1/8 Elan Frame Scale Model, Handmade

[abstamaria]

A friend of mine surprised me at today?s sports car club meeting by giving a short talk on the history of my Lotus Elan and then presenting this scale model of my Elan?s frame, made by him by hand from sheet brass. What a gift this is.

[pereirac]

Wow, amazing detail...must be a good friend!

[niagra]

Beautiful soldering!

[gjz30075]

That's really beautiful! Is your VIN stamped in it, too?

Greg Z

[abstamaria]

Yes, we?ve been friends a long time. He has my Elan?s original frame in his garage. He made two of these models, one for his son, who also has an Elan, and this one. He says his fingers lost all feeling from all the filing. He is an engineer and now about 74 years old.

No VIN number, as I painted over that a long time ago! It's fantastic workmanship,

[rgh0]

Absolutely fantastic model. The Elan chassis is really a classic and iconic design.

The current Evora chassis while it may be stiffer and more crash worthy, it is made off all aluminium using the best available modern technology to keep it light and still weighs about 4 times as much as the Elan chassis.

cheers
Rohan!

[tonyabacus]

That is really beautiful and something to treasure, he is a truly good friend
Tony

[Jeff@Jae]

Fantastic ! Please tell him the world wide Elan community appreciates his effort and the finished model. You might also want to mention that model sure has a higher degree of finish than the original
Yes, the Elan chassis is a clever solution as is the rest of the car in so many ways. I still marvel (between curses sometimes) at features like the bonnet and door hinges, the headlamp raising system, the general layout of the suspension, the use of English Ford components like the diff in it's unique casing, the gearbox with great ratios and of course the engine with the Lotus modifications. And these cars still look great to the eye.

[el-saturn]

hey - thats awesome! congratulations: lovely worK - i'll sign up for nr. 3! cheers from the sun (only currently) sandy 36 / 4982

[Pastapesto]

I'd love one of those too. Would he consider doing a small run of them to order? I bet it took absolute ages to do so hats off to him for the effort, brilliant.

Adam

[ken ob]

I would love one as well. I would be seriously interested if he could make some more.

Ken

[pharriso]

Absolutely beautiful!

Put me down for one as well! Your friend could start a cottage industry.

[trw99]

You know, I think most of us Elan nuts would love such a superb work of art. I certainly covet it!

However, I do feel that we are in danger of taking something away from abstamaria and this wonderful and touching gift between friends. It is unique and perhaps it should remain so, as intended.

Sorry if I sound like a party-pooper.

Tim

[Ross Robbins]

It is breathtakingly lovely. And while I too would like to have one I agree with Tim; it is a very special gift between friends.

[abstamaria]

Thank you, all. I?ll tell my friend, who will be glad to know his work is appreciated. His name, for posterity, is Gonzalo ?Nene? SyQuia. A long time ago, he showed me how to use a hacksaw so the blade doesn?t break prematurely. He learned that from school, he said. He studied engineering at a trade school down the river from Harvard, as he likes to say.

When he retired, he began to build full-sized replicas, mostly for his own enjoyment, but sold quite a few under the name ?Michel? ? MG TCs, MG TFs, Lotus 7s, the mandatory Cobra, Porsche Speedsters and Spyders. Although he employed several workers eventually, he did a great deal of work himself, such as the windshield posts for the TCs.

Here is his replica Porsche Speedster, next to my MG TC:



And one of his Porsche Spyder replicas at a hillclimb. It is very accurate.


I think he found the 1:8 scale model more difficult!
Best,
Andy