Early Plus 2 rear view mirror

Post by: **dusty** » Mon Jun 25, 2007 7:54 pm

Can anyone tell me what car lotus "borrowed" this rear view mirror from as fitted to my '68 Plus 2? I looked in various Ford and BMC cars of the era at the pagent on Sunday and couldn't find a similar one.

Cheers
Jon

Post by: **Elanintheforest** » Mon Jun 25, 2007 8:21 pm

Jon, this probably doesn't help but...see anything familiar on my coupe?
Mark

Post by: **dusty** » Mon Jun 25, 2007 8:41 pm

So did lotus make them especially for the elans or were they fitted to other cars?

I know the later Plus 2s used a ford item.

Post by: **Elanintheforest** » Mon Jun 25, 2007 8:50 pm

I doubt very much that they were Lotus only items. They must be early to mid 60s designs, cos they are very pointy and not very head-friendly. They are not Cortina or Escort (Escort were the later Plus 2 mirrors) and they look a little too posh to be Anglia...I'm wondering about Zodiac?

So that's 2 items now that have to be found...the internal door handle and this bloomin' mirror.
Mark

Post by: **Pastapesto** » Mon Jun 25, 2007 11:09 pm

Hi Jon
I think you will find that it comes from a Ford Zephyr Mk 3 and is the same as the type on the early elan s3 coupe as Mark correctly showed.
The only thing is that I may be wrong here but mine is in chrome and I'm not sure if they came in black or if it has been sprayed at some time.
They are normally badly pitted so maybe that is why it is black, just a thought.
I hope that this helps.

All the best

Adam

Post by: **dusty** » Tue Jun 26, 2007 7:20 pm

Thanks I'll investigate, all I need is the stalk as mine is cracked as you can see in the third pic, the rest is restorable.

Cheers
Jon

Post by: **lotuselan2** » Tue Jun 26, 2007 11:04 pm

Jon
Do you need it to be original? When I restored my +2 I used a generic one that glues onto the windscreen. I got the smallest one I could find. I have to tilt my driver's side visor to clear the mirror but the other side flips up/down okay. It cost about $10 a few years ago. It has anti-glare feature and a perfect reflector. CC would not recognize and original Lotus if he came out of his grave; he made them all different!
Ken

Post by: **type36lotus** » Fri Jun 29, 2007 5:11 am

My S3 Elan Coupe had the same mirror. The stem was chrome, as was the back(front?) of the mirror. I spent $90 to have that little stem re-chromed! I painted the chorme part of the mirror in silver Hammerite.