my 26R Serial number

[baileyman]

I must say David's rear quarter is especially beautiful, not the "lippy" sort of flare on the new shells.

John

[david caroll]

i'm still confused as to S2 26R serial numbers. as far as i recall, and in old docs i have about the car, my number, on a plate on the L side of the eng room bulkhead was 26-S2-23. in any case, the car was S2 #23, and is pictured in green with me driving after i converted it for street/track use by replacing the racing bucket seats with very nice lightweigh "touring" seats bought from Pete Pulver, Millerton NY, the Lotus dealer for that area at the time (1967). i had it painted green and it did have pop-up headlights when i bought it and Autolab raced it with them taped shut. someone asked why US buyers had to have them – simple: headlight height requirements. everybody here hated them and many replaced them as soon as they could, as you could get away with it in those days – authorities didn't know anything about "them funny little foreign thangs".

i have a virtual doctor's appointment shortly, but will get back to this. i keep saying this over and over, but my car is now owned by Lars Larsson in Denmark and i was in touch with him once through this site, but have lost touch and want direct contact, as i have lotts of history to discuss, before and after my ownership, and many very good documentary jpegs i want to get to him. but i keep being told i have to open a new account every stinking time i want to sign on. could someboey PLEASE help me get back in contact with Mr Larsson so i can offer my pix and lots of history?

thanks, –david carroll, 26R s/n/ 26-S2-23

[elansprint71]

Some photos here would help immensely...…... please.
Regarding pop-up headlights on S2 for export cars- this was Lotus; there were no hard and fast rules …. especially with Lotus Components cars. Can you see why I threw my book on "Special Elans" in the bin?

[vstibbard]

I've offered to post David's pictures for him, and I've also reached out to Denmark to see if i can get a current address for Lars Larsson for David.

Cheers

V

[nmauduit]

I've offered to post David's pictures for him, and I've also reached out to Denmark to see if i can get a current address for Lars Larsson for David.

Cheers

V

did you see my post on the first page ? apparently the registry shows the car 26-S2-23 belonging to an "Henrik" as of 2005, and he updated the record last year...

[vstibbard]

Hi, sorry I had seen you post but had not checked the posting on the Elan Registry site.

I'll email the site owner to see if he can help link David to the current owner, interestingly the dates seem at odds with history I'd have of the car as I'd seen reference to it being offered for sale in Japan, you never know maybe its another case of 26R's with multiple identities.... lets hope not

Cheers

Vaughan

[661]

Tony Thompson remains the 'Registrar' for the type 26 as far as the Historic Lotus Register is concerned. He may be worth contacting
[email protected]

[david caroll]

i may have posted this info before, but the US 26Rs had pop-up headlites to comply with Dept of Transportation Headlite height requirements. with the pop-ups down, they were too low, but with them up, they were just high enough to pass the gov't requirements.

i still have many pix of #23 both before & after i painted it green and "streetified" it. i would like someone's real email address so i can attach my many jpegs and get them out to interested parties.

i've already long since given details of identifiable features such as my extra instruments in the fascia - just thought of another: one day i was autocrossing at Bryar and got tired of my Dunlop rain tires aquaplaning on the short back straight after the hairpin, so i got the bright idea of using my street pirellis slightly under-inflated to cure that. unfortunately it didn't work. i came out of the hairpin - a tight left hander - onto the back straight and the Elan just kept right on turning left - i ended up backed up the embankment to a point where the rear wheels were almost off the ground. what that did was split the under tray crossways all the way from one side to the other. obviously my day was through, but more importantly for our purposes, Frenrchy Fiset, my mechanic, had to fiberglass the split back up, and i'm sure you'd be able to see it even with the gas tank in place.

i also had a long distance fuel tank, the one that fit between the two rear shock towers in the recess that backed up against the rear cockpit wall on the cockpit side. it scared me because it was secured rather unsafely with a metal piece of flat stock that bolted to the rear trunk (boot) wall, and i had a rubber piece that connected the top outlet of the tank with an extension pipe from the Monza type filler cap. this whole thing scared me shitless, as i said, because in an accident it would have certainly sprayed me all over with gasoline and made a repeat of Bandini's horrible death at Monaco. i saw that on TV and never want to again. anyway, i was afraid if some tailgater hitting me from behind and burning me to a crisp too - so i took the tank out, hung it from my garage ceiling along with the flat stock that held it in and the extension pieces and never used it again. pieces like that tend to get scattered, especially when Terry Bennet had it in his garage near Kendall Square in Boston - Terry was really indiscriminate in switching parts of cars around, and even whole units like engines and suspension bits, but as far as i know, when he sold it to John Sorbello, who raced it in SCCA in 1968, painted yellow as in the picture from Lars Larsson, it was reasonably original. i've detailed the changes, mostly clumsy ones, that Sorbello made to the car, but will explain them again if anybody wants.

the fiberglass repairs to the bottom of the trunk though, would be a clear indication it's #23. so would the headlite buckets i had done, which are shorter than usual and place the headlites (Lucas PL 700s) higher than the "Chinese eye" conversions.

that's all for tonight, now going on 3am and my cleaning lady is finally coming tomorrow (today - in just a few hours in fact) after hiding from the virus like everyone.

i would really appreciate someone's email address that isn't this forum, so i can sent you my many pictures of Lightweight Elan #26-S2-23.

thanks gentlemen, and it's nice to be back in touch after a long haitus when my wife died.

best, –david carroll

[pharriso]

i may have posted this info before, but the US 26Rs had pop-up headlites to comply with Dept of Transportation Headlite height requirements. with the pop-ups down, they were too low, but with them up, they were just high enough to pass the gov't requirements..................

i would really appreciate someone's email address that isn't this forum, so i can sent you my many pictures of Lightweight Elan #26-S2-23.

thanks gentlemen, and it's nice to be back in touch after a long haitus when my wife died.

best, –david carroll

First, sorry to hear of your wife's passing.

Re Headlight height - Wasn't the 26R sold as a track car? Why did it have to pass highway regulations?

& finally, send me your pictures (pph <at> lionheartsolutions <dot> com) & I will post them for you.

[Davidb]

Re the headlight height. The 26R was entered in production class racing so had to comply, at least nominally, with the regulations.

[david caroll]

it may not have had to pass regulations, but as i understand it, it was sold here from England, supposedly new - although as i said before, i think it had been raced in England before coming to the US. there was too much evidence, such as worn brake pads, brake dust everywhere and slightly scored discs. and as to why i had the headlights frenched in to the front fenders, i used it as a dual purpose car and as such did have to pass headlight height regulations.

as to why it had pop-up headlights as sent from England, i don't know; but you can see from my pictures that it did. an interesting aside on the front wheels: you can see from the "before" shot of the right front wheel that the knockoff spinner is screwed on to the stub axle by only about 2 1/2 threads. it came off one dark night on my way home - i heard it clank on the pavement and knew right away what it must be. luckily, i stopped in time and the wheel didn't fall off. very lucky because i never had a jack for this car. can you imagine? i drove and raced it for 2 1/2 years and never carried a jack - and never needed one. of course i had a floor jack at home.

thanks for your questions –david carroll

[nmauduit]

here are additionnal photos on behalf of David Carroll (the first 10 are on the first page)

liteweight B4 rear

liteweight B4 side

liteweight B4 top

liteweight B4 wheel

[vmax]

David,

I enjoyed reading about your exploits in New England, particularly the Monty Wells stories. I bought Monty's Ginetta G4 last winter. It has been "modernized" and I plan to return it to the way it was when Monty was running it. If you have any pictures of the car from the period I'd greatly appreciate copies.

For many years I owned the Lotus Twin-Cam powered G4R that Jack Walsh raced at Sebring in 1965, then later in F-Modified with the SCCA. The car is now in England.

Thank you,

Ed Valpey

[elansprint71]

Such a shame that this thread has gone cold.

[vmax]

Doesn't hurt to try. Besides, I have to generate a certain level of activity in order to directly contact other members.