Those side lights again...........

[davidj]

Hi,

Anyone every been to Malta. It is a great place with nice climate, great people very pro UK and a fleet of battered buses, some dating for the 50's which run all over the island.

What has this got to do with the +2? Well, look at the picture attached, taken outside Rabat...........................

David

[gerrym]

Are you sure it's the same. Was the bus a Bedford, other British or Contintental?

Gerry

[tcsoar]

Hi,

Looks very similar, but not sure its exaclty the same. The bottom (the top when on our cars) looks like it is curved rather than coming to a point.

Chris.

[ppnelan]

Which lights are we looking at
I think the side lights assemblies are NOT +2, but I don't know about the headlights...

Matthew

[johns]

Those sidelights/indicators look like they are from a Rover P6 (2000/2200/3500), especially as they have the small extension on the top so you can see they are from the car

[john-c-elan+2]

Rumours abound that they were made for & fitted to Bedford Duple coaches ? Can't believe that Chappers had them made specially, so what were they made for originally ? I've never seen them on anything but a +2.

[Jason1]

I think the side lights assemblies are NOT +2, but I don't know about the headlights...

The headlights are easy, they are standard 7 inch. I just replaced mine with Mini ones. I now have plastic bowls, H4 bulbs and stainless steel rings

[CBUEB1771]

Can't believe that Chappers had them made specially,

This topic has been bashed around before. I had a long chat with Ron Hickman at a Lotus Owners Gathering (LOG) in Connecticut many years ago. Ron claims that he did have Lucas make them specially for the +2 and that the cost was quite reasonable. On this forum I have been chastised (nicely) for accepting Ron's creative memory as gospel. On the other hand Chapman was quite good at getting suppliers to do things on the promise of many units. I can't imagine that anyone at Maximar or Bristol Aircraft were all that happy with Chapman over the Elite chassis body units but he did get just over a thousand of them.

[andyelan]

I tend to agree with Russ that the Plus 2 side light were unique to the car, I've certainly never seen them on anything else.

Lets remember, although we think of Lotus as a low volume manufacture, they did build around 5000 Plus 2s, and as the lights are not handed, that's would have been a requirement of 10000 units at least. I don't think someone like Lucas would have had any problem tooling up for an order that size.

Andy

[mikealdren]

You need to ask Sean (Over Steer on this forum). Sean's dad has run Lotus cars on Malta for years and Sean is rebuilding a +2 at the moment.

Mike

[Over Steer]

Hey all,

i've never noticed those lights before, is there a shot of the buses number plate? if so i'll keep my eyes open for it, it's bound to cross my path sooner rather than later. however, zooming into the pic i have to agree with tcsoar on the point that they seem curved rather than pointed.

another fact is that they seem in remarkable condition for lights that have been exposed to our sun day in day out for the past 30ish years. my car has always been garaged, and was inactive for the past 13 years and it's lights are not halve as clear as those. so they are either newer, or are made from UV balanced plastic.

Just my 2c on the matter.


Cheers

[Over Steer]

Hey all,

i've never noticed those lights before, is there a shot of the buses number plate? if so i'll keep my eyes open for it, it's bound to cross my path sooner rather than later. however, zooming into the pic i have to agree with tcsoar on the point that they seem curved rather than pointed.

another fact is that they seem in remarkable condition for lights that have been exposed to our sun day in day out for the past 30ish years. my car has always been garaged, and was inactive for the past 13 years and it's lights are not halve as clear as those. so they are either newer, or are made from UV balanced plastic.

Just my 2c on the matter.


Cheers

[Craig Elliott]

Just been out cleaining the +2 and the bus lights definately aren't the same - look to me like they're off a Rover as per earlier post...

Close though!

C

[davidj]

Yes, on reflection I think these are rover side lights and indicators, which are not the same as fitted on a +2. I snapped them just as I got off the bus before it moved off. It's number plate was EBY 556.

However, at the risk of returning to a much talked about subject, I do remember seeing a +2 side light assembly fitted on a 50's coach at a car show many years ago.

David