Is this an original Elan jack ?

[ftsoft]

My original jack is painted gray.

My jack was red for the 66 S2.

Frank

[abstamaria]

Andy,
All my Elan jacks are red, originally. My +2S jack was grey. The jack handles are pretty generic. I got one from Moss for an MGB for my +2S.
Roger

Thanks, Roger, that is good to know. I checked Moss's website and they don't seem to have the handle on their online catalog anymore. I will check some more.

Andy

PS: Red seems an interesting option. I'll strip the black paint off my jack (which has a rubber pad in the channel, BTW), and, with any luck, the original paint might be underneath.

[Jon Eckman]

Hi Ben, the jack and handle in my 66 S3 are both red and look to be original, with the double tabbed cradle - maybe one of your tabs broke off somewhere along the way?

[oldelanman]

I think as noted in the recent "toolkit" thread, that, except for the cradle, the Jack is identical to that supplied for Jaguars, probably the Mk II. It is probable unlikely therefore that it is a Ford part. There is a brand in the caption of one of the photos in that thread. Looking at the XKE (EType) discussions, I gather this the type Jack is used on 1966-on cars, but I could be wrong.

Ford certainly used the same type of Metallifacture jack in 60's and 70's but it's not identical to the one supplied with the Elan - at least not the one supplied with my car. I just had a root about amongst my old junk and found the example shown below, it's definitely from a Ford although I don't remember which model(s). As can be seen from the photos it is smaller and lighter overall than the Elan jack and the stabilising foot is positioned differently, both jacks have the same Patent No. stamped on the lifting arm. It's surprising that the Elan used the more sturdy version given the weight of the car and the policy of adding lightness ! It seems then that, contrary to what I said in an earlier post, it's not just the cradle which differs between the various applications of the Metallifacture jack but the chassis is also slightly different. At first glance they all look pretty similar so if you are trying to source a "correct" original you need to examine carefully before you buy.

[ardee_selby]

Ford certainly used the same type of Metallifacture jack in 60's and 70's....

We've seem to have parallel threads running....

Roger,

Is this (download/file.php?id=21301) the same size as the Lotus supplied part?

Richard

[oldelanman]

It's identical to the one I have..... except for the colour

[abstamaria]

I carefully sanded off the rough black paint that was on my jack when i bought the Elan in 1977 and found that gray paint underneath. I suspected that would be the case, as whoever painted the jack black did so with it in the folded position, so there were areas that were unpainted. When extended, these showed gray as well. Judging from the posts here, the jacks may have come in either red or gray. Chapman probably didn't care.

I might still go with red.

Cheers,

Andy