Elan S1-3 1960s

[lotwe]

Dear All,
I am trying to verify the originality of a chassis plate on an S2 Elan (1965) and would be very grateful if anybody would be prepared to pm and share an image of their chassis plate, (any Cheshunt plate ie late S1,S2 or S3 is ok), together with measurements of length, width and the thickness if possible as I understand some of the reproduction plates are not the correct thickness as used by Lotus in the 1960s, please redact the chassis/engine numbers which I do not need to know,
thanks in anticipation,

[trw99]

Forgive me, please lotwe, but looking at your previous posts you seem inordinately interested in 26Rs and how the VIN plates were recorded for them, as well as which early Series 1 and 2 Elans have no records in the archives against them.

Since it is not unknown for some folk to attempt to pass off an Elan as a 26R for various purposes, it seems sensible for those of us who have the veracity and interest in historical accuracy of these cars to be a wee bit careful about the sort of information you seek.

In all respects I dare say I am barking up the wrong tree as far as your enquiries are concerned and if that is so, please do accept my apologies. I can actually help you as I have a full register of all Elans and +2s and work closely with Andy Graham, the Lotus archivist, particularly in rebuilding those records that have been destroyed over the years.

Please do contact me via PM or via my website, below.

Tim

Tim

[lotwe]

Hi Tim,
thanks for your reply, the reason for the enquiry is quite simple, I am looking at a couple of supposed original cars and want to verify if the vin plate is original as there are so many reproduction plates in circulation. As you know many Elans caught fire and the plate was destroyed and a replacement plate could be obtained from Lotus Cars, but others have reproduction plates on them and the history is not available ie was the car an insurance write off and subsequently rebuilt etc. etc.
Others on this forum are also asking about V5Cs and vin plates being sold presumably to build up a new car.
Although the Robinshaw and Ross book shows images of production vin plates unfortunately they do not include dimensional data.
It is relatively easy to identify the printed plates but beware there are now laser etched plates in circulation which can only be identified if you know what you are looking for.
IMHO it would be useful to all forum members if the information I am seeking was available on site so that any potential new owner would not be misinformed or possibly scammed,
Happy new year.

[nmauduit]

Hi Tim,
thanks for your reply, the reason for the enquiry is quite simple, I am looking at a couple of supposed original cars and want to verify if the vin plate is original as there are so many reproduction plates in circulation.
...
Happy new year.

why don't you post photos of said plates then? I'm sure people from the forum would have an opinion about their originality...