December issue of Road and Track

[abstamaria]

It could simply be that the golden age has passed, and magazines such as R&T have less and less to write about. Or that their staff is now (understandably) much younger than we are and never knew the period of the 60s and thereabouts, and we know more about now-old cars than they do.

The magazines I now look forward to are from the UK, Octane in particular. The US had incredible magazines - R&T, Sports Car Graphic, Car & Driver (I was a fan of their columnist Warren Weith; anyone remember him?) - but seems to have dropped the ball. I wonder why that is.

Andy

[holywood3645]

?Car and Car Conversions? and then ?Motoring News? were always my favorite. Today my only subscription is ClassicFord (UK) it's an oldschool style UK Mag.
I believe Motoring news is still around with a slightly different name.

http://www.classicfordmag.co.uk/

It?s a very good read with lots of information on things we talk about here, Lotus Cortinas, MK1 Twin Cam Escorts, Lotus T/C's, BDA, Zetec, Duratec, all the different gearbox's we discuss. Webers, etc.

James

It is worth our support, click the link and then do a search on Lotus!

[Elan45]

Gary,

Model T production didn't commence until 1908. My father was a T nut, so I was thoroughly exposed.

As a teen in the 60s, I had a stripped down American Austin which was enormous fun. They were an Americanized version of the Austin 7. I had no idea that the heritage of the Elan I lusted was based on a similar vehicle, but that is what the pre- Mk6 Lotus were.

I subscribed to Sports Car Graphic while in high school until the post Jerry Titus crew changed it so much and I became a R & T convert. R & T arrived in the mail every month for over 30 years then, until I decided I was only reading Peter Egan and the rest was just useless. I found I could catch up on my Egan fixes at the library, then found my barber could supply that need.

SCG was my mag of choice. I fell in love with the red FHC road test back in '65 and brought my first Elan home in 1974, after working my way through an engineering degree.

Roger

[Quart Meg Miles]

For those too poor or mean to buy the mag:

http://www.roadandtrack.com/tests/drives/50-years-of-the-lotus-elan

[peterako]

Hmm.... a bit clich?d....

I own a +2 Elan....my brother has owned an MX5 and a friend currently owns one.

No compairson...

As to daily driver....well that'd be my Elan

Many thanks for the link.

Peter

[Tahoe]

I didn't think the article was bad at all. Obviously partially (or entirely) written by Peter Egan who is for most of us a contemporary. So much for the young guys in the business who don't really know what an Elan is. Peter has been around British cars all his life.

[ftsoft]

I wonder what makes the Elan experience so different for various cars? It seems like some of us have a good experience (My Elan has never stranded me in 75000 miles and 40+ years) and I've also abused the crap out of it. Yet some, including some on this forum, have no end of trouble. Is it just variability in the production or does it speak to how the car has been treated by various owners?

I've never driven a Miata, but it must be very good if he is liking it better than the elan.

Frank

[RotoFlexible]

The Miata (MX5) is an obvious comparison, but I would have preferred to see them put the Elan up against a Honda S2000. I've always thought that the S2000 is to the Miata what the Elan was to the Spitfire - a much more refined execution of the concept. (Disclaimer: I've only driven a Miata once, back when they were introduced, and the S2000 never. I didn't fit in the Miata any better than the Elan, and suspect I would fare no better in the S2000.)

[nomad]

I've worn one Miata out and am on my second. They are good cars but 50 years of technological advances and mass production ought to account for something.
I think it is ridiculous to put them against one another and an article that does is one reason I no longer pick up a Road and Track except to occasionally read Egan.
A Miata is reliable as a rock, has an overdrive and AC. It also has power steering and power brakes that take away the feel of the road. Fuel consumption is, I believe, no better than the Elan.
It is also heavy. Much heavier than it should be in my opinion. A friend took his wifes Miata through his favorite " Elan turns" at Elan speed and spun it out of control. Much more inertia to change direction with. I've read that Chapman said you can give a car more power and it will go faster in the straight's or you can make it lighter and it will go faster everywhere.

