Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Good evening!
A quick question if I may?
Is the Yellow Elan S4 SE FHC - XJD 103G Known to anyone on the forum?
The car is up for auction at Morris Leslie Auctions in Scotland this month so I am considering a trip north!
Any information (via PM) would be greatly appreciated.
Many thanks
Andrew (club lotus member since early 80s)

It left the factory as a Standard Lotus Elan Series 4 FHC in December 1968 on Weber carbs.

It is not a so called 'Black Badge Edition'. There was never such an Elan produced by the factory. They just happened to use up some black Lotus badges that had been made up before Jim Clark's death.

Tim

That's interesting.

I have XJD104G, an Elan S4 SE FHC in yellow registered in January 1969. It was on Strombergs. Mine has black badges.

John

trw99 wrote:It left the factory as a Standard Lotus Elan Series 4 FHC in December 1968 on Weber carbs.

It is not a so called 'Black Badge Edition'. There was never such an Elan produced by the factory. They just happened to use up some black Lotus badges that had been made up before Jim Clark's death.

Tim

Thanks for the reply - quite a few anomalies in the general write up! Good info on the factory spec - cheers
Andrew

JohnMorin wrote:That's interesting.

I have XJD104G, an Elan S4 SE FHC in yellow registered in January 1969. It was on Strombergs. Mine has black badges.

John

Hi John
WOW - that's quite a coincidence - Im going to try to get some more information from the auction house over the phone - just a shame its about four & half hours away so trying not to waste time unnecessarily.
Thanks Andrew
Chassis number of 103 is - 36/ 8510

There’s some nice pictures of it on Instagram.

trw99 wrote:It left the factory as a Standard Lotus Elan Series 4 FHC in December 1968 on Weber carbs.

It is not a so called 'Black Badge Edition'. There was never such an Elan produced by the factory. They just happened to use up some black Lotus badges that had been made up before Jim Clark's death.

Tim

My S4 DCH was delivered in December 1968 with Webers, bulge on bonnet and black badge.

I've never thought of its as a 'Black Badge' edition, its always just been an Elan to me. At the time I would have preferred Strombergs although I did change them to Delorto in about 1970

Ian

My Elan is August 1968 build according to the dodgy Lotus records and came with a black badge. Whether its a Jim Clark memorial or just Lotus using up cheap black badges he had bought as claimed by Arnold we will never know I guess.. But Arnold was very very good at spinning tales was he not ? When you make a claim about Lotus actions it is always good to quote your sources I find, to try to sepaerate the many myths from reality.

In the end it makes no difference for me as the car i will never sell and it goes just as quick and handles just as well with or without the badge

cheers
Rohan

Mine was a 1969 Stromberg equipped S4...came with a Black badge.

Sold for £20k. Watch out for it on ebay next week for £30k.

Made the trip north to view the Elan on auction day & had a chat with the seller & good look at the history file - came back with an empty trailer though.

kjb3l wrote:Made the trip north to view the Elan on auction day & had a chat with the seller & good look at the history file - came back with an empty trailer though.

What put you off ?. I only watched online,, there didn't appear to be many bidders for it.

Too many negatives which mounted up to it not being cost effective (potentially) for me so I didn't even register to bid. Two bidders in the hall - if I had joined in then it may well have ended up at least 22k + fees. Think the seller was happy though - reserve was 18.5k
So my hunt continues!!!!!!!!!

Well I wasn't far off, not Ebay but much as I predicted. That's how to make a profit!!!!. Not bad for a day''s work, Glasgow to Perth and back.

https://www.carandclassic.com/car/C1552948

Mmmm - minimal photos & minimal write up!
They can ask what they like for it - what they achieve is another matter, especially in the current climate.
The market dictated the price on the day.