December issue of Road and Track

[holywood3645]

'Lotus elan Turns 50'

Pretty good read, but a little unfair I think.

James

[twincamman]

Well James these writers grew up with Hondas and Mazdas ....50 years ago we were thrilled with MG. and Triumphs and if you had the ready a lotus . Real hairy chested sports cars without air conditioning or roll up windows and no computers or automatic buttons to make the car smarter than the driver. I still delight in. Rain leaking on my jeans and heaters that barely move the mist off the inside of the windshield ...real man cars not sissy chick cars passed off as "sports cars " today .....ed

[garyeanderson]

To continue along the lines that Ed has drawn, Model T in 1903, Elan in 1963. What in the hell has anyone come up with in the last 50 that advances driving fun as much as the Elan? To put it another way When the Elan was launched, people could only dream of of a car performing acts on the street like it did. Think about it!

Gary

[lance54]

To bad R&T didn't print an obituary for the Elan like they did for the Elite back in June of 1964.

Two landmark cars that will always be appreciated remembered well.

[lance54]

Here's the image.

[CBUEB1771]

To bad R&T didn't print an obituary for the Elan like they did for the Elite back in June of 1964.

Thanks Clark, what brings you to the slums? Seriously, good to see you on this forum.
Russ

[abstamaria]

I have been reading Road & Track since the early 60s. I would read the issues cover to cover, even the advertisements and all the classifieds. The day an issue arrives was a happy day, particularly if Henry Manney had an article there. It was R&T that principally sold me to the Elan. Their owner survey surprised them. Here we have a car that would break down in every possible way, so what do the owners think, R&T asked. They love it!

I bought a 23, urged on by Peter Egan's article on Gil Nickel's yellow car. Nowadays, R&T is so emaciated, a victim of the economy perhaps. And perhaps also because there are so few interesting cars to write about. But that is probably just me; I don't relate to the new cars anymore. I subscribe to the magazine now only for Peter Egan, and also for sentimental reasons. But I have been thinking it is time to unsubscribe.

I'm looking forward to that issue, though.

Andy

[prezoom]

It think I started reading R&T about the first time I saw a MG TC in the late 40's or early 1950. Between R&T and Sports Car Graphic, they kept my interest in sports cars going until this day. Still have boxes of those magazines stored away.

R&T is a shallow hull of what it was. When the Bonds sold the magazine, it started going down hill. I often think of the "old" days when I am driving out my street. The garage John Bond built to house his collection is directly in my view on the top of another hill across the way. Now there are only two areas in the magazine I read. Peter E and Tom Wilson's column, all while standing at the magazine stand in the grocery store. I don't need to see the latest ash tray in some new Porsche, or a 2.5 horse power gain in a Lambo. Thus I stopped subscribing to it several years ago after probably 50+ years of subscribing. Tempted though, when offers of less than a buck an issue arrive in the mail, but I am not sure I can stand the frustration. But, a good friend is bringing his copy over on Monday.

Had diner a few weeks ago with Tom Wilson, and will again on the 17th. He was quiet about the future of the magazine. But R&T and C&D area owned by the same company and almost look the same, other than the irreverent tone of C&D. About their only other difference is the color of the same cars on their covers. Not sure he knows what his future will be. That, and they have moved the magazine from Newport Beach back to Detroit. Sad sign of the times......

Rob Walker
26-4889

[cal44]

Sports Car Graphic was/is my fav. I kept quite a few copies of the ones I liked.

R&T was, but now? I would need to wear gold chains to read it, so I would be dressed properly.

Mike

[gjz30075]

Did anyone read the John Fitch write up in the same issue? A Ross Robbins is mentioned as having a conversation with John concerning a Fitch Sprint. Robbins is identified as a 50ish something race fan. Our Ross Robbins perhaps?
Ross?

Greg Z

[cbguerrajr]

The reliability problems were grossly exaggerated, in my experience. When my S-2 and I were much younger, I used it as my daily transportation for several years, commuting 50 miles a day on interstates, year round, in Connecticut. Once I drove it down to Miami, Fla, on vacation, non stop, very uneventfully (1500miles each way). So to say that every time you drove it something breaks is just BS.

As far as unsubscribing to what's left of R&T, I decided last year to let my subscription run out.
But they keep sending it to me... (?)

carlos g.

[prezoom]

Got my borrowed copy of R&T yesterday. Thumbing through the pages, I stopped to read Egan, then on to the Elan article. Thought the article was overly sensitive to minor issues that can be solved with a little planning to eliminating them from happening again. What is obvious, is those who edit the magazine, have become brain dead garden gnomes. Over the ages, people have become desensitized to owning/driving a motor vehicle. They now look at it as an object of transportation, like the city bus. You get in, ride for a while then get off. No involvement in their car, other than adding fuel and taking the vehicle to the service center when the red light on the dash informs them it is time for service, only then to be skewered like a chunk of meat over a fire. Thankfully, there is a small band of vehicle owners, like us, who enjoy, not only the experience of driving a vehicle that gives something back, but offers the opportunity to become involved with the vehicle itself. Long live the Elan and cars like them and their owners.

Last Saturday offered a twofer.... A chance to participate at Cars & Coffee in Irvine, CA, and attend a seminar on collector cars put on by Hagerty Insurance at the Automobile Driving Museum in El Segundo, CA. I didn't take the Elan this time, but the Sabra GT. The primary reason was I just upped the coverage amount on the car and wanted to make an impression on the insurance company, it was worth what I was asking for. O-dark-thirty comes earlier than my brain starts working and I forgot my camera. The car show proved to be a chance to see some vehicles you almost never get to see. A Cunningham C3 Coupe, three different 1938 Mercedes Benz cars, what appeared to be one of six Saab Sonnet Super Sport roadsters, a new McLaren, a Jaguar XKSS, and sometime Elan Net participant David Schwartz's Elan. All in all, a pretty good day as it proves there are still those out there who really enjoy becoming involved in their cars.

Rob Walker
26-4889

[Bud English]

I too am waiting for my R&T subscription to run out. It?s been about three years since I decided that R&T just isn?t relevant to me any more. I keep waiting but it just won?t quit. It seems that my wife had been renewing it for me every time one of those special renewal deals came in the mail. In the eighteen years we?ve been together, she has never seen any car other than my non-op plus 2 in our garage. So she either loves me despite my Lotus affliction or can?t pass up a bargain (You just don?t ask the question if you don?t want to know the answer).

I?ve still got until October of 2015 to read Egan and check to see if an Elan ever will show up in a Stable, Ltd. ad.

[RotoFlexible]

You can read Egan on line. Go to the R&T site and type "Peter Egan" in the search box.

I agree with the general assessment of R&T, past (my father subscribed from the early '50's) and present. I learned about the Elan from the pages of R&T while still too young to drive.

[Ross Robbins]

Greg Z: Yes that was me in the paddock at Lime Rock. I was quite chuffed to be called "50 something" as it has been a decade since that was appropriate.

As for the Elan article, I think those who posit that the younger generation who have no experience with the awful stuff we put up with in the 50's, 60's and 70's have no understanding of just what a revelation an Elan was in its day. Comparing an Elan to a Miata is as silly as comparing a Veyron to a Countach - same idea with vastly different technology available. If the newer one isn't far better we have a real problem in our world. Rather it is amazing how well the Elan fares by today's standards. As for Egan being hard on the Elan, you need to consider him a disillusioned true believer. After three years of doing everything he could to make an Elan perfect, he, with his wife along no less, had a horrible trip to Alabama and lost the faith right then and there. I think he is still nostalgic but once burned is twice careful. If he had the trips I've had in my Elan, I think he would still have the light in his eyes.

And finally, I agree that R&T is just as you all say, a mere shadow of its former self. Still, it is certainly worth a buck and a half an issue just to have something to peruse in the "reading room" , right?