Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Hello folks.

Let me introduce myself, my name is Tom? Coelho, I?m Portuguese and I am mostly an Alfisti (means I like Alfa Romeo); but my girlfriend is pretty much a Lotus fan in the same way I am a Alfa lover. She that (rare) kind of girl who was born with the steering wheel on hands? great driver also. (lucky me)

The thing is, she?s about to buy a basket case Lotus, I didn?t went seeing it yet but it?s disassembled since it is a quitters car.

She asked me to restore the car since I have some experience in the job with some restoration under my belt, and I am collecting info on the car in order to evaluate the possible purchase.

My question is, since you all talk about 4 series of the Elan, what were the differences between them. I already searched the net and could not find a true document on the differences between models.

So please help me!

Author of <a href='http://www.ALFACuore.com' target='_blank'>ALFACuore.com</a>

Tome,
Sorry to hear you are an alfa fan but your girlfriend has got a good taste in cars, it would take too long to list all the differences although they are not that much between the different series, it was just Lotus upgrading the same basic car.
Generally you can lump the S1/2's together and the S3/4/Sprints together, they got more powerful engines/electric windows/better weather equipment etc as they progressed.
Go to lotuselan.net as I think you will find most of the imformation there and welcome to Lotus-World.
Rgds Brian

they are not a complex car to work on there are many similarities to alfas------ [ I used to drive FIAT 124 spyders and owned a 1750 long body----- in fact the webbers on my elan came from a 1750---- the largest problem is figuring out what part lotus used from what car --- there is a lot of help avaiable here on this site and I will answer what i can to help you out ---ed law ---- B)

Tome, check the main page of lotuselan.net. Go to 'brochures' on the left hand side. Brochures shows the sales literature of all the series of Elans and should give a nice overview of the differences.

Greg Z.
'72 Sprint

The book Lotus Elan and Europa (Collector's Guides) ISBN 0900549483 available from Amazon has a good overview. If you are going to do the restoration you will need the Workshop Manual and the Parts Manual.

Most of the parts are Triumph or Ford. Generally the parts are easy to get new however a few parts are now no longer available new but there are a number of places that have good second hand stock. There is the Lotus parts show coming up soon so you might like a weekend break in England.

HI Tom?,

My Fiancee is an Alfisti and I anticipate I will be restoring an Alfa for her some time in the years to come. Her dad is starting on another restoration of their GTA Jr. since it's transmission blew up and the driveshaft tried to come through the floor.

You will love the Elan and much as she loves mine, and in some ways it is a simpler car to work on than an Alfa.

Ths S1 had two or three round taillights.
The S2 had oval taillights.

Both the S1 and S2 do not have side window frames a boot (trunk) door that does not wrap around the back of the car and the roof is stored in the back of the car and erected from discrete parts.

Both the s3 and s4 have a convertible roof that folds into a tray behind the seats, chrome frames around the side windows and the boot (trunk) door wraps around the back of the car so water drains out the back not into your luggage.

The S3 had oval taillights.

The S1, S2, and S3 had toggle switches.

The S4 had safety rocker switches, a bulge on the engine cover for the stromberg carbs used on the emissions engines, and rectangular taillights similar to a late E-Type Jaguar.

Get the books Authentic Lotus Elan and The Lotus TwinCam Engine for information, and the Factory Workshop Manual and Factory Parts Manual.

Also this forum and the Yahoo Groups email list are very very helpful.

Rob LaMoreaux

Thanks every one for the answers.

For Rob_LaMoreaux:

since it's transmission blew up and the driveshaft tried to come through the floor

The GTA 1300 Junior could be original equipped with re-inforced drive shaft joints, has homologated in FIA papers has factory optional, and can prevent that kind of accidents to occur.

Is it really a GTA, built in aluminum? Or a replica?

Also for the record, I found out the Elan +2 used the Carello tail lights from the Alfa Romeo ?Bertone? (except 1750 GTV 1st series and 2000 GTV).

I am pretty sure I will love the Elan because I like fast and light cars. And for those who don?t know very well Alfa history I may state we had the second best automotive engineer ever: Vittorio Jano, next to Chapman I admit? and also had the passion on building low weight like the Sprint GTA from 1966 with 740kg and a 1.6 Twin Spark engine with 115hp (170hp in track) and Giulietta Sprint Veloce, 690kg and 1.3 engine with 100hp. And top of all the 33 Stradale with a 2.0 V8 engine pulling 230hp with a tube frame chassis and 860kg and also one of the most beautiful cars ever made. Check it out at: <a href='http://www.alfacuore.com/php/show_page.php?page_id=85' target='_blank'>http://www.alfacuore.com/php/show_page.php?page_id=85</a>

Sorry to off-topic about Alfas is built on me!

I will soon state the car I found.

> The GTA 1300 Junior could be original equipped with re-inforced drive shaft
> joints, has homologated in FIA papers has factory optional, and can prevent
> that kind of accidents to occur.

It had the reinforced driveshaft joint, but it wasn't enough. The aluminum bellhousing shattered which allowed the tranmission to tilt eating the front bearing location out until the shaft stopped, at which point the output shaft stopped and the joint couldn't hold it. He had replaced the magnesium bellhousing years ago since it had a crack. He suspects that the bellhousing had a fracture that was not visible.

> Is it really a GTA, built in aluminum? Or a replica?

Yup it is a real GTA Junior Street Version and we are pretty sure it is the only street driven one in the USA. It was originally a european car, and he has owned it for about 33 years since he got it a year before my fiancee was born.

> Also for the record, I found out the Elan +2 used the Carello tail lights from
> the Alfa Romeo ?Bertone? (except 1750 GTV 1st series and 2000 GTV).

They are not the same, but there is a connection. The person in charge of styling the +2 was trying to figure out what lights to use and followed an Alfa home one day and he thought the lights would work. So they worked with a manufacturer (Lucas I believe) to come up with lights which they then used on the Europa and the Elan S4 so they would have enough quantity to bring the cost down. Then Chapman convinced Jaguar to use the same basic lights on thew E-Type to further reduce the tooling costs. The Jaguar lights use a different lens and some have different location of the bulbs, but they all use the same metal housing.

Rob

The very early Lotus Elan Plus 2s used Alfa rear lights!

Not all S2's had oval tailights, approx the first 250 still had the S1's round lights and there are numerous other inconsistances within the different series.
Brian.