Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

SOLD: 1967 Lotus Elan Series 3 Fixed Head Coupe.

Body off restoration just completed. Everything on this car has been totally torn down, sandblasted, powder coated or painted and rebuilt or replaced with new parts. Beautiful, fresh Lotus Ardent Red paint job with silver bumpers and silver wheels with chromed 3 eared knock off spinners make it really pop. All new interior done up right in the original style including rebuilt seats, vinyl door panels, new headliner, re-veneered wood dash and the original Wood Steering Wheel refurbished like new! It is a real classic and a real head turner.
I bought this car as a basket case from a club friend. He had taken it apart in the early eighties and kept it in his heated garage since then. The body placed on a cart and chassis was hung from the ceiling with care. I bought it in 2011 and started the rebuild. I just finished it up and I am still putting on some break in miles. It has 41,000 miles on the Odometer.
Details: I do most of the work myself including the bodywork, but I farm out some of the specialty stuff (engine machine shop work, final paint & seat upholstery) to the pros.
The Lotus Twin Cam, dual Weber carb engine was rebuilt with new rings, seals, gaskets & bearings. Engine block & head hot tanked. Block was line bored. Crank polished. New valve job with all new guides, valve seats and cam followers. Head & block surface milled for straightness. Water pump rebuilt. New connecting rod pin bushings. Pistons bead blasted and skirts Teflon coated. Machine shop work done by Apex engineering in Bensenville. New engine mounts. The new exhaust pipe is mated to a brand new Stainless Steel, stock styled muffler. Looks beautiful and sounds great (Not loud and not cheap!) New gear reduction starter. Weber 40 DCOE carbs ultra sonic cleaned and rebuilt. New air box trunking hose hooked up to rebuilt original stock air filter set up.
Transmission was in good shape. I tore it down for a good cleaning and just replaced the seals, gaskets and front main bearing. Shift forks and syncros were good. Shifts great. Nothing shifts better than an early Elan!
Rear end disassembled, cleaned & checked. New seals and gasket installed.
Stainless braided brake hose lines. Stainless braided clutch line. Stainless braided oil pressure line. Rebuilt brake master cylinder & clutch cylinder. Rebuilt calipers with new Stainless Steel pistons. New front and rear brake rotors. Gas tank was rebuilt by Renu - guaranteed for life. Original steel knock off wheels sandblasted and painted silver. New tires. 3-eared knock off spinners were rebuilt and re-chromed. New battery. New 3 row radiator core. Heater core boiled out & tested. New fuel pump. Steering rack rebuilt. New CV rear axels No rubber donuts!
New wiring harness. New battery with an easy access, quick battery shut off switch. Gauges all cleaned up and function well. Generator and regulator professionally rebuilt.
Chassis. No rust to begin with so it was checked for straightness, sandblasted and powder coated black. I did install an extra steel plate across the bottom of the front cross member with a large u-bolt tow hook to make things easier when you want to jack it up or put it on a trailer. I sandblasted and powder coated all the suspension pieces and installed all new bushings and rubbers everywhere. New closed cell foam chassis pad between the chassis and the body. New tie rod ends. Trunions rebuilt. New AVO front & rear shocks with upgraded springs with adjustable ride height from Dave Bean. Rear springs and rear perches are slightly smaller overall diameter to allow for slightly wider tire clearance.
Body and Paint - I did all the body work. Body was sanded down to bare fiberglass. All stress cracks and previous repairs ground out and repaired with fiberglass. Body was flipped upside down and the undersides and wheel well areas were completely sanded down and redone. My buddy owns a fiberglass shop so he made sure all the glass work was done right. We retained the stock fender shape - No fender flares. Entire body shot with 2 part primer and block sanded multiple times. Final base coat/clear coat paint job was done by Rizza Autobody in Des Plaines. Color is a gorgeous Lotus Ardent red. It is not Pebble Beach concours perfect but it is very, very nice! Bumpers painted silver as were the steel wheels. All new chrome done by Star chrome in Chicago. Door handles, trunk hinges, driver?s window frame, etc. I even had the 3 ear?d knock off spinners for the wheels re-chromed. New chrome scripts all around. About $2000 in chrome! New windshield and rear window rubber and chrome strip insert.
Battery cut off switch located in trunk.
While we were doing the body work, we made a mold and made a reproduction of the very rare rear diff cooling vent. These fiberglass vents go underneath the driver?s side of the car and route fresh air up to the differential. Most of these have broken off the car over the years. See my restoration photos to see what this looks like.
Interior is gorgeous and looks as new. New veneered teak wood dash finished with 6 coats of hand sanded automotive clear coat ? looks great! Original crash pad in nice shape, repainted with vinyl paint. New stock style door panels and side panels with new vinyl covering. Seats rebuilt with all new foam padding with original style black vinyl but better quality than new. They look and feel great! New carpet over good insulation padding. New seat belts. New teardrop wood shift knob. New door glass channels and window brush strips.
I spent a lot of money on this car to make it very nice. Even the proper stainless steel windshield wiper blades cost $47 each!

