I may be one of a small group of Americans (Yanks) that have driven their Elan in central London.
As noted on an earlier post I picked up my US export Elan on July 9, 1969 at the Hethel factory. After spending the night nearby the factory I figured that I would drive down to London and begin my sightseeing.
Little did I know that my timing was horrible. The traffic was horrendous as I attempted to drive from the northeast of London through town to the southwest. It was a hot day and my day-old Elan began to overheat with the temperature gauge winding all the way past 110 C. I would stop periodically to let it cool down. But, this was truly a nightmare as it literally took me 6 hours to get across London, being lost most of the time, in extreme anguish that I was destroying my brand new car through overheating.
I avoided one punch-up fight with a motorcyclist. Being unfamiliar with driving on the left side and making turns from a different lane, not to mention roundabouts, I managed to cut off a fellow on a motorcycle. Whereupon I heard the screech of tires and someone yelling at me "You bloody bas***d "!). After dumping his bike on the pavement, he came charging up to me on foot as I sat in my open top Elan. Awaiting a punch I started apologizing profusely. Hearing my American accent and seeing me sitting on the wrong side of the car (LHD), he stopped in his tracks, snorted "Yank!" , and turned around. Close call.
That night I found out that the supreme traffic snarl was due to the Queen's Garden Party. Who knew?
Here is a picture of the Queen's Lawn Party, July 10, 1969, that I indirectly was a part of:
- queens-garden-party-july-10-1969.jpg (68.41 KiB) Viewed 1940 times
The surviving Elan (with original front number plate) now residing comfortably in California: