Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Does anyone have a car previous or near to 36/6612 (left the factory dec 66) with a cam cover that has Lotus at the front?

I keep seeing pictures of cars later than mine with Lotus on the sides of the cam covers, whereas mine has LOTUS on the front.

the engine number indicates it should be the original to the car.

what gives? was the factory really that all over the place?

I suspect that your cam cover has been replaced at some time.

When the Mk2 Lotus Cortina was introduced (March '67) it had a large air cleaner sat on top of the cam cover, and that obscured the Lotus script on both sides of the cover.

The cover was then re-designed to put the Lotus script at the front where it could be seen, and they started appearing in June / July 1967. If you have an Elan or Cortina from that era with the Lotus script at the front, you can see the 'ghosting' of where the casting mold had been modified.The photo below of the ghosting is from my old early Plus 2, from September '67

Mark

I always believed the cam covers changed to have Lotus in the front occurred around late 1967 or early 1968 production. Like most things Lotus any changeover would have occurred over sometime.

I suspect your car may have had a later cam cover installed at some time as cam covers are very easily swapped so it is hard to tell whats original witihin many months of the nominal change over time.

Do you have a photo of your cam cover. The first version of cam covers with Lotus at the front still showed where the Lotus lettering on each side had been removed from the mold patterns - this is evident on my car made August 1968 an early S4 chassis 36/8555.

cheers
Rohan

I'm 36/6810, March 1967, Lotus' on the sides. I'm with Mark et al and suspect your engine had a newer cam cover at some stage.
Cheers
Rob
S2
S3 SE FHC
S2 7
22

hmm ok thanks guys, I'll look for that ghosting and post a pic.

Mine is 36/6725 and has LOTUS at the sides.

Rob
This is rather late but I hope you can help.
You posted in 2015 that you have 36/6810. I am buying a RHD, what looks like an S4 from USA which has supposedly been there since 1985.
However, I have the original Lotus Warranty which strangely is dated June 69 with the chassis no 36/6810 and engine no. LP 7556 LBA, so in theory this should be a 1967 S3
Maybe it was bought second hand from Lotus but that doesn't explain the S4 body, very strange!
Peter

Thornts wrote:I'm 36/6810, March 1967, Lotus' on the sides. I'm with Mark et al and suspect your engine had a newer cam cover at some stage.
Cheers
Rob
S2
S3 SE FHC
S2 7
22

Rob
Should have posted here i think, look down to see full post.
Thanks

In the normal scheme of things June 69 and 36/6810 shouldn't go together. Just to give you some idea of where they'd got to by '69 my S4 is Aug that year and is 36/9562 - nearly 3k later.

An Elan with Chassis No 6807 with Engine No 7658 left factory, June 1967.
Your numbers definitely 1967.