Anybody seen my old car?

[twinturbo]

Back in 1977, I bought my first car.It was a 1966 Lotus Elan, an S2 I believe.I bought it from a man in High Point North Carolina.He also had a Super Seven.The Elan ran, but needed restoring.The gastank was rusted on the inside, and caused alot of problems in the fuel system.So the first project was to fabricate another tank.The original tank was cut into pieces to use as a pattern, for making the new one from aluminum sheetmetal.Needless to say it was a work of art when the final welding was done.This aluminum tank should standout,as I doubt anybody else has a Elan with a aluminum version of the original.
I drove the car to school and work until a halfshaft sheered backing out of a driveway.Six months and sixhundred dollars later I had a replacement.While awaiting the parts,I decided to start restoring the car.I took the body off, stripped and repainted the frame in red, driveshafts and motor in silver.Rebuilt the Weber carbs, even found another piece of wood to remake the dash.I made another wiring harness, bought new lenses for the signals.I took the body over to a friend's for stripping the three layers of paint off.To my horror, one day I stopped by to see how it was going, to find he had put stripper on the paint and left.It had started eating at the fiberglass, but luckly a waterhose was close by and I washed it all off.I went back home and got the oldman's truck and went and got the body, and took it home.
We fabricated a nice chinspoiler out of a three-eights inch piece of fiberglass, and I bonded it on with Duraglass.I had all the paint off and was in the process of repairing the gelcoat, when I was informed that I needed to get a car of my own to drive.I had been using my dads truck to get to school and work, as the Lotus was not ready.So I ended up selling the Lotus in the middle of restoration.I still wish I had this car today because it was my first.But I was only eighteen, and the parts back then were pretty darn expensive, and I needed some wheels.I have since then only owned sportscars.I would like to have another Elan in the future, but it doesn't look like there are many around.Well maybe I will get luck and come across one in a few years.But back to the first question, as anybody seen a 1966 S2 Elan with an aluminum gastank? I'm just curious.

Thanks, Philip 94TT Supra

[jmesh]

There's a nice looking 1965 S2 on ebay right now. It's in Georgia.

Good luck in your search.

Jason

[twinturbo]

Yes I saw the one in Atlanta, its very nice.I'm not in the market to buy and Elan right now.I was just hoping to locate my old one.I would guess that its still on the eastcoast somewhere.But after thirty years, who knows.I just hope it is with somebody who drives it.I see all those highend cars with low milage and wonder what were the owners thinking.

Philip

[1964 S1]

Hello Philip, do you have the VIN #? There are a couple of Elan regestries online, you can find them in threads on this page, maybe it will be in there. The aluminum gas tank helps identify it but many Elans have had their original tanks replaced with aluminum units, tho' yours may be unique. Good Luck, Eric

[twinturbo]

I have no Vin numbers for my old car.I gave the manuals and the pictures of the restoration to the buyer.The car had been recked as I could see where they had done a nice job welding the frame there where the vaccum tank is made into the frame, for the headlights.I figure between the aluminum gastank, and the welding here on the frame, would verify my old car.The replacement gastank is an exact copy of the original.It was cut into pieces and used as a template.I doubt anyone else had done this to make a tank,here in the states anyway as there aren't that many Elans running around.
I looked in the Elan registry and there are very few cars here on the eastcoast.I'll just keep looking.More people have checked out the tread about the steering wheel than this tread.I'll just have to get lucky.

Thanks,Philip

[elansprint71]

Philip,
wrt ally tanks, these are now readily available in the UK (and have been for many years); some of them are exact copies of the old steel clunker. I have one from Christopher Neil which is a work of art; needless to say they get then from some place else.

Good luck with your quest; I tried for ages to find my old Elan S4SE, owned in the 70s reg 74 JOH, no result so far.

Cheers,
Pete.
'72 Sprint.