Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Red with Black interior, VIN # 36/8022

Complete frame off restoration/rebuild

Documented hsitory from Lotus Cars, UK

SPYDER spaceframe chassis and suspension

Spax adjustable shocks

Adjustable A-Arms

Porsche CV Joints and half shafts

Quaife limited slip differential

Heavy duty sway bar

3 piece alloy wheels, 13 X 7" front and 13 X 9" rear

High capacity aluminum radiator with electric fan

Ford 2.0 SOHC engine with Weber carb, rebuilt and balanced

MSD ignition

VDO gauges

Rebuilt 4 speed semi-close ratio transmission

New red paint with widened wheel arches

Plexiglass side and rear windows

New Painless wiring harness

New interior and dash

Street legal, but would make a great vintage race car!

Lotus "Big Valve" Twin Cam engine, complete, available for anadditional $3,800

$19,900

Please call Hayes@ 772-299-9788 or email [email protected]" target="_blank

For more info and photos please visit http://www.wirewheel.com

Interesting car Hayes, I better it goes like a scolded cat!

I saw this on on Craigslist a few months back, was built by a guy in Tucson.

I've been looking to get into a FHC at a reasonable price for the past couple of years and I like the looks of this Elan.

That said, I wonder if something is just not right with this car. Originally it was offered somewhere near 30K and then dropped to ~25K IIRC. Now the new owner has dropped the price to ~19K after a year of ownership.

Would those huge tires on the rear cause problems, or wreck the Elan handling?
Is the replacement engine better (or worse) than the original?
Is the price drop just for lack of authenticity? (If this is all then this may be for me!!!)

Is this statement correct "Street legal, but would make a great vintage race car!" or would the changes mean this would not be allowed in a vintage race?

Comments?

littleElan wrote:I've been looking to get into a FHC at a reasonable price for the past couple of years and I like the looks of this Elan.

That said, I wonder if something is just not right with this car. Originally it was offered somewhere near 30K and then dropped to ~25K IIRC. Now the new owner has dropped the price to ~19K after a year of ownership.

Would those huge tires on the rear cause problems, or wreck the Elan handling?
Is the replacement engine better (or worse) than the original?
Is the price drop just for lack of authenticity? (If this is all then this may be for me!!!)

Is this statement correct "Street legal, but would make a great vintage race car!" or would the changes mean this would not be allowed in a vintage race?

Comments?

I would think the price reflects the fact that it's probably less than 25% Lotus Elan?

I think John is dead on with his comment. It looks like it was built to the owner's liking without regard to originality or resale value (I can relate to that myself). It's a fun toy but won't sell to someone looking for a true Elan FHC and won't fetch those prices. As for vintage racing, I don't know of a class where it would fit. That's not to say it's a bad price for what it is. I doubt you could built it for that, having to source a car to start with.

The most puzzling selling point above is "Documented history from Lotus Cars, UK". That ship has sailed.

Bud English wrote:The most puzzling selling point above is "Documented history from Lotus Cars, UK". That ship has sailed.

Did you mean sunk?

littleElan wrote:Is this statement correct "Street legal, but would make a great vintage race car!" or would the changes mean this would not be allowed in a vintage race?

Comments?

US Vintage racing regulations are not as strict historically as those in Europe.

I'm pretty sure SVRA would put it in Group 8 where other modified Elans would go, including 26Rs. Unmodified Elans go in Class 3 where they are very competitive, but in Group 8 that car would struggle unless it was very well set up.

Thanks for all the comments. I wonder if anyone could comment on this.

"Would those huge tires on the rear cause problems, or wreck the Elan handling?"

I've never owned a Lotus before much less an Elan so I'm less fussed about originality, but if the car just doesn't work with the big tires...

Has anyone experience with an Elan with this tire size or is it just not done?

The Elan Suspension has a relatively large amount of body roll and camber change in standard form. This would not suit really wide tires like this I believe. I suspect you would have to make the suspension a lot stiffer for these tires to work to the point it would not be a very pleasant road car. As a race car you could make this work OK and I have seen a few race Elan set up with wide tires and they appear to handle well..

The Elan certainly benefits from the increased track though. Narrower wheels and tires that take advantage of the wider available track with the flares may be the way to go with this car for road use if you did not want to bring the body work back to something more like standard.

cheers
Rohan

little Elan..............you would be the bride of Frankensteins monster if you marry up with this.


mike

Yes, they look odd.

The Modsports Elans were very wide, so was Dave Vegher's SCCA 2X National Championship winning Elan.

Chris O'Donnel's A Prepared Autocross Elan won several US national championships. All of these cars went through much development to improve cornering speed.

As Chunky once said "Any suspension will work, as long as you don't let it!"

cal44 wrote:little Elan..............you would be the bride of Frankensteins monster if you marry up with this.


mike

I think your right...my newly chosen username would be quite inappropriate with this car.