produced and wondered how you came by this information? Was
this just in the US market?

Will,

The background looks like Annapolis, MD, site of LOG 8 in 1988. The car is
probably the same as the one in the other picture. If so, it is owned by Kenny
Mance, the guy who told me that only six were built.

Frank Howard
'71 S4 SE
Minnesota

Doug

When I go into the Sports Car World site and access the Elan S1, S2,
S3 and S4 number information, no colours are listed. I see them for
the Plus 2s though! Am I missing something?

Tim