S3 SS BONNET/HOOD

[types26/36]

N/A

[garyeanderson]

take a look at Bill's S3 SS

elan-f14/odd-color-t17384.html
elan-f14/another-elan-the-road-t21176.html

36/7502

I forget Brian but I think your S3 SS is in that range also.

Gary

[UAB807F]

My car is June '68 registered and from the door handles I'd assume it's the SS version. When I bought it in the 70s it had the stromberg bonnet which looked like the OEM fitting despite having weber carbs. I just put it down to "typical Lotus" fitting whatever they had most of when the car went out of the door.

Brian

Edit to add...

mine is 7867 which is very close to the end of the S3 run at 7895. Going on those change points it's roughly 3 months after the S4 (and presumably the revised bonnet) was announced, so I'd always assumed mine was either Lotus just using up S3 shells with whatever they had around from the S4 line, or perhaps the supplying dealer changing the bonnet to "update" the car and make it more sale-able ?

[types26/36]

Thanks Gary, yes my car is within a couple dozen more of Bills car so it would seem that even the SS cars (that were sent to the States) did not have Stromberg carbs/bonnets although maybe the late S3?s used the bulged bonnets as UAB807F (Brian?s) post.

[StressCraxx]

My '67 Elan SS 45/7279 was sold to Duchess Auto/Lotus East as a Std Super Safety model. It was built in July 67 with bolt on wheels according to the factory historian. It still has the original weber head, numbers matching with the dataplate. It was originally sold with a Weber bonnet. I bought it with a stromberg bonnet because the DPO didn't understand adjusting the bonnet latches was needed as part of maintenance. The Weber bonnet was forcibly removed at 90mph when he passed a lorry going the opposite direction on a two lane road.

The interior is completely consistent with a SS built after chassis #7400. (lets face it, the factory's records were used to confuse the tax collectors!) I have seen and driven a chassis# 10 numbers older and it was completely S3 equipped, with no SS equipment at all.

The dash has rocker switches, brake fail light, unusual chrome interior door latches that hang down into the armrest area, and non folding seats. Somewhere along its ownership it also acquired a set of knock on wheels and standard K/Os. I am the third owner have been its keeper since 1978.

Regards,
Dan Wise

[johnsimister]

My coup?, now sold, was 7755 and an SS. It had a Weber engine (the original) and, when new, a bulged bonnet as seen in pics sent to me by an early owner. In my ownership it had a flat bonnet, a replacement panel rather than the original one modified.

It also, strangely, originally wore an S4 badge on its RH rear quarter even though its shell was S3 as the 7755 number suggests it should be. Rocker-switch dash and hanging-down door handles in proper SS style, too. Plus an early-S4-type boot floor to take a longitudinal silencer. Truly a transitional car.

John

[Elanintheforest]

Interesting stuff, John. I wonder if it had the S4 badges originally though. Could it have had the S/S badges (same bezel) that somebody 'upgraded' at sometime with an S4 badge insert? Of course, we'll never know!

Mark

[trw99]

I have been doing some research on the SS, the bulged bonnet and Stromberg introduction in an effort to refine our knowledge. As ever, I stand to be corrected by superior information!

Let?s start by acknowledging we shall probably never be totally sure about this particular Lotus conundrum, for the reasons most of us are aware of regarding Lotus and record keeping in the 1960s. Now we should look at the chronology (where an engine no or unit no is quoted I have added the appropriate engine or unit number and date from the Lotus records in brackets).

Nov 67 ? S3 Super Safety introduced at unit 7400 (LP8744, 14 Nov 67). We know some SS cars have earlier unit numbers. Source Lotus Parts Book
May 68 - Bonnet with bulge introduced from unit 7895 (LP12254, 24 May 68). Source Lotus Parts Book
Jun 68 ? S3 SS production ends at unit 7894 (LP11540, 18 Jun 68). We know some SS cars have later unit numbers. Source Lotus Parts Book
Oct 68 ? Denis Austin, Lotus buyer, becomes aware Zenith-Stromberg carbs are cheaper than Webers; he tells Chapman who orders Steve Sanville to start using Strombergs as soon as he can re-develop the head. Source Wilkins
Nov 68 ? Mar 69 - Graham Atkins redesigned the head to accept Strombergs and Solex, the manufacturers, carried out the development of specialised needles, temperature compensators and settings that make the Lotus supplied 175CDS carb unique to the Twin Cam. At the same time the revised bonnet was redesigned to clear the dashpot tops of the Strombergs and moulds made up. Source Wilkins
Jan 69 - Strombergs fitted from engine no K17653 (17653 is in fact an L in the lists; 8600, 1 Jan 69) Standard UK engine (Prefix K=Standard Stromberg Domestic). Source Lotus Parts Book
Jan 69 - Strombergs fitted from engine no L17654 (17654 is in fact a K in the lists; 8641, 31 Jan 69) S/E UK engine (Prefix L=SE Stromberg Domestic). Source Lotus Parts Book
Mar 69 ? Elan S4 introduced; first S4 to be fitted with Strombergs was unit 8600 (as above). Source Robinshaw/Ross
Apr 69 ? Strombergs fitted to engines on the production line. Source Robinshaw/Ross
Aug 69 - Webers were re-fitted to later S4s, some reports say from Unit 9524 (engine L20987 May 69). Source Robinshaw/Ross
1970 - Strombergs still fitted to some UK cars during 1970 (eg. L22071 to 9812 Aug 70 & L23198 to unit 0172E Feb 70). Source Robinshaw/Ross and lists

