In the vines

[petervs]

Hi all, had a great day yesterday in the sprint driving through the Mornington Peninsula, visiting the wineries with my mate John in his superb RS 1600 he has just fininshed. Its amazing how much attention the two cars drew. Only glitch was just as I was nearing home I had a bit of smoke wafting out of the indicator switch. Love Lotus electrics. Hopefully an easy fix before my next run in a few weeks. I have had the Elan for just over a year now and have not had to touch one thing on it so far so I think I have been blessed.
The sprint was qicker through the twisty stuff but the Escort caught up quickly on the straight bits. A strong 2 litre bdg helps. Maybe his speed limiter [wife] was a bit louder than mine in the corners though.

[Elanintheforest]

Great pictures Peter, and even better subjects. A kindred spirit. I recently bought a Mk 1 Mexico to go with the Elan fleet, and am currently rebuilding an ally BDA for it. What are prices like in Melbourne for Escort twinks / RS1600 compared with Elans? I've shipped a few cars to a mate in Melb. over the last year...perhaps it's time I brought one back!

I should think that the Elan would win on the twisty stuff with no problem, but the RS, with nearly twice the power, should take the straights easily. I guess on the road it's all down to courage, licence points and the missus though!

Mark

[peterako]

Hi Peter,

Lovely scenery around there!

The smoke from the indicator stalk is probably crud built up through the years.

Advise taking the unit out and giving it a good clean!

I noticed smoke occasionally coming from my indicator stalk a few times last year.

Though it was a frayed wire or loose bullit connector.

As it was sporradiac I unwisely ignored it.....until a little fire lit itself one day....

Peter (I miss Melbourne.... )

[petervs]

Peter, thanks for the advice, I plan to pull it apart and check it before I drive it again. I am a bit paranoid about wiring problems in Lotii.
Mark, very rarely see RS1600's for sale as they were never released here and there are probably only around 10 or so in Aus. The last 2 advertised were a standard concourse condition one $85k and John's one at $75k. Twink's come up more often and are generally around the $25k to $35k range in good condition with Elans $30k to $40k. Twinks aren't advertised long wereas Elans generally hang around for a bit longer. I am expecting prices of twinks to go up in the near future as prices on everthing else is out of control. Recent prices achieved, $28k for Aussie mk2 rs2000 $76k for rs3100 $50k for mk2 Lotus Cortina $80k for mk1 Lotus Cortina $20k for mk1 GT Cortina

[Elanintheforest]

Not too different, really. Our Mk 11 Lotus Cortinas are about half your price, Twincam Escorts about double, everything else pretty much the same. The mad prices started about 2 years ago here, just as the housing market reached the top...much the same as in 1989 Cars then got a whole lot cheaper in the 1990s when the credit market dried up and house prices started to tumble.
Mark

[blackandgold]

When I came to Australia in 89 I remember seeing twin cam escorts and Mk 2 RS2000's selling for around $5000, I should have bought a few and put them in storage but then you could have bought a GTHO Falcon for $30,000 and now they sell for $600,000+

[Dag-Henning]

Wow.. !! Beauties all of them ! LHD RS 1600s ( genuins)do not grow like grapes.... According to the Ford AVO club, abt. 10 units have survived.....!!! Take good care of it !

Dag