1966 S2 Lotus Elan DHC LHD

PostPost by: zog » Fri Oct 03, 2014 8:31 pm

I know you all have at least one Elan, but maybe you know someone who is looking.......

For Sale: 1966 Lotus Elan Series 2 Drop Head Coupe (Convertible).

Body off restoration just completed on a solid low mileage car that had been parked 12 years ago. Everything on this car has been totally torn down, sandblasted, powder coated or painted and rebuilt or replaced with new parts. Beautiful, fresh Lotus Medici Blue paint job with silver bumpers and silver wheels make it really pop. All new interior done up right in the original style including rebuilt seats, vinyl door panels, re-veneered wood dash and the original Wood Steering Wheel professionally rebuilt better than new! It is a real classic and a real head turner. Just won ?Best in Show? at the 2014 Chicago British Car Festival!
I bought this car two years ago from a club friend. He had parked it around 2002 in his garage. Original engine and original chassis and just 20,600 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 big valves with all new guides, valve springs, valve seats and cam followers. New oil pump. Nice new reground hot street cams installed. Water pump rebuilt. New connecting rod pin bushings installed on upgraded rods. 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 cleaned and rebuilt. New air box trunking hose hooked up to rebuilt original stock air filter set up. Pertronix ignition and a new Lucas sport coil. Engine dyno?d out at 130HP with a nice wide Torque band!
Close ratio 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. Gas tank was rebuilt by Renu - guaranteed for life. Original steel wheels sandblasted and painted silver. New tires. Hub caps re-chromed. Rebuilt 3 row radiator core. Heater core boiled out & tested. Steering rack rebuilt. New CV rear axels No rubber donuts!
New wiring harness. New battery installed under original battery box 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 clearance on slightly wider tires (165X65X13).
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 copy of Lotus Medici Blue. We could not get a paint code for the old Lotus Medici blue but I found a color in the modern base coat/clear coat format and it looks terrific! The paint is very nice! Not Pebble Beach concours but very nice. Bumpers painted silver as were the steel wheels. Chrome was done by Star chrome in Chicago. Door handles, trunk hinges, window rails, hub caps, etc. A few chrome pieces were not re-chromed as they polished up pretty nice. New chrome scripts all around. About $2000 in chrome! New windshield rubber and chrome strip insert.
Interior is gorgeous and looks as new. New veneered wood dash finished with 6 coats of hand sanded automotive clear coat ? looks great! New crash pad from Paul Matty and a new glove box with the proper black flocking! 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 rubber elephant hide carpet (as was original) over good insulation padding. New seat belts. New teardrop wood shift knob. New door glass channels and window brush strips.
New tonneau top fits great and looks terrific. Zip it open and it?s a perfect way to drive around in chilly weather and park it looking great. Convertible top is NOS. It is not absolutely perfect but it is very nice. I even restored the top C pillars and rails.
The original wood steering wheel was rebuilt with all new wood by Lempert Wheels. It is better than stock in that is has a metal ring (that you can?t see) built into it for strength. Looks and feels great!

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 1966 Lotus Elan which is what this essentially is. I really like the slightly stiffer springs and the AVO shocks. It gives the car a real nice ride and not too much lean in the turns. It is not absolutely a pebble beach concours car but it is a great car to take out, DRIVE and ENJOY!

I have receipts for everything that I have done to the car as well as many of the receipts from the two previous owners all the way back to the early 70?s. I have reinstalled the English number plate on the grill in front. I?m not sure if this is a true number plate that came with the car from England as this is a LHD car, but it looks cool!
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 48 year old car with only the reliability you would have gotten out of a new car 48 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 cars back in 1966 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 seventh Lotus Elan full restoration, not including my own S1 Elan which I have restored more than once due to severe racing incidents. I have also done a Europa Twin Cam Special (wrote a book about it), a Seven America, a Lotus Cortina (my first book) and a Ford Cortina wagon converted to a Lotus Cortina Estate tribute (Wrote another book about that one too!).

Full Restoration Photos at: http://www.lotuscorps.org/gallery2/v/Zo ... mmond+Car/
Price? I?ve got a lot of money in parts alone in this restoration and the prices are only going up on donor cars so I?m going to ask $48,500, but I?m open to serious offers from the right buyer. I encourage you to give this car a serious look and test drive.

Thanks!

Bob Herzog 847-390-0142 ? Home. 847-826-0857 ? Cell. email - [email protected]" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank
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PostPost by: EnfoKen » Fri Oct 03, 2014 11:10 pm

Bob ,
That seems like a great price to me considering all of the expense and work done to the car. I'm glad to see nice Elans appreciating in price. In my opinion , they have been undervalued for a while. The car looks stunning in the images. I hope you get what you are asking.

Ken
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PostPost by: Sea Ranch » Fri Oct 03, 2014 11:40 pm

Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant, Bob!

I love the appreciation for stock, from-the-factory, as opposed to the "improvements" we often see done to our cars.

Yours is my new go-to model and example, as I rebuild my Plus 2.

May you be treated well by buyers, and get all you ask for :mrgreen:

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PostPost by: EnfoKen » Sun Oct 05, 2014 4:27 pm

Considering this sold for nearly $20K, perhaps you should increase your price.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1965-Lotus-Elan ... 7675.l2557


KA
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PostPost by: lotusdaisy » Sun Oct 05, 2014 5:38 pm

Hi
Please can you say where the car is for an inspection

Many thanks


David Long
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PostPost by: zog » Mon Oct 06, 2014 2:42 am

The car is located in Des Plaines Illinois - NW suburb of Chicago.

Thanks.....
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PostPost by: zog » Mon Oct 06, 2014 11:32 am

I can pick you up at O'Hare airport if you or anyone else wishes to inspect the car and go for a drive.

Thanks!
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PostPost by: dpchamp87 » Mon Oct 06, 2014 2:00 pm

Absolutely stunning car; well done indeed!
Good luck selling; sure it will go quickly.

David
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PostPost by: zog » Mon Oct 06, 2014 9:43 pm

Thanks for everyone's interest and positive remarks. The car has been sold!
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PostPost by: EnfoKen » Tue Oct 07, 2014 2:58 am

Great news. Considering it sold fast, I'm guessing you got what you were asking.

What's next on the agenda ?
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PostPost by: pharriso » Tue Oct 07, 2014 11:22 am

Stunning job Bob, congrats on the sale. Is the car staying in the US?
Phil Harrison
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PostPost by: zog » Tue Oct 07, 2014 11:35 am

The car is going to an enthusiast in New York. I have an S 1.5 that I have started to take apart already and next week I am going to pick up a Bitsa S2 in Columbus Ohio. I will post pictures on LotusCorps.org.
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PostPost by: rcombs » Tue Oct 07, 2014 1:13 pm

Great job, hopfully I can do half as good a job on mine. Congrats on the sale!

Rick
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