Next, we know from several listers that their S3 SS were delivered from the factory with bulged bonnets so those must have left Hethel after the May 68 bulge intro. Are there any cars within the 494 ?official? SS cars produced that could confirm that? Yes ? 73 fall into that category, so approximately 15% of SS cars could have had a bulged bonnet, plus those additional cars produced outside of the Lotus bracket after unit 7894. And I think that?s as far as we might get on this one!

As an aside, I identified another poser with regards to engine numbering during this period, but I shall leave that for another day and thread.

Tim

[Ross Robbins]

Here are photos of 7480 as discovered from a barn 18 months ago with flat bonnet and webers. Does this help or hurt solving the mystery?

[Elan45]

I've owned 7380 since September 1974. It is a full SS spec car with the matching number Weber head but with a bulged Z-S bonnet. In 1975, I bought a flat bonnet from DSN Lotos but I never installed it.

Roger

[elansprint71]

I have a spare bulged bonnet if anyone wants it- it needs a lot of work it is partially stripped of some of the 99 layers of paint but is salvageable. From memory the metal bits (hinge runners and latch thingies) are missing.

Free to a good home but of course you'll have to come and collect it.

I can take photos if anyone is interested.

[elans3]

My first S3 SE was an SS, and had a bulged bonnet, and was registered in the Spring of '68.
It had a toggle switch dash, the SS interior door handles, and was specified from new with the close ratio gearbox and 3.55 diff

Steve
elans3

[Elan45]

Tim,

It's nice that you've done this bit of research but it leaves out one small detail. The federal safety standard and pollution standards came into effect in the the US market on Jan 1 1968. I think there were a few SS cars imported after that date as 1967 production cars, but any vehicle produced after Jan 1 had to meet those standards. I can remember reading of the announcement of the Super Safety variant that it was Chapman's idea of poking fun at the forthcoming safety standards. The Elan with a fiberglass body sitting on a backbone frame had never been considered a car you would want to be in to survive a crash. The whole idea Lotus had sold was that with superior handling, you would be able to avoid a crash situation. So, even though Chapman understood that the US standards were aimed at crashability, the Super Safety model met all those criteria of no pointy things on the dash or interior, dual brakes, non-tilt able seats, non protruding door handles and even removed the flared outward K-O spinners. They also had side marker reflectors, but I can't imagine anyone of the magazine testers would have wanted to be involved in a crash of the car. But by the letter of the law, it was safe.

The first SS I ever saw was the one I now have owned since 1974. It was very original and there was evidence of touch-up work on the paint. I can't imagine anyone wanting to "update" their car by installing a bubble bonnet. The paint on my car matched and was original except for the touch-ups.

I was involved in the motor trade from 1970-74 and we had customers with S4 Elans. They all had Z-S carbs and he cross-over intake runners. We saw the same mess on Volvos, who also changed to Z-S carbs from SU.

I'm sure there were cost factors of Z-S vs Weber, but there weren't any cars coming into the US market after Jan 1968 with Webers. We even had different (tighter) specs than Canada and for years, there were tales of smuggling cars over the border.

Roger

[Paul Chapman]

I have just found this thread while looking for something else, for what its worth I have 45/7765 a May 68 reg. S3SE SS which has webers + bonnet with a bump, it appears otherwise to be correct for a SS model other being fitted with perforated S4 seats. any other S3 SS's out there with S4 seats ???

[UAB807F]

Yes Paul, mine has the same set-up with the later seat trim but the door panels are true S3 SS with plain vinyl inserts. As the S4 had already been announced I guess they just fed the changes into the production line while they were clearing out the last of the S3 shells. When I think about it, mine is a real hotch-potch with S3 toggle dash & trim but S4 seats & bonnet. It must be that exceedingly rare model, the S3.5 S/E SS ?