Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Does any one have a copy of the Lotus cars price list for 1966, prior to July if possible?

Thanks

Andy Graham
(Slowly replacing the missing archives)

LotusArchives wrote:Does any one have a copy of the Lotus cars price list for 1966, prior to July if possible?

Thanks

Andy Graham
(Slowly replacing the missing archives)

Hi Andy

Not really a price list but a sales brochure for the early Elan with prices penciled in, I don't have a date on it but I could probably get a time frame from either Jim or possibly Fred. I think you may be looking for a "Lotus" issued price list but this is as good as I have.

Andy,

Attached is an extract from "Which" magazine dated Jan 1966.

Bill

Andy,

I knew I had one some where, unfortunately there is no date on it but it would have been 1966.

Bill

Thanks, keep them coming. I was hoping one will cover the S/E optional equipment.

This 1966 brochure identifies the S/E package for the S3. The S2 was the same package, plus the rubber 'elephant skin' mats were replaced by loop pile carpet.

The 3.55 ratio differential was standard S/E equipment for a while, and optional for the last of the S3 S/E and the S4 S/E.

Mark

Hopefully this should be the Oct 1966 Price list (UK):

Good stuff, Matt....and for a bit of comparison, the April '67 pricelist! Strangely, the inertia seatbelts are listed in '66, but not in '67....

Mark

Interesting that the Delmere road list (early 1966 or possibly 1965?) shows the price as ?1312, my Oct 66 list is ?1262 and Mark's is ?1299 in April 1967 - random or competitive pricing in those heady pre inflation days!

Thanks, it has also answered a totally un-related question. I am going through a book which covers the +2 from unit 2000 with option of RSK or radio, I wasn't sure what RSK was, but I see now it's Radio Supression kit.

Back to what i'm up to, is trying to find a price list that shows if S/E was optional on the S3 prior to July, hence asking for price list to see if it was listed as an option. Different sources have different VIN and month introduction (either January or July), and in usual Lotus fashion, little documentation has survived.

I am guessing it wasn't officially available until July, but if you asked and paid, it was possible?

Elanintheforest wrote:Good stuff, Matt....and for a bit of comparison, the April '67 pricelist! Strangely, the inertia seatbelts are listed in '66, but not in '67....

Mark

I have it in my mind that inertia reel seat belts were an option for only a very short time. Why? Dunno!

Tim

trw99 wrote:

Elanintheforest wrote:Good stuff, Matt....and for a bit of comparison, the April '67 pricelist! Strangely, the inertia seatbelts are listed in '66, but not in '67....

Mark

I have it in my mind that inertia reel seat belts were an option for only a very short time. Why? Dunno!

Tim

I reckon because the belts supplied by Teleflex were new technolgy, expensive and not very good. I think Teleflex had the patent, but didn't develop the design, I've not heard of them being fitted to any other car.

When did inertia reel belts become a common fitment? The mid seventies?

Andy, the Special Equipment package was first devised by Graham Arnold I believe, and was available for the Lotus Cortina from December 1963.

It was a simialr package, with engine upgrade, seat belts, radial tyres and a badge and a few other bits and pieces. By October 1964 the S/E package also included the leather covered steering wheel.

Certainly in the early days, Lotus Components modified standard cars to S/E specification, rather than them being built to order. So a fully build car was driven down the ramp, into Lotus Components unit where it was stripped and the S/E mods applied. Only 64 Lotus Cortinas were declared to have been upgraded, but the real number was almost certainly much higher....it was a highly proifitable upgrade, and the less the taxman got.......

So in answer to your guess of if you asked you paid.....I'm sure it was just as easy to take an Elan into Lotus Components as it was a Cortina!

Here's the spec of the Lotus Cortina S/E package....scroll down to 'Options'

http://www.lotuscortinainfo.com/?page_id=430

And here's a picture of the demonstrator S/E Lotus Cortina at the Racing Car show in London in Jan 1964, with illustrations behind of what went into the S/E upgrade....

Mark

Great stuff on those price lists. Converting them to present prices makes interesting reading as well. According to a couple of sites (link to one of themhttp://safalra.com/other/historical-uk-inflation-price-conversion/) 1967 prices need to be multiplied by 15 to convert them to the 2012 equivalent. From Mark's blue price list that would make a factory built Elan just about ?24,000 or in component form about ?19,500. What's around for that sort of money now?

The MX5 is pretty close I suppose, and that sells for ?18k to ?24k....almost exactly the same!

Those price converters don't really work though. In 1967 a 4 bed detached house outside London was around ?5k. That would now be ?300k plus, not the ?75k that x15 would give!

Mark