An elan is due to join the fold of Morgans

[jmp]

After a brief foray into re-commissioning a +2 Christopher Neil conversion a few months ago where I decided a +2 was not for us, today I looked at and negotiated an S3 elan. I have been amazed at the prices people are asking for them and seem to be getting it. A dealer down South offered one that needed restoring with a new chassis supplied at a price that shook me. For the same price I have bought a very roadworthy car that does need some work doing eventually. Wrong dash ( rocker switches have been fitted) and suffers from the fashion of widening the wheel arches ( in my opinion they look bloudy awful) a great pity as the paint and gel coat are without cracks. Anyone got any wheel arch sections they want to sell and original s3 wheels? Good hood and tonneau and the interior is very clean. The door handles/lock have also been updated to s4 type.
All to be revealed in the not too distant future. Be prepared for lots of questions as it has been years since I last owned an s3 elan.
Not too bad a reaction from SWMBO'd as she used to drive an elan years ago and I'm sure she will choose to drive it compared to one of the morgans.
A reasonably smug John

[1964 S1]

HUH ?

[elanfan1]

If John is the same guy I spoke to when I was selling the 'interesting' white Sprint then he has a small collection of Morgan cars (which didn't come over properly in the original post).

Congrats John - I guess your plan for a secret restoration didn't come to fruition then. So when are you planning the to mimic the honeymoon trip?

Steve

[Elanintheforest]

John
Before you rip out the rocker switches from the S3, make sure that you don't have a S/S S3 Elan...pretty rare in the UK and fitted originally with the S4 switches. It would also have a semi-hidden interior door handle, and a plastic door pull as per the S4. It would have to be a late car, probably late '67 / early 68, to be an S/S.

Put some photos up, eh?!

Mark

[jmp]

Yes Steve it is I.
The other "secret restoration" fell through and I decided at the time I would be commiting marital suicide if I went for a complete restoration project. The one on e-bay at the same time as yours was not so far away from somewhere I had to go to so I had a look at it. Most of the work already done would have needed re-doing on it. At least yours was described accurately and fairly. I didnot follow that one up either.
With the QED engine I'm hoping that it will be a while before it needs any attention, so I'm hoping a head gasket job isn't on the cards in the foreseable future.. I woke up this morning as you do with a new car/project hoping that the wheel arch extensions had been planted on. If so I can cut back and save having to cut out and "lay up" new fibreglass ones. I'm looking into picking it up next week so will post a few pics once it is home. One pic attached of the existing dash.
Reg no is VDH 100E.
I'll be needing advice on what needs doing to put it back to original over the next few months/years. The door handles/locks have been updated to S4 and no doubt there will be other anomalies.
Anyone in the Staffordshire area with an S3 elan to compare it against?
John

[jmp]

It was registerd 28.03 67 according to DVLA Mark.

[Elanintheforest]

Well John it looks like she's been properly upgraded to S4, and I think that she's too early to be an S/S model. I think that I'd enjoy the car exactly as it is and not worry about trying to get it back to a given spec. It looks very good, and from what I can see of the arches, they look quite neat and purposeful.

The issue you will get trying to get it back to an S3 dash is the availability of some of the parts. The S3 bonnet locks (2 off) are very difficult to find, both inner and outer parts, and so is the original heater cable. It took me 4 years to find those parts alone for my S2 project.

The wheels are easy enough to find, and you will probably be able to buy arches as replacement part-panels, but virtually the whole car will need to be painted, and anything upto ?8k can be spent on that alone. I think that I can see that the outer handles are also S4, with the lock separate to the handle, so if you change that back, then it really is the whole car to be painted.

There are a couple of other areas to check out to see if it's S3 or S4.

The S3 has a transverse rear silencer, with appropriate recess in the boot floor. The S4 has a straight silencer with twin pipes (bloomin noisy!)

Under the bonnet, the S3 has the cam cover with 'Lotus' on each side, rather than across the front. It has a full width radiator, whilst the S4 has a small radiator with blanking plates. The S3 and early S4 also has a Tudor water bottle rather than a bag.

The dash top will be an interesting one to check out. The S3 and early S4 has a wide metal 'stamped-out' plate which accommodates the demister grilles and single loudspeaker. The later S4 just had 2 small demister grilles.

The door frame has the door closing handle mounted on it in the S3. In the S4, it is a separate plastic handle mounted much lower down the door. The inner door lever on the S3 is Hillman Imp and chromed metal, whilst the S4 is Marina / Allegro / MGB and plastic.

I'm down near Gloucester, not too far away, and have an S3 Coupe and a S4 DHC parked next to each other if you want to make a direct comparison. Oh, and that's a good point, does the chassis number start with 36 or 45? 36 means coupe, and 45 convertible. Many coupes have been converted to convertibles, and you really don't want to start thinking of reversing that process if yours is a 36 !!

I reckon just to put a couple of wide yellow stripes up the middle, a loud exhaust system on and have fun!!.

Mark