Very Early Elan Door Layout

PostPost by: Elanintheforest » Fri Jan 26, 2018 9:08 am

I've been contacted by a friend who is restoring an Elan 1600 that left the factory in May 1963.

The car has the early centre console with ashtray fitted, but it also has the ashtrays in the doors, as per the later Elan from July 1963 onwards (approx!). It has the beige door cars with atlas grey armrests, and also has the early 120 degree spoke steering wheel.

A couple of questions have arisen from this 'mixed' specification.

Does anybody have photos of the early door trim, without ashtray and with the 'map pocket' in the front?

Has anybody come across an early car that has both the ashtray in the centre console and in the doors? I believe that the change in ashtray location from centre to doors took place around July 1963, and I understand that the change happened to delete the map pockets which were prone to collecting water. When Tim Mees and I put the Production and Specification changes together on the Type 26 Register website, this early stuff was based on a few known original cars, so of course there could well be variations coming out of the factory, and 'upgrades' implemented at the dealers garage. Unfortunately this sort of stuff isn't documented in any parts lists or books.

Any thoughts / photos would be most welcome..

Below is the illustration of the doors without ashtrays from the launch brochure, along with the centre console with ashtray.

Mark Kempson.
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PostPost by: Bill » Fri Jan 26, 2018 7:12 pm

Mark

My 26/0538, 1600 -ordered Dec.'63, shipped factory Mar.'64 - has no consul ashtray but ashtrays in the doors.
The door and consul abs parts are grey, the door cards beige.

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PostPost by: Elanintheforest » Fri Jan 26, 2018 9:49 pm

Hi Bill. The change from ashtray in the centre console to ashtrays in the doors seems to have been implemented sometime around July 1963, but having both in a May 1963 car is a bit of a puzzle!
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PostPost by: Mazzini » Sat Jan 27, 2018 12:10 am

Mark, surely in 1963 there was quality control and detailed recording of production changes... or does hand built mean that no two cars were alike :-)
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PostPost by: bitsobrits » Sat Jan 27, 2018 3:04 am

My car is chassis 26/0167 unit #150, and had the ashtrays in the doors only.
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PostPost by: Elanintheforest » Sat Jan 27, 2018 9:01 am

bitsobrits wrote:My car is chassis 26/0167 unit #150, and had the ashtrays in the doors only.


That's a confirmation that post-July 1963 the cars had the ashtrays in the door...thanks. Now we need a May, June and July car!

Mazzini wrote:Mark, surely in 1963 there was quality control and detailed recording of production changes... or does hand built mean that no two cars were alike :-)


You're not think that this is an exercise in futility are you Rob?! My thinking is that the car was 'upgraded' at the dealer (or maybe factory) due to the problem of water ingress into the map pocket, but just left the centre console with the additional ashtray.. Of course, the driver and passenger could have been heavy smokers and needed 3 ashtrays....the early Plus 2 has them!
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PostPost by: Mazzini » Sat Jan 27, 2018 9:08 am

I suspect you're very probably right about the map pockets.
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PostPost by: jonsered 11 » Sat Feb 10, 2018 10:27 pm

Hi Mark,

I have an early car registered 13th June 63 which has the centre ashtray missing, what vehicle did it come from originally?

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PostPost by: jonsered 11 » Sat Feb 10, 2018 10:34 pm

Hi Mark,

I have an early car registered 13th June 63, it has no ashtrays in the doors only the centre console, unfortunately the ashtray is missing....what vehicle did it originally come from?

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PostPost by: paddy » Sun Feb 11, 2018 10:58 am

Hi,

jonsered 11 wrote:I have an early car registered 13th June 63, it has no ashtrays in the doors only the centre console, unfortunately the ashtray is missing....what vehicle did it originally come from?


There's one here advertised as being from a 116E which looks like it might be it:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CLASSIC-CAR- ... SwSRlZ3lIw

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PostPost by: paddy » Sun Feb 11, 2018 10:59 am

Hi,

jonsered 11 wrote:I have an early car registered 13th June 63, it has no ashtrays in the doors only the centre console, unfortunately the ashtray is missing....what vehicle did it originally come from?


There's one here advertised as being from a 116E which looks like it might be it:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CLASSIC-CAR- ... SwSRlZ3lIw

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PostPost by: jonsered 11 » Sun Feb 11, 2018 2:11 pm

Hi Paddy,

thanks for getting back to me, however the photo of the one in Marks console looks bigger.....the e-bay 116e looks more the size of the door ashtrays, could you post a picture of your one, I read somewhere that it was a 100e one, not sure if that's the same as the116e?

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PostPost by: paddy » Sun Feb 11, 2018 4:38 pm

Hi,

jonsered 11 wrote:Thanks for getting back to me, however the photo of the one in Marks console looks bigger.....the e-bay 116e looks more the size of the door ashtrays, could you post a picture of your one, I read somewhere that it was a 100e one, not sure if that's the same as the116e?


Here are some pictures.

img_20180211_162718.jpg and

img_20180211_162704.jpg and

img_20180211_162603.jpg and

img_20180211_162534.jpg and

img_20180211_162503.jpg and


This item: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ford-100e-pa ... 3057187566 says it's 100e - it looks like the same part except for the ribbed door.

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PostPost by: jonsered 11 » Tue Feb 13, 2018 7:44 pm

Hi Paddy,

thanks for the photos, do you have one of the ashtray installed in the console, is it flush fitted or recessed?

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PostPost by: paddy » Thu Feb 15, 2018 7:26 am

Hi,

In the second photo (correcting for it being upside-down) you can see that on the underside of the top surface there are vertical tabs. These tabs sit in the aperture in the centre console; so the top surface of the part is slightly proud of the surface of the console by about 1mm.

I can take a photo and post it tonight or tomorrow.

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