Kurt

26/3754

[reb53]

To compare 2 cars that were designed 30 years apart is ludicrous, but telling in that you think a comparison is even possible.
I wonder how the Miata will fare in another 20 years when it's compared with whatever is current then. Will the comparison be regarded as relevant because the Miata was so ground breaking ? I very much doubt it.

I've only driven a couple of Miatas, or MX5s as they're known here, and was distinctly underwhelmed. Maybe after stepping out of some big barge they'd be a revelation, but to me they just seemed like any other competent small Japanese car. Smooth, easy to drive, felt like they'd last forever, but ultimately uninvolving.

As I said the last time this discussion came up, and I repeat now because I still haven't found a better way of expressing it.....
The difference between driving an Elan, and an MX5, is the same as the difference between sex with a condom, and sex without......

Cheers
Ralph.

[garyeanderson]

I have driven a stock Miata back in 1996 and I didn't fit all that well with my left leg prosthesis that kept getting wedged between the door panel and clutch pedal, at the time I had my 1700 cc Stromberg engine in the S4 Elan. My friend was moving and we had his Miata on a trailer pulled by a rental moving truck, the trailer had issues and the surge brakes of the trailer were locking on. The brakes overheated the and the valve stem melted, we left the rental trailer on the side of Interstate 80 in Sacramento and I drove the Miata to Reno. I was not all that impressed with the power at all. Once back to Massachusetts I drove it another 140 miles and thought about the same. Since then I didn't have much contact with them. I built another Elan, the one that I drive today and is is not at all civilized. It is a stripped out S2 (about 1300 lbs) with 150hp 1700 Twin Cam weber engine. When my friend Don bought the 5.0 powered Miata I thought that "now this was something" that I wouldn't mind playing with. It is about a 1000 lbs heavier and probably has double the horsepower. You just can't hide a thousand pounds, I didn't get any turns in my test of the 5.0 but I did get a ride in it again last summer and we did 150 miles that day in several traffic situations and it did put a smile on my face, Both of these I would consider second or third cars, both have their moments of joy and pain, I didn't run out and find a Miata to play with but I do think one would be fun to do the conversion to the 5.0 V8. If I had to pick one, it would be a tough choice. If I was not over stocked with Elans I would probably consider this swap as a reasonable replacement for my right foot addiction of binary operation of smile raising and joy making. That said I doubt that it will ever happen as it is just not what I really want.

Gary

[peterako]

As a freind who owns an MX5 and a E-type says:

"If you've never driven a sportscar before the MX5 feels great....but if you have...."

I found it good fun, but ultimately uninvolving. Having said that, if someone was to offer me one for free.....

Love that Chapman 'quote':

" you can give a car more power and it will go faster in the straight's or you can make it lighter and it will go faster everywhere"

Yes, you can oversteer and powerslide the MX5, it's ultra reliable etc.
But so is my mother's Nissan Micra can I can do more or less all that in it too

I consider the MX5 as a 'tribute' to the Elan/Spitfire.

Not everyone can own, or wants to own, an Elan and ultimately any overall comparison with the Miata/MX5 will be subjective.

For me and what I want to get out of a car the Elan is hard to beat.
I'veyet to drive a car with 'nicer' feedback. I'm sure they are out there, but I've not found it yet. Subjective.

The Elan is an old (real?) car that needs to be looked after (check oil/water etc and maintain).

As to the 'unreliability' of the Elan. I firmly believe that this is overstated.
My Elan has rarely let me down in my 7 or so years of ownership,.
And when it did it was usually owner related.....

Peter

[SADLOTUS]

I don't know if R&T had undergone it's change when this was printed but there's been a wholesale culling of staff there recently.
One of the new men - new executive editor? - is Sam Smith, loves his Elan.
Check out youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssS169fntR0
Loves his old cars.

[Ross Robbins]

Out here in the wilds of Colorado USA, there is a company called Flyin' Miata that stuffs an Chevy LSx engine with at least 300 hp into a Miata and calls it the evolution of the Sunbeam Tiger. While it isn't an Elan content site nor is this post it is kind of fun to contemplate what Gary has experienced.
http://www.flyinmiata.com/V8/

[Elan45]

Looks to me like Sam Smith works for Car & Driver, not R & T. I've never been a C&D fan, maybe I need to re-evaluate.

Roger