Restoration of Elan 45/6714 Slide Show

[PC777]

Hello to all,

I have finally posted a pictorial slideshow of the restoration of my Elan S3 45/6714 on YouTube.

Please feel free to comment.

Part 1: https://youtu.be/zjuTHT5ZGM4

Part 2: https://youtu.be/U-iB-V2TQjE

Please enjoy

Thank you
Regards to all

PC

[pharriso]

Wonderful & congratulations!

Hope you enjoy her on the road

[rgh0]

It looks super nice and must be great to finally have it on the road

cheers
Rohan

[Mazzini]

Love the colour, it really suits it.

My S3 was originally Wedgewood blue, it's currently white, I was going to paint it in it's original colour, but seeing your car has given me food for thought.

[661]

Beautiful.
Lovely craftmanship.
I see the bulkhead was cut for LHD too. Does the shell have a story?
What was the 'yellow stuff' put on prior to priming? Is that a marine gelcoat?

[Mazzini]

Beautiful.
Lovely craftmanship.
I see the bulkhead was cut for LHD too. Does the shell have a story?
What was the 'yellow stuff' put on prior to priming? Is that a marine gelcoat?

The bulkheads on both my UK RHD S2 and S3 have LHD pedal cut outs as well. I imagine the decision to which market the car was destined was made on the production line.

The holes were covered over with some sort of fiberboard material, the same stuff (or similar) that was used in front of the fuel tank.

[seniorchristo]

Fantastic job! Thanks for posting

[stugilmour]

Wonderful. Thanks for posting.

[The Veg]

A real beauty!

[Roland]

Looks absolutely fantastic. Regency Red was not a popular colour back when the Elan was being sold. However it has reached the point of becoming popular and rare. The same thing happened to Arena Red Porsche 993's which was the launch colour and disliked for years, now the colour is sought after.

Personally I think an Elan in Regency Red is the best colour. My Sprint is Regency Red but the PO put it in gold leaf trim. It will being going in soon for a body restoration and will go back to mono Regency which is how it was sold.

Rgds

Roland

[PC777]

Thanks to everyone for their kind comments.

I found this forum very useful throughout the restoration process.

Even so, if I was to do it again I would do some things a bit differently.

Overall I am pretty pleased with the end result (it's not perfect) and I hope to use it more now.

Take care and stay safe on the roads

Regards to all

Paul

[gentry74]

I am partway thru a frame off.... but dont have the funds to go as far as you did on the bodywork side. What would you do differently if you did it again? It looks great.

my car is 45/6375. A question if you have a moment:

partition between boot and cockpit. Did you fabricate yours out of fiberglass? if not... what material? I have to make a new one (i refer to 31 sec mark of 2nd video)

Thanks

Gentry

[StressCraxx]

A question if you have a moment:

partition between boot and cockpit. Did you fabricate yours out of fiberglass? if not... what material? I have to make a new one (

The original was a fiberboard material, similar to a thin flexible masonite that appeared to be treated with some kind of bitumen to make it water resistant. I think they were originally formed over a buck using steam heat, but I could be completely wrong.

[PC777]

I am partway thru a frame off.... but dont have the funds to go as far as you did on the bodywork side. What would you do differently if you did it again? It looks great.

my car is 45/6375. A question if you have a moment:

partition between boot and cockpit. Did you fabricate yours out of fiberglass? if not... what material? I have to make a new one (i refer to 31 sec mark of 2nd video)

Thanks

Gentry

Hello Gentry,

to answer your second question first, yes the partition you are asking about was fabricated out of Fiberglass.

My friend who did all the body repair work is a specialist and he found it to be the easiest thing to do, the original was in pretty poor shape as with just about everything on the car!

For your first question, there are lots of small things that I found that I could have done better.
Some things you don't know, such as ordering parts that you end up not using because they are inferior or not as expected.

My advice there is to buy from a reputable source even if it's a bit dearer.
I would chase the quality not the price.

Also finding the right people to trust to do the jobs you want is a bit of a trick, I would suggest writing clear instructions as to what you want completed on your job and make sure the people doing the job understand it, then cross your fingers and hope that they pass that information on to whoever is actually doing the job.

Anyhow, I wish you the very best on your adventure of getting your Elan together, please post a picture or two.

Regards

Paul

[gentry74]

thanks Paul. As it turns out... I (once upon a time) graduated from a school that teaches traditional wooden boatbuilding... so i have a huge leg up on most people when it comes to fabricating something curved and quirky. Having said that... my original partition is carpeted and falling apart.... so not the easiest item to takes lines off of... I wish I could get the carpet off of it without turning it into dust...but that isnt in the cards.

we'll see what i come up with. I may build a rough form and vacuum bag over it with veneers. Or I may simply get some masonite, spray it and force it in place. We'll see how much effort I am willing to exert when i get to that point....

G