S1 tail lights

[CBUEB1771]

I would be interested in when U.S. imports were called "Federal"?

Generally speaking, the US regulations over exhaust emissions and safety features came into effect in 1968. Before that point there were relatively minor requirements such as sealed beam headlamps. So I would offer that "Federal" came into usage in 1968.

[garyeanderson]

The 1966 S1, S2, and Coupe Elan parts manual that is floating around on the internet simply differentiates the RER31 relectors and L692 lamps as "U.S.A."

Gary

[cabc26b]

Hi Russ & Gary,

I would accept that offer an stand corrected.

I poked around a few books this morning - in the early manual I have ( 26T327 ), the only notes on the lamps and reflectors are "America version only" , "USA & Canada" and "US specification only" .

The Robinshaw book makes mention of the number system on the post 1970 cars where the Suffix J &K are for federal market FHC and DHC cars. (he also tags the taller seats with federal ).

BTW Robinshaw also calls out Swiss and Itialan spec front flashers as 691's

George

[Lotus14S2]

A reply to George.

My front turn indicators are white, if that means anything.
I know later cars had orange, and I think the orange may have been used earlier on European cars...I think.
I know that most U.S. cars of the era had white turn indicators, and when the rules (?) changed an orange bulb was available to be used with the clear indicators. I'm not sure when the orange indicators came into existence, but I would guess '67 or '68

Tim