Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

I was powerwashing my old computer, the one I keep in the garage and I found the photo hopefully showing here and I wondered if it still existed.

No reason other than nostalgia, not my first Lotus experience but my first Lotus

.

Ah-ha!

You could have popped in here! Nice one, though.

lotus-talk-f50/have-you-photo-your-elan-the-60s-70s-t20800.html

elj221c wrote:Ah-ha!

You could have popped in here! Nice one, though.

lotus-talk-f50/have-you-photo-your-elan-the-60s-70s-t20800.html

Had no idea that section existed...I think I over paid back then - ?200 was a lot of money.

Seems to be a very ate s2. would that be a 36 rather than a 26?
I love the colour!
P

Elan Peter wrote:Seems to be a very ate s2. would that be a 36 rather than a 26?
I love the colour!
P

Twas an S2, original colour was yellow, that was pre-repaint primer...which actually stayed on the car until I sold it, may still be that colour.

If it is, then I'd buy it. I would love an s1 or 2 in my collection!!!!
I bet you had some great times in that!
P

The council house behind the car looks exactly like the one I grew up in for the first 15 years of my life!

pharriso wrote:The council house behind the car looks exactly like the one I grew up in for the first 15 years of my life!

Did you grow up?

Spyder fan wrote:

pharriso wrote:The council house behind the car looks exactly like the one I grew up in for the first 15 years of my life!

Did you grow up?

physically yes, mentally not so much...

pharriso wrote:

Spyder fan wrote:

pharriso wrote:The council house behind the car looks exactly like the one I grew up in for the first 15 years of my life!

Did you grow up?

physically yes, mentally not so much...

That?s good, I thought maybe somebody had hijacked your account.

Slowtus,
I can?t find anything in the usual online places using the registration as a search, but so many S2?s are GTS race cars these days it?s possible there?s some DNA left although like all the race cars it?s going to be similar to Triggers Broom by now.

Elan Peter wrote:If it is, then I'd buy it. I would love an s1 or 2 in my collection!!!!
I bet you had some great times in that!
P

At that time (early '70s) I had been stationed in Zutendaal in Belgium (NSU Tongeren, NATO posting, 3 years of fun and sun while holding back the USSR ) and had been posted to RAF Henlow in Bedfordshire...my wife also worked in the same area at an AFCENT posting and she had to put in 3 months notice before she could join me.

Being recently married, I thought it my duty to see her every weekend so on a Friday I would jump in the Lotus and hie off to Dover, get on the ferry and land in Calais, back into the Lotus for the trip to Tongeren, about 350 miles each way.

Sunday, back in the car to get back to RAF Henlow, 700+ miles every weekend for 3 months and the car - which was pretty neglected when I bought it - never gave me an issue and on the motorways in France and Belgium I kept it pretty much in the orange all the way!

PS, those houses were the married quarters in Cardington.

Wow, what an incredible story! Anyone who says Lotus cars are unreliable needs to open their eyes. When we bought ours, we were told by one of the ford chair persons that "if you could find a good Lotus you could have a lot of fun, bet you never will" after that, we never seemed to be good friends.
Anyway, I love how you used it as if it were just a normal car! I bet there are very few people who actually do it now, I only know of one!
Thank you for sharing such a great story.
Best regards, P

But wait Peter, there's more...

Yes, back then I used it as a daily driver and I, ahem, never once, in the year I had it, changed the oil/filter, simply topping up as needed

As mentioned it was badly neglected when I bought it, had been sitting in a garage in Perth Scotland for months without being exercised so the battery was shot, but it fired up right away with a little assistance from jump cables, a little bit of top end blue (as I anticipated) and then I drove it down to Bedford again with no problems other than the horn going off willy nilly through Edinburgh, soon cleared itself as the moisture, mice and whatever else fell by the wayside on the trip down.

One weekend sticks in mind though, on one of the trips back, Sunday night around 7pm, foggy as could be just south of London, fender bender somewhere ahead so we are all backed up and as the top end seals on this S2 were a bit wobbly and I STILL hadn't replaced the battery I had to blip the throttle to try to clear the plugs - I didn't want to switch off because of that weak battery, so I exited the car to explain to those behind me why I kept racketing away - everyone got it.

Next thing I see is a gent striding from his house towards me, oh dear, the noise must have been upsetting him - no - he had a flask of coffee with him and was doling out cups to whoever felt the need and knew exactly what my issue was, he had owned an Elan as well.

I always remember that random act of kindness...perhaps because the coffee was 'enhanced' and perhaps because the fog lifted enough that we all drove off a little warmer, thanks to that gents multiple trips back and forth to his house to fortify complete strangers.

Or maybe the distinctive crackle from the Elan exhaust was a siren call to him, either way - thank you, good sir.

Elan Peter wrote:Wow, what an incredible story! Anyone who says Lotus cars are unreliable needs to open their eyes.

They also ought to read some of the letters in 1969 MotorSports, then they'd close them again.

Great tale, Slowtus

Wow another truly fantastic story, kindness like that is rarely seen anymore (shame).
What a lovely gentleman for doing that and what a coincidence that he happened to know his elans!
There is something wonderful about a classic car that runs on nothing but magic and TLC.
Best regards, P