new guy on the block

[andyelan]

Hi Peter

Your Plus 2 looks just like mine. Are you sure the roof's gold. Mine's the original silver but the clear gel has yellowed with age and it now has a warm golden tint. To my eyes it actually looks quite attractive especially alongside the Tawny bodywork.

Andy

[peterako]

Yep....it's gold.....enough of it's flaking off (:() to see that.

At first I wasn't sure about the colour of teh car (from a taste point of view), but now I love it!

Silver would be (probably) my only other preference.

Any pics of your car?

I have a factory(?) pic of the Tawny/Goldfleck scheme which looks like goldflake roof. Will try and dig it up.

Take care,
Peter

[65 Lotus]

This black FHC is one of my favorite shots of an Elan...

[Robbie693]

It seems fashion has a strong part to play where colours are concerned, just think of how many brown cars were around in the seventies compared to today.

Funnily enough, both of the Plus 2's I've owned were Sable originally, both are/were white now. I don't think I have ever seen a Sable coloured car, anyone got a picture of one?

Robbie

My +2 is 'Tawny' with goldflake roof.

Much in need of paint...and I think I'll go with the same again

Peter

Hi Peter,

In your picture the car looks paler, almost Sable (!) I found this pic of a Plus 2 which is definitely Tawny. I think. Hmm, I guess computer screens aren't the best way to judge subtle colour differences!

[trw99]

I thought I would amuse myself by looking at how many domestic Sprints left the factory in Tawny, which was introduced at the 1972 London Motor Show with a FHC in tawny over white LAH 690L, which was registered by Lotus and owned by them for six months, before being sold through Hexagon:

DHC - 17, of which 6 were mono
FHC - 30, of which 8 were mono

I then worked out what the percentage of those cars produced from Oct to end of Sprint production were tawny:

DHC - 15%
FHC - 22%

Probably somewhat more popular than we thought!

Tim

[andyelan]

Hi Everyone

Wasn't Colin Chapman's Plus 2 Tawny ?

Andy

[hatman]

Such a '70's colour - not unlike the Tobacco Leaf that Rover offered for the P6 from the same era. Then of course there were the 'hearing-aid' beige shades offered on some of the less appealing vehicles of the time...

[alexblack13]

The 1st Lotus elan +2 I test drove was that colour I think. I hardly noticed the colour though. They do say love is blind. Mrs B hated it !!!
I went ahead and bought it anyway...Mistake! Got about 1/2 a mile from the jokers garage (local shark/dealer) tried to take a L/H bend and went straight on. He had fitted a Herald steering rack. Badly. And got a dodgy mot. I just reversed the deal and walked away.

Two weeks later I bought another. I had it four years. All it got was serviced. It ran like a Rolex.

Happy days!

Alex B....

[45bvtc]

Robbie, it looks like Sable is very similar to Tawny, but a few shades lighter....metalic coffee! These two pictures don't do the colour justice (one just pinched from the Lotus Europa site) but they do give an idea:
Mark

This Plus 2 130/5 was mine (purchased in 1975) and I re-painted it in 1984, the colour is indeed Sable. The chassis number is: 73101700L, and this particular chassis is the FIRST of the 1974 models referred to in numerous Manuals/Books.

The original registration number was: PRB 787M, then to SAY 2, then FUE 66M when sold ( April 1995) by me to Paul Matty, Paul then sold it on (more than once) and I believe it now carries the number shown AJW 560M.

And I'd love to speak to the owner/see the car again.