New parts with prices on some of the pricy items:
Gear reduction starter ($175)
Stainless steel wiper blades ($47 each)
AVO front adjustable shocks ($478)
AVO rear adjustable shocks ($475)
Upgraded front & rear springs ($300)
Rear adjustable height perches ($216)
CV joint half shafts ($1550)
Brake pads & stainless steel pistons ($244)
Brake rotors Front & rear ($240)
Stainless steel flex brake hoses ($149)
Stainless steel clutch & oil pressure line ($200)
Handbrake cable ($112)
Stainless steel muffler ($359)
Loto-cones ($90)
Seats rebuilt with new headliner and sun visors ($2450)
Plastic heater valance ($180)
Front & rear window rubber gasket and plastic chrome filler strip ($350)
Door and Trunk rubber gaskets
Carpet set ($350)
Bonnet spring ($46)
Windshield washer bottle ($58)
Air trunking ($58)
Wiring harness ($750)
Weber carb rebuild ($375)
Re-Chrome knock offs ($375)
Knock off tool ($130)
Engine bearings & tappets & connecting rod bolts ($523)
Pertronix ignition ($99)
Nose badge ($70)
Chrome scripts ($250)
Synchro rings & other gear box parts ($600)
3 row radiator core ($240)
Gas tank rebuilt by renu ($240)
Front marker lamps ($100)
Chassis powder coating ($325)
Suspension powder coating ($275)
Battery, Tires, ring gear, suspension bushings, brake pads, tie rod ends, spedo cable, ignition coil, ignition wires, heater valve, walnut shift knob etc?..



The car looks great, sounds great and runs great. The steering is tight; engine power and brakes are very good. The car is zippy and handles great. It?s a real joy to drive. Just like a new 1967 Lotus Elan which is what this essentially is. It is not absolutely a pebble beach concours car but it is a great car to take out, DRIVE and ENJOY!

French provenance! Besides the original Lotus VIN tag, this car came with a stamped steel registration plate in the engine bay from France. I restored the plate and reinstalled it along with the original Lotus VIN tag. So, apparently this car has some French heritage. C?est Magnifique!

Although everything that could have been done, has been done to this car to make it like new and in some cases better than new, it is still is a 46 year old car with only the reliability you would have gotten 46 years ago. So it is being sold as-is with no expressed guarantee or warrantee except that I will provide full technical and moral support for however long as you own the car. This car, just like any new Lotus back in 1967 will require service, tinkering and attention. It is not a Miata!

I can provide references from owners of my previous restorations upon request. Some of them still talk to me! ? This is my sixth Lotus Elan full restoration, not including my own S1 Elan which I have restored more than once due to severe Autocross incidents. I have also done a Europa Twin Cam Special, a Seven America and a Lotus Cortina. The car is located in Des Plaines Illinois, right next to O?Hare airport. If you are interested I encourage you to come out and give her a good test drive. You will love it!

Full Restoration Photos at: http://www.lotuscorps.org/gallery2/v/ZogsCorner/Coupe/


Price? I?ve got a lot of money in parts alone in this restoration so I?m going to ask $36,000, but I?m open to serious offers from the right buyer.

