Which side is the speedo?

[Unibrain]

On a left hand drive S3, which side of the steering column is the speedo?

I looked at all the books and didn't find a picture of the dash for a
left hand drive car. The pictures of my car during disassembly show the
speedo on the right side but this doesn't seem right. The reset knob
for the trip meter is buried under the dash and on top of the heater
ducting.

As for the latest on the restoration, everything is all hooked up and
I'm ready to start the car! I "just" need to do one last check of the
electric's, the fluid connections and the drive train bolts. If all
goes well, I should have a running Elan by the end of Tuesday!

--
Jim
www.unibrain.org
'97 Caterham Seven - For Sale - www.unibrain.org/forsale
'66 Lotus Elan Coupe

[type36lotus]

I have my speedo right of the steering. I did have it the other way
until I found a few pictures in my many lotus books of Left hand
drive cars, which showed the tach left of the steering and the
speedo right of the steering. So I have switched mine around.
Although in the owners guide I believe it states all instruments are
reversed, the reason I had mine speedo/tach (l/r) on reassembly of
the car. Now having said that. In "Lotus Elan" gold Portfolio 1962-
1974, page 42. It does show a left hand drive S2, tach/speedo (l/r).
This is essentially a collection of magazine articles, so I am
assuming they are factory cars, not restorations.

Mike G.


--- In ***@***.***, Jim Boone <jim@u...> wrote:

[gobw2]

On Mon, 27 Oct 2003 16:13:42 -0800 Jim Boone <***@***.***> writes:
On a left hand drive S3, which side of the steering column is the speedo?
Jim, I am original owner of 1967 LHD,DHC S3 purchased new from a Lotus
dealer in USA. My Spedo came installed to the right of the steering
wheel. I do not remember seeing any LHD USA cars with the spedo on the
left. George

[Sking06]

On Mon, 27 Oct 2003 16:13:42 -0800 Jim Boone <***@***.***> writes:
On a left hand drive S3, which side of the steering column is the speedo?
Jim, I am original owner of 1969 LHD,FHC S4 purchased new from a Lotus
dealer in USA. My Speedo came installed to the left of the steering.
wheel. Ah Lotus, you got to love them.

Skip

["Tim Blurton-Jones&q]

My left hand drive '66 S3 DHC with original dash is speedo on the right.
My left hand drive '72 S4 FHC with original dash is speedo on the left.

Maybe Lotus figured out that the trip meter was buried by the heater ducting and made a change for the S4?

Tim

[lotusbob]

I have a 71 S4 DHC, LHD, with the speedometer on the left side. That
is how it is pictured in my Elan 4 Owners Handbook.

The earlier posts from two original owners indicated a 67 had it on
the right (George - what does your owners handbook show?), and a 69
had it on the left. Apart from other enhancements, there were a
significant number of changes between 67 and 69 for US safety laws,
although I don't know how that would apply here.

Bob Korman
1971 Elan S4 SE DHC

[Unibrain]

Tim Blurton-Jones wrote:


You all are a lot of help, this is like asking the Scare Crow the
directions to the Emerald City.

Executive Decision #15, speedo goes on the left so the the trip meter is
usable.

--
Jim
www.unibrain.org
'97 Caterham Seven - For Sale - www.unibrain.org/forsale
'66 Lotus Elan Coupe

[Elan45]

Jim,

I have here at the office a photocopy of the June 1966 Sports Car Graphic road test of the early Elan FHC, in fact the car is so early it is called " S2 Elan Coupe" and in fact has the S1/2 radiator. All else is same as my early FHC, 36-5526. With the photo copy, the only way I can tell which is which is I can see th horizontal bars of the odometers on the speedo and it ison the right. This road test car came from La Canada Sports Car Center in California and was one of the first FHC on the US west coast.

That road test was unique in 1966. It had color photos! That red car infatuated me and I had to have one. I remember in 1977 when I was 1st told aboutthe coupe I would own a year later. My first question was what color was it? Gary sent me photos and on a very hot and humid July day in 1978, it rolled onto a trailer in Arkansas and followed me home to Ohio.

Roger




You all are a lot of help, this is like asking the Scare Crow the
directions to the Emerald City.

Executive Decision #15, speedo goes on the left so the the trip meter is
usable.

