Reunited with my Elan after 47 years.

[dpchamp87]

In 1974 at the age of 22 and living in London I bought my first Elan. A 1970 S4 Coupe, a one owner car with if I remember correctly, 12k miles. My first great car! Sadly I was forced to sell about a year later due to spending too much money (!) although not on the Elan which was 100 pct reliable during my ownership.

Fast forward to 2021. I get a call from Ed from CollectingCars.com who had picked up up on a post I made here looking for my car back in 2010. In 2010 I had traced the car up to 2007 but the trail went cold as the car was exported.

Turns out the car had been in Marcel Prejean's collection in France and it had been purchased at auction last June and brought back to the UK.

To make a long story short I won the auction after some very spirited bidding and about a week ago the car arrived here in Florida.

Lots of work to do to put it back to the way it was when I sold it but it will be a great project.

Her it is as I bought it:

https://collectingcars.com/for-sale/197 ... lan-s4-fhc

Pictures are from 1974.

Chassis # 7004080029A. If anyone has any information regarding owners between 1974 and 2007 i would be very interested.

[nmauduit]

What a great story...

has the car been converted to RHD during its stay in the UK ? excellent purchase in any case.

[Mazzini]

Fabulous!

[mark030358]

Great story, very happy for you

[pharriso]

Great story, very happy for you

+1 plus you got it for a great price!

[gjz30075]

David, great story! Congratulations!

[dpchamp87]

It was always RHD, UK car. I was living in the UK when I bought in 1974.

[Elan45]

I'm assuming you must also be a snow-bird, since you mentioned the car arrived here in Florida, yet your info says Connecticut. I will be in Florida for another few weeks, before returning to Ohio.

WaWa gas, available in Florida, has a separate nozzle on their pumps to dispense 88 octane fuel with no alcohol. I've had so much trouble with alcohol in fuel in my Elan, partly because it sits for 6 months. Finally this year there is now a WaWa station near me and my Elan will only use this. No more alcohol!!!

PM me if you'd like to meet. Nice looking car and congratulations on finding your old friend. My father was forced to sell his car just after WW2 and he spent the rest of his life looking for it and never found it.

Roger

[alan.barker]

Well done,
Fantastic story.
Look after her and enjoy the driving with a big smile.
Alan

[elans3]

Great story, similar one for me last August, but mine was only an 18 year gap !
Enjoy.

[fotsyr]

Well done. The owner, who I know, has a Elan Sprint that he restored, as seen in the Lime Rock photo above. Also races a Peugeot Diesel, but that another story.

chris

[tdskip]

Fantastic! Congratulations.

[dpchamp87]

I'm assuming you must also be a snow-bird, since you mentioned the car arrived here in Florida, yet your info says Connecticut. I will be in Florida for another few weeks, before returning to Ohio.

WaWa gas, available in Florida, has a separate nozzle on their pumps to dispense 88 octane fuel with no alcohol. I've had so much trouble with alcohol in fuel in my Elan, partly because it sits for 6 months. Finally this year there is now a WaWa station near me and my Elan will only use this. No more alcohol!!!

PM me if you'd like to meet. Nice looking car and congratulations on finding your old friend. My father was forced to sell his car just after WW2 and he spent the rest of his life looking for it and never found it.

Roger

PM sent

[dpchamp87]

Thanks for the well wishes fellow Elan owners.

I can't wait to get to work on the car once I get back to my tools and lifts in CT.

[dpchamp87]

As usual it turns out the car was in much worse shape than it looked. Full restoration now in progress including replacement chassis. Having fun doing it!