Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Just wondering how many people have applied to the factory to get a certificate and what was the outcome.

I have the certificates for all of my cars. While not as complete and thorough as say what Ferrari does for their classics, they are nice as its interesting to learn when the car left the factory and where it was originally sold.
Ken

Thanks Ken

How do you apply?

Contact member 'Lotus Archives' on here - I believe there is a fee to pay, something like ?25 if I recall correctly.

It appears that when the factory archives flooded lots of records were lost so in some instances records dont exist.
Graeme

Another good option and providing lots more detail on any changes in ownership, engine numbers, location, colour etc, is to apply to the DVLA for history:-

Takes about 6 weeks and you get, often, a full record of owners, location etc etc right back to original log book, all for 5 quid!!

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... 1/V888.pdf

David

Andy Graham at Lotus was a peach. He provided my certs on all the cars in a timely manor and I found them very well done. I learned a few things as well.

mike

dunclentdr wrote:Another good option and providing lots more detail on any changes in ownership, engine numbers, location, colour etc, is to apply to the DVLA for history:-

Takes about 6 weeks and you get, often, a full record of owners, location etc etc right back to original log book, all for 5 quid!!

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... 1/V888.pdf

David

Alas not much good for we overseas owners, I tried this and they said no, as i've given an Australian address, I'm not the UK keeper, whatever that means....

Maybe system has changed now? Would love to know more about my UK-sourced vehicles.

The person I bought the car from did it before he came to Australia and even then all the details were not available....
Cheers
Graeme

types26/36 wrote:http://www.lotuscars.com/gb/ownership/certificate-provenance

Have gone down this path and If the configuration doesnt match the build process at the time and because the records have been lost you wont get a certificate, In my case I bought the car from the original owner who bought an Elan Sprint demonstartor in 1972, with 15K miles and owned it ever since that doesnt count as they dont have records of what i now assume was one of the cars the Factory converted to a Sprint from old stock.

The car has been registered in the UK as a Sprint for which i have the records and has the original English plates on it, Im satisfied it is what it is, an Elan Sprint.

Graeme

I sincerely do not hope that anyone is going to believe whatever the current folks at "Lotus" will tell them, having paid their fee. The current company is several iterations removed from anything created by Chapman; he, as many folks who worked with him have stated in public many times, did not exactly play with a straight bat. There seem to have been at least two significant losses of records even since the original pencil-written sales books were produced.

Even before the business was sold on, they had no idea or (conveniently) were not able to confirm exactly what they had built and when.
I highly recommend the book written by Robin Read, Lotus Sales Manager, which started to lift the lid on the complex web of companies created to fool both the tax authorities and the customers. Allegedly.

robertverhey wrote:
Alas not much good for we overseas owners, I tried this and they said no, as i've given an Australian address, I'm not the UK keeper, whatever that means....
.

+1

I have tried many avenues, including those listed here, no results.

elansprint71 wrote: (part quote)
I highly recommend the book written by Robin Read, Lotus Sales Manager, which started to lift the lid on the complex web of companies created to fool both the tax authorities and the customers. Allegedly.

I've not heard of such a book so went to search Amazon using the author but without much luck. Can you tell us the title ?

Brian