Bob Herzog
email - [email protected]

Bob, Beautiful car & worth every penny, but surely there's no such thing as a Series 2 FHC?

I've seen the early Coupes listed as S2 before. It has the S2 tail lights and the smoother S2 lines around the rear wheel arches..... I am probably wrong.....

36/5406

So it must be an S3!

Just updated my listing. Thanks for the quick education from several Elan enthusiasts!

Great car and nice price.
Once again though - steering wheel on wrong side and wrong side of the Atlantic for me.

Good luck with the sale.

Beautiful job Bob. Best of luck with the sale.

Wow that is inspirational given where I'm up to with mine. Really beautiful work, well done! Must be hard to let it go......

Bob,
Well done, and offered at a fair price. I know who's brain to pick when I start working on Bill's S/E this winter!
Rick

Bravo for resurecting this Elan. Beautiful job. First time I see a differential cooling vent.

Alain

Bob, Another beautiful job. You need to sell me the Cortina Estate The underside shots look better than factory. I have submitted this to Bat to see if it can get wider exposure. And if that project S1 is worth over $23K then I would stick to my guns on the price as a good value. Just sayin'

Bob, Whata wonderful labor of love. interesting that it's a non airflow Coupe. Thought they only made about 25 before changing over to the airflow. I have Coupe # 5192 that I bought at the Earls Court show in Oct "65, shipped in Jan "66 . It came with a speedo for klicks rather than mph, so they really wern't building for the USA market. Now to my point I only have a part of the differential cooling duct. Came off in the winter of 66-67, driving in slush snow.What remains seems to have more screw mounts than what you show. Rather than attempt to recreate the missing parts, are you making the entire duct available? Recalling, I think I paid, sans shipping, about $3600 for the car! Your asking price doesn't keep up with inflation. What's your next project?

Ro

Thanks for all the compliments on the car. I enjoy just about eveything I do on an Elan restoration so I don't mark the price up very much for my labor. The selling price covers the parts, what I paid others for their labor and some beer money.....

As to the diff vent, my buddy Paul owns Fiberglass Solutions in Addison Illinois. If you have an S3 Elan, he can sell you a diff vent. We found that the mold we took off my car makes vents that do not fit any of our S1 or S2 cars.... Not sure about S4. I really don't know which cars came from the factory with these vents.

http://fiberglasssolutions.biz/
I don't think the contact email on his website is working. Paul's personel email is [email protected]

As to the mounting holes, I reused the holes that were drilled by Clive or Burt or Colin or whoever drilled them at the Lotus factory 47 some years ago.... I doubt if they used a template for drilling.....

A interesting point about the Pre-air-flow Elan Coupe - there is another one in our club about 15 miles away in Evanston Illinois. Jeff Cohen's Elan is only about 10 numbers off of this one on the VIN but he has D'el Orto carbs instead of Webers.....

As to the sale of this car.....there is a gentleman in Texas who is shaking his couch out looking for enough change to buy this Coupe.....

Thanks,

Bob

I can't believe this is still up for sale..... incredible price for this car, somebody needs to snap it up.

Bob,

Beautiful restoration of the prettiest of all Elans. I love red pre-airflow coupes, and Ro Woodcock, my pre-airflow FHC is 36-5526 and also red. Mine also has the window switches in the doors, but it has the S3 Stanpart radiator. Real early FHC's used the earlier S1/S2 radiator and the S1,S2, Coupe parts book states the 1st 100 FHCs had the window switches in the doors.

Re: the S2 designation. Because the FHC pre-dated the S3 DHC, some magazines, notably Sports Car Graphic in the USA, did a road test on the early Coupe and since the newest Elans were known as S2's, titled the test as a
S2 Coupe. I have always referred to the Coupe as Coupe, no S2 or S3. Especially the early ones built during the period when S2 roadsters were still being made. But we know what it is!

I sure wish my Coupe were to this standard, but unfortunately mine is still awaiting its turn on the body jig. Its been off road for at least 20 years. Got to do another race car before I can do the Coupe.

Roger

I have seen this car in the flesh and it is worth every penny. I always thought I had the nicest, red pre-airflow coupe around, but i'd trade mine for this one! amazing workmanship. glws