--
Jim
www.unibrain.org
'97 Caterham Seven - For Sale - www.unibrain.org/forsale
'66 Lotus Elan Coupe















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[Unibrain]

A summary of what people have sent

S2 DHC - right
66 Elan Coupe - right
66 S3 DHC - right
67 S3 DHC - right

71 S4 DHC - left
72 S4 FHC - left
72 S4 DHC - left

It looks like Tim's theory that the speedo moved on the LHD S4 is
correct. After sleeping on my move it decision, I think I'll leave the
speedo on the right. If the trip meter bothers me, it is fairly easy to
move these gauges in the future.

---
Jim
www.unibrain.org
'97 Caterham Seven - For Sale - www.unibrain.org/forsale
'66 Lotus Elan Coupe

[Fred Talmadge]

Both of my 1965 LHD DHC S1 and S2 had the speedo on the right. I can't
vouch for their originality. There might be a rule to force standardization
of speedo location and late 60's seems to be about the time those rules were
being enacted here in the USA.

Fred T


-----Original Message-----
From: Jim Boone [mailto:***@***.***
Sent: Tuesday, October 28, 2003 8:54 AM
To: ***@***.***
Subject: Re: [LotusElan.net] Which side is the speedo?


A summary of what people have sent

S2 DHC - right
66 Elan Coupe - right
66 S3 DHC - right
67 S3 DHC - right

71 S4 DHC - left
72 S4 FHC - left
72 S4 DHC - left

It looks like Tim's theory that the speedo moved on the LHD S4 is
correct. After sleeping on my move it decision, I think I'll leave the
speedo on the right. If the trip meter bothers me, it is fairly easy to
move these gauges in the future.

---
Jim
www.unibrain.org
'97 Caterham Seven - For Sale - www.unibrain.org/forsale
'66 Lotus Elan Coupe

[rgwitherell]

This discussion sounds a lot like the one a few months ago about
whether the wipers park to the left or to the right. There seems to
be a coorelation, maybe CABC had a reason, but it sure is not obvious
to me. On my original LHD DHC S2 25/4912 ex factory Aug 1965, both
speedo and the parked wipers are on the right. It seems sometime
later the factory switched both to the left.

Bob

--- In ***@***.***, Fred Talmadge <ftalmadge@f...>
wrote:

[gobw2]

Conclusion - S3 & earlier- spedo on right, S4 on, spedo on left. George

On Mon, 27 Oct 2003 20:24:48 -0800 Jim Boone <***@***.***> writes:
Tim Blurton-Jones wrote:



You all are a lot of help, this is like asking the Scare Crow the
directions to the Emerald City.

Executive Decision #15, speedo goes on the left so the the trip meter is
usable.

--
Jim
www.unibrain.org
'97 Caterham Seven - For Sale - www.unibrain.org/forsale
'66 Lotus Elan Coupe

[gobw2]

#%**** owner's handbook page 6 shows a RHD dash layout!! Spedo on the
right, as does page B2 of the shop manual I bought when I purchased the
car. George

(George - what does your owners handbook show?), and a 69
had it on the left. Apart from other enhancements, there were a
significant number of changes between 67 and 69 for US safety laws,
although I don't know how that would apply here.

Bob Korman
1971 Elan S4 SE DHC

[saarhus]

I have deliberately held back because I know my imput will only cloud the issue. My S3 Coupe, 36/5522 was built to "US Specs", but delivered in England to a dealer who specialized in selling Elans to American servicemen there. So the line of delivery is non-standard. I also hesitate because I removed the dash three years ago, and had trouble remembering where everything goes. Fortunatly, like a good restorer, I tie-wrapped all the appropriate clumps of wire with an appropriate ID tag. Inspecting the clumps locations leads me to the conclutsion that, TA-DAAA, speedo on the left, tach right.

Sorry to mess things up, its probably a statistical anomoly.

Cheers!

Stan A
Subject: Re: [LotusElan.net] Re: Which side is the speedo?


#%**** owner's handbook page 6 shows a RHD dash layout!! Spedo on the
right, as does page B2 of the shop manual I bought when I purchased the
car. George

(George - what does your owners handbook show?), and a 69
had it on the left. Apart from other enhancements, there were a
significant number of changes between 67 and 69 for US safety laws,
although I don't know how that would apply here.

Bob Korman
1971 Elan S4 SE DHC

[summerinmaine]

Every Elan I've every owned, and every picture I've every seen in all
my reference books, shows tach left & speedo right, from S1 to S4 and
Sprint. Admittedly, the great majority were RHD. May have been a
reason they switched on the LHD S4s, but who knows.

Jim

--- In ***@***.***, ***@***.***e: