Elan Coupe S/E Pre Airflow restoration

[stugilmour]

Great looking cars Joe. Hope to get to Montana again this fall.

Great job Francisco. Enjoy!

Stu

[The Veg]

I've particularly enjoyed the Alfa. It's a '76 with big US bumpers, so not valuable. But a surprisingly fun car.

My dad bought a '76 in 1984, just in time time to use it to teach me how to drive with a clutch. He got the thing for a steal from his veterinarian, whose unpaved driveway was too much for it. I got to have some youthful fun with that car for a couple of years, especially the sunny summer day when I 'stole' it for a blast around the county while he was at the office. My punishment upon being caught was to help him change the points on it* but I always enjoyed helping him with car-stuff and would have done so anyway. And he said that he couldn't blame me for my joyride; he figured that in my shoes he probably would have done the same.

*Dad also had a '74 Berlina that he'd bought in '79 and both Alfas burned-up their points rather quickly.

[TBG]

Francisco - Us in Portugal!!

Beleza Serra Guide Hotel Geres

[Francisco]

Fantastic!!! Thank you for sharing! I only hope my country will be as fantastic as it was very soon!
Greta photos!

[Famous Frank]

Terrific workmanship Francisco! Very nice!

I too have a Pre AirFlow Coupe. Also in white. And only 5 minutes away from Greg. Mine is serial 5938.

Engine is done but it's need of everything else. At least it has no rust in the chassis. But it sure doesn't look like yours! Maybe someday. A continuing project that last ran in 1984.

Frank

[Francisco]

Hi Frank. Thank you very much for your message. I have been driving my Elan as much as I can. It really is a fantastic car!! What a car it should have been back in the days when it was new! Of course some incidents start to show up the last one being the driver window that collapsed. Turn out to be one of the small pulleys for the cable that droped out...I decided to have some made locally out of brass. All has been assembled now but the up and down speed become somehow slower...
Your car looks a very good starting project. I do hope you go ahead. Mine is #6055 as I referred before.
Cheers from sunny Portugal. (at last!!!!)
Francisco

[SENC]

Beautiful work Francisco!

[seniorchristo]

Francisco
Very very nice!
I have a "67 S3 Super safety and noticed your Super Safety wheel spinners.

[Francisco]

Hi. Thank you for your coment. The SS spinners in my Elan came with the car when it was delivered new in September 1966. You can see them in the1967 photo I posted in my 1st message of this topic. As far as I know (but I am not sure) the SS equipment was not commercially available in September 1966 and it was 1st fitted to US cars. There is now (in a very poor condition) a 1966 Elan for sale here in Portugal with the some spinners at least on the front wheels.
The spinners are the only SS item in my car...
Cheers
Francisco

[gino1]

This is my Elan S3 coupé pre airflow 1965 - 36/5108 dated September 1965

This was actually imported into Italy from the States with a NTT565 registration plate in 1988.

Maybe is was somebody's on Elan Net ??

Gino

[elansprint71]

Great work Francisco; I must get back into my hard top resto- unfortunately my DHC Sprint still works, so I'm taking my time.

[Francisco]

Hi Pete. Thank you for your post. I can not express more how I enjoy driving the Elan! The small issues that show up have been all very simple things and all have been fixed.
I look at it now and it almost feels strange not to work on it after so many years restoring the thing!!
Please go and work on yours so it can be driven again! You are lucky to have 2!
Cheers
Francisco