Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Dear all,

When Jochen had his unfortunate accident at Monza in September 1970 his wife Nina sold his elan S4 FHC to we believe a family friend although this has not yet been confirmed, this gentleman however ran the car for a few years, before the car develop an electrical fault which resulted in the car being dismantled completely. The car has been left in this condition to this day which is quite incredible, in a barn in Switzerland for over 40 years.
I have sent pictures of the car to Tim, as we found it yesterday, for posting.The chassis, engine and body are all completely original untouched.
I have since purchased the car, which I still cannot believe to say the least. The car is now on its way back to the UK. and arrives this evening.
The car will be painted in its original royal blue colour by Paul at SMS and will be fully restored by Ken and Neil Myers over the next 12 months or so.

if any member would like further pictures etc please contact me [email protected]

Best wishes and seasons compliments and thank you again Nicholas..its gone to a good home!!

This is good news as it means an historically significant Elan will be available for posterity. Thank you Deryck!

Here are the photos about which Deryck wrote and I have also included the press photo showing Colin handing over the keys to Jochen. It is an S4 SE FHC in LHD for the European market in Royal Blue.

Tim

Congratulations! What a wonderful find!

I'm so glad it's going to be saved.

Regards,
Dan

Wow - incredible.

When Jim Clarks' Elan was owned by Jabby Crombac, it was restored, to the standards laid down by a "committee" including Peter Warr and Bob Dance. It may be worth you contacting Clive Chapman at Classic Team Lotus and seeing what he says !!

Regards
Richard

We finally see why you sold off your collection! Great score!

What a fantastic find and well done you for the plans you have for the car. I remember seeing Jochen racing at Oulten Park just a few months before he was killed. In fact I have a photograph somewhere of him in the car he was driving, a formula 2 I think, but years have dulled the memory and I could be, probably am, wrong about that.
Looking forward to your updates on the rebuild.

No. Jim Clark died in a F2 car, Rindt was in a F1 car.

Jon the Chief

I wonder why the car was dismantled so completely?!
A great find, and I would be very tempted not to restore the car as far as possible, especially the interior and paintwork. The car still has Jochen's DNA as it is, but could be just another restored car if put back to 'as new' condition.

Mark

I have to agree with Mark.

I guess that only leaves Graham Hills Elan to be tracked down

*WOW!!!*

Please keep us updated on this car! It'll be lots of fun to follow your progress.

Graham Hill's Elan S3 is owned by Rob Thornton who posts on here. He is slowly restoring it.

Tim

Congratulations on a magnificent find. The photo of Jochen receiving the keys must be 2nd august 70, hence the H reg as the car must have had to be registered before leaving the UK and would have left before 1st Aug with the reg suffix letter change. It is Jochen's last F1 win and he unfortunately is killed just over a month later on the 5th Sept. He is in fact the first WC, although he was not at the time, to be killed in a F1 car, Senna is the first and only WC to be killed in a F1 race.
Interesting that it has a Weber head, but Stromberg bonnet.

What fantastic news!

As Mark said it may be worth assessing to see if a restoration could be restricted to a careful "reassembly"
(if that's at all possible?)
However, either way, it will be incredible to see the car rebuilt after all this time.

This news has made my day!

Mark.

Evening friends,
thanks for all your kind words and interest in the car

the car is now safely back in northampton,

photos of the body and chassis being unloaded will be posted shortly
the body is incredibly light as you can see,

kindest regards,

deryck..

Here are the photos Deryck mentions.

Tim