How do you tell a Sprint is a Sprint and not an S4(SE)?

[rgh0]

Six whole hours to respond to a Sprint question - your getting slow Tim

cheers
Rohan

[gjz30075]

Thread began almost nine years ago! We were younger then......

[HAIRY]

I have read this thread with considerable interest.
What strikes me is that Graham Arnold's marketing led upgrade from S4 to S4 Sprint was such a simple ploy to execute and yet it should have retained so much traction, over the last 40 plus years.
And despite the vagaries of the Sprints' introduction and the ease with which an S4 can be upgraded to an S4 Sprint specification, Sprints still retain a considerable premium!
An amazing achievement!

[Quart Meg Miles]

Yup, nothing beats marketing b*llshit but if it wasn't for Tony Rudd we wouldn't have had the engine upgrade, only the stripes. And even that was smoke and mirrors as it wasn't any faster than a Stromberg S/E, ask St Wilkins (who has one).

[pharriso]

Re 3619170g19517

I'm guessing it's 36/9170 with engine g19517...

[trw99]

Phil I believe you are quite right, as that all computes correctly. That Elan was definitely a S4 and left the production line on 17 Nov 69, 11 months before the announcement of the Sprint and 15 months before the Sprint first went on sale.

Tim

[bcmc33]

What you need to remember is that dealers were sent Sprint kits to update their S4 stock, and there is no knowing how old the stock was as demand for the S4 was so low that dealers had to take something like three S4's for each Twin Cam Europa they ordered.
It is also a fact that owners could easily update an old S4 to the Sprint standard as a fiend of mine did at the time, and was subsequently sold about 5 years ago by Paul Matty as a Sprint.

[trw99]

Brian, I have never heard of a dealer being sent a Sprint upgrade kit before. Do you have any direct knowledge of this, please?

I know of two unsold 1970 S4s that were returned by the dealers to Hethel for upgrade to Sprint spec, included in the total of 79 S4/Sprints produced.

By the final quarter of 1972 Elan Sprint sales were poor. The Lotus Europa however was selling well. Lotus dictated that for every Europa a dealer ordered, they had to take 2 Elan Sprints, to help reduce the backlog at Hethel. I am unaware that this deal was implemented any earlier with regards to the S4. The Europa Twin Cam did not come onto the market until December 1971, nine months after the Sprint.

Tim

[45bvtc]

My Sprint, owned for 37-years, was built June 70, had a batch number 15, a unit number 0201G, and engine number 24507, but registered May 71.

I purchased a new Twin Cam Europa in June 1972 and it was a known fact that Lotus Cars had told dealers that if they didn't sell Elans then they'd get no more Europa's, such was the way sales were going

My original hand-written logbook stated 'Elan Sprint'

And yes, Brian is 100% correct, unsold S4 Elans in 1972 at least were upgraded to Sprint by dealers: Foley Park Motors Kidderminster (as I purchased my Europa Twin Cam, were certainly doing so

[45bvtc]

Even my original radio was marked 201G as where the door mouldings...

[Grizzly]

If it helps i have one of the s4 se converted cars (even had the holes for the trim under the paint). I own 259G and was first registered 19/03/1971

It defiantly has a Big valve engine (it has been rebuilt / checked and has the N prefix), it has the Diff brace fitted and some other minor changes (even has the Cam cover with the LOTUS big valve facing forward)

I don't know if it ever left the factory as an SE Kit but it was assembled as one before it was taken back in and converted off the production line. Some things are/where slightly different, the Sprint decal for one as it didn't have the solid gold section over the rear bumper (it had the white stripes all the way to the back), it was raised above the bumper to run parallel rather tapering off into it. Also it has Championship badges on both sides like the S4 Sprints on the brochure. I'm fortunate to have quite a number of pictures of the arrival and assembly of the car thanks to the original owner which helps.

It has the Stromberg bonnet bulge even though it would have had Webbers fitted as a SE spec car.

I keep finding odd things like the Dash wiring has a Multi plug that the original owner never fitted, oddly i have a +2s that was factory converted to a S130 pre delivery that also has the multi plugs connecting the dash loom to the car (like both where removed for some reason??)

It's typical lotus for you.

Note Lotus facing forward on the cam cover only ever seen that on an S4-Sprint

[trw99]

[quote="45bvtc"][i]My Sprint, owned for 37-years, was built June 70, had a batch number 15, a unit number 0201G, and engine number 24507, but registered May 71.

I purchased a new Twin Cam Europa in June 1972 and it was a known fact that Lotus Cars had told dealers that if they didn't sell Elans then they'd get no more Europa's, such was the way sales were going

My original hand-written logbook stated 'Elan Sprint'

And yes, Brian is 100% correct, unsold S4 Elans in 1972 at least were upgraded to Sprint by dealers: Foley Park Motors Kidderminster (as I purchased my Europa Twin Cam, were certainly doing so[/i][/quote]


I'm not too sure what the pointi s you are trying to make here, forgive me. Please read the relevant page of my web site, which has been available now for seven odd years: http://www.lotuselansprint.com/index.asp?pageid=41810

I am well aware of both your own S4/Sprint as well as Chris's. There were no unsold S4 Elans in 1972. The 79 that were upgraded to Sprint spec at Hethel were sold by the end of 1971, at least in the UK.

Tim

[Grizzly]

OOps just noticed how old this thread is

[ianf]

It's a great thread though!
My Sprint has the cam cover facing forward - on Tim's list 0306 Built April 71

Cheers,

Ian

[Grizzly]

It's a great thread though!
My Sprint has the cam cover facing forward - on Tim's list 0306 Built April 71

Cheers,

Ian

As mentioned a few posts back that will be the purchase date, if you look at your full vin number the first four digits are the build date (just add a 19 at the beginning so 7008 would be 1970 08 which makes it built in August 1970)


Just out of interest, is there a cut of date Lotus stopped production of the S4? I assume it would be late 1970? which makes every car built 71 on a line built Sprint?