Elan black over white

[hansaxl]

Hi folks,

I have what some people tend to call an S4/Sprint, i.e it is from 1970, but already has a big valve engine. It is furthermore LHD, meant for the European continent, which makes it kind of rare. Whatever...

The car has had a paint job 6 years or so ago, in the Sprint scheme, but unusually in black over white. It is supposed to have been like this before that, too. My question is now: How likely is it that the car left the factory in black/white, and can this possibly have a connection with the JPS marketing, which I know came layer, in 73 or so with the Europa and Plus 2. But was there a connection between Gold Leaf/JPS and Lotus as early as 1970?

Thanks in advence for any comments.

Cheers, Hans

[45bvtc]

See page 1: elan-f14/jochen-rindt-lotus-elan-t23745.html

[hansaxl]

For complete satisfaction, here is a photo of my car as it looks today.

Cheers, H.

[nebogipfel]

I painted my '69 S4 FHC black over white with Sprint stripes back in the 80's but I have never seen a genuine factory Sprint in those colours.

FWIW I do think it's a smart colour scheme

[pereirac]

My Elan was black over white when I bought her, looked great but a pain to keep clean. Not the original colour though as the car was originally regency red (almost purple) over white. When I had the bodywork restored we removed the multiple coats of paint and I decided to go for yellow over white, which I thought was slightly unusual. Now it seems that every other Sprint is yellow over white ... even the Gold Leaf colours seem rarer these days, but at least a yellow car does get you noticed..
Black over white does still look good though.

Carl

[Mazzini]

Back in 1982 or 83 there was a gentleman in Palmers Green/Finsbury Park who had a black over white Sprint, I think he owned (or at least worked in) a kebab shop, I'd often see it parked up on the curb on my way home from central London. Not sure if the car was original (probably not) but it looked nice.

[pereirac]

I bought my Elan from Wood Green around that time, could it have been the same car? It belonged to a William Hunt, not a kebab shop owner but the rally team manager for Skoda, although he might have liked kebabs (some of us still do). He also had a white Ginetta G15. Can't imagine there were too many b&w Elans around in the same area??

[Jason1]

L 15 Black Gloss - Not an ?official? Sprint colour. From Sep 72

From: http://www.lotuselansprint.com/index.asp?pageid=41827

[Mazzini]

I bought my Elan from Wood Green around that time, could it have been the same car? It belonged to a William Hunt, not a kebab shop owner but the rally team manager for Skoda, although he might have liked kebabs (some of us still do). He also had a white Ginetta G15. Can't imagine there were too many b&w Elans around in the same area??

I think not. The car I knew was owned by the kebab shop owner, his name was Agi, I was a teenager at the time and I'd go in and talk to him about the car. The shop was at the end of Green Lanes around the 350 mark, opposite the old dog track, it's now a Homebase.

Frightening to think that was thirty years ago.

I did see another black and white S4 or Sprint in south London around '85.

[661]

"Black over white", I thought to myself, "that must be wrong", but actually it looks rather good, especially on a FHC.
It has a Stromberg bonnet, does it have Webers?

[elansprint71]

See page 1: elan-f14/jochen-rindt-lotus-elan-t23745.html

I'm not quite sure why this photo has been brought into the thread; wasn't "Rindt's Sprint" black over yellow? This, often-seen, promo-shot shows the car before they had time to fit the engine; that why the clearances are +2-like at the front.

[hansaxl]

The car has Webers. The suffixes of the number plate give evidence that the car is an S4 for European continent with a big valve engine. The silver wheels and bonnet bulge are consistent with this. The octagons wheel spinners are not, you'd expect those for federal cars only, but, well..

[hansaxl]

Ahh, one advantage, though, with the black colour is that you do not easily see the spider web cracks on the rear sides..

[661]

That's true , but they do show every other imperfection, I have two black cars

[Pastapesto]

Thats a very nice looking Exige, can we see some more photos please?