Note that although innovative, those rubber bands weren't good for much more than their listed service of 20k miles. Subtract from that for age. My local junkyard had a row of 124's with the remnants of their timing belts sticking out. American suburbia, that place where nobody reads the maintenance schedule 'cause for your Chevy, there's just no need.
I had a 124 Sport and with the exception that in the winter the alternator expected you to drive like an Italian or the battery went dead, I called it "A reliable British sportscar."
I don't own an Elan, but the Sport had a shifter that was like an extension of your body -- think it into the right gear and away you go. The best linkage I've experienced.
I rebuilt my engine as soon as I bought it and was glad I did. The keyway for the engine pulley had enlarged almost enough to let the Woodruff key out. Loose pulley nut. Would have had the same end as a belt in ribbons.
Floors were finest Italian steel, offering me the Flintstone model in its last days. Nowadays they just snip in a new floorpan in a 30-minute video on YouTube. Not then. I remember a guy at Foreign Motors in Boston (the place Jay Leno used to work -- hey, was it him?) telling me they wouldn't put a FIAT over five years old on a lift because of liability. He pointed me toward a new Lancia because they were still importing them at the time.
By comparison, I discovered only after driving 85mph all day across I-10 in my "new to me" Audi Avant that it didn't have the 80k miles showing on the odometer but closer to 140k. On the original belt. The mileage was mickeyed right before my father bought it (from a dealer) according to Carfax. Boy was I glad that I replaced it right after driving 8,000 miles coming back from Texas. It's hot out there in the western desert. Also explained a bit why the car pretty much fell apart in the years I owned it. The heated seats were a treat in New England winters, though.