Davidb wrote:MrBonus (great name) Somehow I missed your posting. I agree, the Elan really benefits from more aggressive flares/wheels. Yours and Grouchos are the kind of look I like. How do you find the comparison between the Elan and the 911. I used to own an 83 911 and loved it for its steering and handling. The trouble was, I found I had to be doing 100 mph before it got interesting...
I found the answer to my question by doing a search-how surprising!
Photo #8 answers my question and photo #13 is how I feel about doing the job-photos 14-17 show why it should be done:
lotus-elan-f19/progress-far-t14299.html
I'm trying to find an analogy that's forum appropriate but the best way to describe it is the 911 is the girl you fall in love with and marry and the Elan is the stripper you leave her for knowing it's all wrong. The 911 is a tank, the build quality is stellar, after 6 years of ownership, I'd drive it on a whim anywhere, and it's a brilliant combination of vault-like construction and race-inspired engineering that you can drive violently or cruise comfortably without a second thought.
That said, I drove the Elan for the first time a few months ago and I felt my pupils dilate like I had experienced a new drug for the first time. The tach jumps around wildly, currently half the electronics don't work well enough to pass inspection, the interior is put together like a crack house, but I don't really care. The steering, turn-in, grip, and guttural wail of the Webers really drown out all rational thought. It's going to require love, more work than it will likely return in driving time but I don't care. I've driven and tracked a lot of cars but none of them feel like this Elan. None of them frankly even matter.
They will inhabit the same space and the 911 will be a faithful substitute when the Lotus fails in reliability and availability but deep down, I know which one I want to throw angrily into a turn all mechanical qualities being equal.