Lotus Elan Vin Tool

[Certified Lotus]

I tried your database for my 69 Elan S1 (26/0379) and the info that came up was incorrect. It shows an engine number with this serial number sequence?

Hey Glen - thanks for providing some feedback. A 69, S1 flagged some concern to me so I looked into it. Here's what I came up with, early cars specifically born as S1's had chassis numbers as 26 0### (e.g: 26 0269) but usually had a Lotus serial number scribed 3### (e.g: 3235). If you have that Lotus serial number, 3### the result set at the site should work.

It looks like when I extended the search to include the 'Engine ID', it picked up the 0379 (G20379) as part of the Engine Serial number citing it as a 1969.

reference link: http://www.lotuselan.net/forums/lotus-elan-f19/elan-identity-t23639.html

Hopefully this helps.

Hey Glen, as luck would have it your Serial No is: 3331 w/Engine No: LP1006

It looks like my image processing script picked up your VIN but hasn't processed it yet. Here's a copy of your vin:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/yjeiy4atelvm3nk/0379.jpg?dl=0

Sonny

Sonny, yes that is my vin plate! The original engine is no longer with the car (I have no idea what happened to it). My title says 26/0379. Is that incorrect ? Should it be 26/3331 ? I'm confused here as the chassis number is also different.

[SF69Elan]

This is a great tool, thanks for taking the time to put it together. It successfully pulls up the info for my car and has the correct link to the car's current entry in the Elan Registry.

My car is an example of one that does not have it's original engine, but it has it's original chassis. Would a potential future enhancement for the tool be to have an option to enter current engine/chassis data in addition to the VIN plate info. I would be interested to see if my original engine is still around and being productive in someone else's vehicle.

Thanks again!
Rich

[trw99]

There is some confusing terminology getting used here.

Unit Number - This is the Lotus term for the car's identity. It is the one that should remain with the car always and how that car should be identified - and 'titled' in the US. Unit numbers were always 4 digits.

Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) - This is the full car identifier. Up until 31 Dec 69 it was composed of 6 digits; the first two denoting the Elan Type, either 26 (Drop head) or 36 (Fixed head), followed by a slash and the Unit no. EG 26/3155. From 1 Jan 70 the format became, for example, 7002030004G. Breaking the number up gives 70 ? Year of manufacture; 02 ? Month of manufacture; 03 ? Batch number; 0004 ? Unit number; G ? Letter to denote Elan type, G is UK spec drop head coupe. From 1 Jan 72 the batch number was dropped, so the format became, for example: 72060145H

Chassis Number - This is the number of the chassis itself. More relevant to earlier Elans as it tended not to be used for later cars. These were 2, 3 or 4 digit numbers

Body Number - This is the number of the body itself. Most Elans had body numbers. These were 3 or 4 digit numbers

Engine Number - The Lotus engine number (not the raised numbers on an engine block) always had a single or double digit prefix denoting the engine type. Up until 1967 it was almost always LP for Lotus Power, so an example would be LP4997. Thereafter a series of single digit prefix were used to denote engine type and market (though the very last engines for the European market had two digits, the first of which was E). An example would be T24708, which was a Big Valve engine with Stromberg carbs for the Federal market and used in Sprints.

Colour Code - This would indicate the Lotus colour used when the car left the factory and was composed of 2 letters followed by 2 numbers, so LO 04 was for Cirrus White

I have not come across a single Elan that had matching numbers, where all types of number were exactly the same. When someone uses the term matching numbers in an advert for an Elan, I assume they mean that the Unit and Engine numbers are those recorded at the factory as being supplied originally for that particular car.

Tim

[saildrive2001]

Thanks for the clarification on numbers Tim. I do have a puzzle though with my numbers. I bought the car new in the UK in 69 & have had the car ever since. When I did the restoration a few years ago I wrote down all the numbers I could find on the major components. On the cyl head these are the # I found.
WM 71123 735 13-12 N875 B26E-311
None of them seem to fit the list you made. I should add that my car is a UK spec S4 SE with Stromberg carbs. & the head also has H scribed on it for high compression.

[LotusArchives]

The engine number is stamped into the horizontal surface of the engine block, near the engine mounting on the carburettor side. This is the engine number recorded at Lotus.

I would also like to remind people, that if you want the information on your car, please feel free to contact me either here or at Lotus.

[rgh0]

The engine number is stamped into the horizontal surface of the engine block, near the engine mounting on the carburettor side. ........

I have not seen too many that were stamped - many that I have seen were scribed using the same blunt nail used to scribe the numbers on the ID plate Whenever I see a stamped one i get suspicious that its not the original block But maybe I have not seen a representative selection

cheers
Rohan

[trw99]

Rohan, I suspect you've seen more twin cams than most!

Certainly the later engines had the number stamped on the engine mount described by Andy. I'm not so certain about the earlier ones though.

