G Arnold on Chapman & The Elan

[trw99]

I just re-read this snippet from Club Lotus 1987 Issue 4 celebrating 25 years of the Elan. I thought I should give it an airing - you'll see why!

Tim

[dougweall]

Thanks for that Tim, very interesting.

[summerinmaine]

Very kewl.

[stugilmour]

Thanks Tim, great little article.

[ardee_selby]

Luvit!

Cheers - Richard

(elan-f14/roadster-coupe-t21719.html)

[Ross Robbins]

"Colin never gave his girlfriends a Lotus..."

Is this the part you meant Tim? I guess Graham was suggesting that Colin was cheap

[trw99]

"Colin never gave his girlfriends a Lotus..."

Is this the part you meant Tim? I guess Graham was suggesting that Colin was cheap

Ross

No that wasn't the part I meant! But in fact the article has so many little asides that I felt it was worth people seeing again!

Whilst ACBC may not have 'given his girlfriends' a Lotus, I know of one Sprint that was first registered to Moonraker Yachts but driven on a regular basis by someone 'very close to Chapman'!

The bit I thought particularly interesting was the 'not ever fit' splined shafts to the Elan, or adjustability in the suspension as well as the approval of doughnuts. Now look at what everyone is doing to their Elans 50 odd years on! It rather overturns the comment oft used to support fitting solid drive shafts, that if they had them like that when Colin was around he would have fitted them.

Tim

[nebogipfel]

.........
The bit I thought particularly interesting was the 'not ever fit' splined shafts to the Elan, or adjustability in the suspension as well as the approval of doughnuts. Now look at what everyone is doing to their Elans 50 odd years on! It rather overturns the comment oft used to support fitting solid drive shafts, that if they had them like that when Colin was around he would have fitted them.

Tim

Tim, He would have been talking about old fashioned U/J's as fitted to the 26R

Most of us are fitting modern CV joints and they seem to function quite happily (handling the steering too) on nearly every car on the road these days so I can't see why the rear of an Elan is any exception

I would also add that the late G Arnold said a lot of things over the years ......

[elancoupe]

IMO, sliding splines are rather different than the CV axles we have now. With the use of correct travel rear shocks,( or limit straps) there is no issue with CV's binding.

[ardee_selby]

[quote="nebogipfel I would also add that the late G Arnold said a lot of things over the years ...... [/quote]

Yeah, remember this?

Cheers - Richard

[trw99]

.........
The bit I thought particularly interesting was the 'not ever fit' splined shafts to the Elan, or adjustability in the suspension as well as the approval of doughnuts. Now look at what everyone is doing to their Elans 50 odd years on! It rather overturns the comment oft used to support fitting solid drive shafts, that if they had them like that when Colin was around he would have fitted them.

Tim

Tim, He would have been talking about old fashioned U/J's as fitted to the 26R

Most of us are fitting modern CV joints and they seem to function quite happily (handling the steering too) on nearly every car on the road these days so I can't see why the rear of an Elan is any exception

I would also add that the late G Arnold said a lot of things over the years ......

I knew it! The apologists would come out of the woodwork! I only have to wriggle the stick a little bit!

Oh, and I realised exactly what Chapman was saying and soon someone will come along and talk about the quality of rubber doughnuts now compared to then etc!

On another matter though, every time an Arnold quote comes out, someone qualifies it with a note that he said lots of things, embellished stories and so on. I am not arguing with that, but surely we have to acknowledge that he was there at the time (well 63-70 for Elans), that he was involved enough to know a good deal of Elan matters at Hethel and the dealers, that he bothered to put his recollections down in writing and to thus open himself up to criticism and that his heart was in the right place.

That being so, surely we should use Arnold's writing in the same way we use that of other historians, a good deal of whom have axes to grind, however large or small. We can question some of it but broadly accept what he says most of the time.

Tim

[nebogipfel]

..........someone will come along and talk about the quality of rubber doughnuts now compared to then etc!

Tim

You also have to remember that rubber doughnuts are rubbish these days

It's amazing when you know even a little about a subject how much rubbish is written and repeated over and over in books and magazine articles.

You'll never believe this Tim but I know a chap who thinks that Sprints aren't series 4 Elans .......

[trw99]

Ha ha! Nice one, Moses.

Dr. Moses Nebogipfel was an early inventor, who created the Chronic Argo, an early Time Machine, similar in principle to The Elan. He was a reclusive man, enough so that he earned the fear and ire of his fellow forumsfolk.

[nebogipfel]

ire is certainly true

[robertverhey]

[quote="Ross Robbins"]"Colin never gave his girlfriends a Lotus..."

I thought ACBC and Hazel got together before the first Lotus was ever built.....what is this implying?