Tim

[Grizzly]

I'm more than a little surprised that the only way you can id a car is by a screw on plate that can be reproduced? How are they not a huge target for theft? and more importantly how would you tell if you went to buy a car?

So i see now why i was told there is no such thing as a Numbers matching Elan, i thought it was a dig at the way most owners change Chassis,Bodies,Gearboxes etc at will but i guess why not if it saves you time?

[Certified Lotus]

The engine number is stamped into the horizontal surface of the engine block, near the engine mounting on the carburettor side. ........

I have not seen too many that were stamped - many that I have seen were scribed using the same blunt nail used to scribe the numbers on the ID plate Whenever I see a stamped one i get suspicious that its not the original block But maybe I have not seen a representative selection

cheers
Rohan

I've got three Elan TC engines and all have stamped numbers on the block where Andy indicates.

[gjz30075]

Stamped engine number here, too.

[sonunet]

I just wanted to reach out on a few items. First off, thanks for everyone that has emailed or PM?d me with feedback. I really do appreciate it. I just want to put it out there that I am by no means an ?expert? or a historian on Lotus?s. I?m just an enthusiast like most of you guys, that wants a little transparency when making a vehicle purchase. I am however a technologist and work for a fairly large ?search? company that you guys have likely heard of. In any event, here?s a use case where I found my tool to be useful. I currently own 3 lotus?s (along with a hand full of german and italian cars), when I was at my workshop last night it dawned on me to use my tool to see if my engine block and chassis number matched? When I purchased one of my Elan?s about 5 years ago, the step son of the late owner said that he didn?t know anything about the car, just had a box full of documentation, a photo log from the 80?s/90?s, and a spare engine. Like with my early Porsche?s, I am able to determine at least a range for all of the components, that?s clearly not the case with Lotus. So, last night I put in my chassis no. in my tool and here?s what came back:

Barn Blinker Tool Results retrieved from: http://registry.barnblinker.com/:

Copy of my Chassis No:

Copy of the stamped Engine No on the block:

A photo of my car:

Now as a car enthusiast, It certainly made me feel better about my investment. Hopefully, everyone will have their respective usage for this tool. Whether it to give them some comfort on their purchase, initiate a search for an engine block, or even if someone has a block that wants to offer it to an owner. Again just to be clear, this by no means is to replace but only complement an owner, future owner, et al. a layer of transparency into their corresponding investments.

Sonny

[PC777]

Hello Sonny,

thank you for sharing your search tool.

I thought I would have a look with regards to my car, then I thought I would see what the dates were for the cars either side of my VIN number.

Proved to be quite interesting with the date variations as I assumed that the next VIN number would have been built at around the same time of year.

Here is what I found:

Serial D/O/B
6713 1967-06-30
6714 1967-01-27
6715 1967-11-23

My VIN is the one in the middle (6714), so it looks like 6713 was built six months later and 6715 was built 11 months later.

Does this seem correct to others?

Paul

[sonunet]

Hello Sonny,

thank you for sharing your search tool.

I thought I would have a look with regards to my car, then I thought I would see what the dates were for the cars either side of my VIN number.

Proved to be quite interesting with the date variations as I assumed that the next VIN number would have been built at around the same time of year.

Here is what I found:

Serial D/O/B
6713 1967-06-30
6714 1967-01-27
6715 1967-11-23

My VIN is the one in the middle (6714), so it looks like 6713 was built six months later and 6715 was built 11 months later.

Does this seem correct to others?

Paul

Thanks Paul. I was corrected that the D/O/B date is actually Sales Date. I haven't had a chance to update the tool yet. I will apply some updates over the weekend.

Sonny

[sonunet]

I have propagated some revisions to the VIN Search tool @BarnBlinker. The following revisions went into effect tonight:

1. The search only allows 4 digits. Any 4 digits of the VIN & ONLY the last 4 digits of the Engine.
2. The engine number now ONLY shows the Number of Digits + the Last 4 digits (worked with Lotus Cars/Archives)
3. A disclaimer has been added to the copy of the tool.
4. The contact information for Lotus as been added for official factory records (worked with Lotus Cars/Archives)
5. D/O/B has been changed to ?Sell Date? (worked with the Community).

Again, thanks for everyones help in developing this tool.

I?m now working on a new tool, navigating the electrical system on my S2. It?s a pretty simple approach, but those that have seen it, have given me some positive feedback. It?s still lacking content which will be updated over the next week.

Here?s the tool, just hover over the wiring diagram and click on the component you?re interested in. Eg: Hover over Generator, it will turn Pink and just click for content.

http://www.barnblinker.com/2016/03/01/lotus-elan-s1s2s3-interactive-wiring-diagram/

Sonny

[Maulden7]

Hey Sonny - that's an amazing "labour of love", & certainly works well.

I rewired my own S2 from scratch many years ago, & it was quite a challenge, this type of aid would certainly have helped.

The S1 / S2 wiring is of course relatively simple, & doing this for the later cars would be a major challenge (for +2's it would be a major nightmare!)

Great stuff.