Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

John - I wish you a full and speedy recovery All the best.

Mine came with a wood wheel . I passed the wheel
on to my son . He left it out in the hall and the dog chewed it up ..buggar...Ed

... an aside,
Greetings to John, I hope all is well for you too. Let's continue to follow this steering wheel definition class. Sometimes I feel like I've stumbled upon a Porsche site while surfing Elan.net and I take that as a LOTUS compliment. People wanting to keep their cars as original as possible and defining what original is, but that's a tough subject with Elans. I'll bet the Porsche owners know Exactly when their steering wheel designs changed.

Elans are fluid in almost every way, the subtle model changes are fluid, many Elan design lines are a blur because the supply shelf was right next to the assembly line. That's what appeals to me about this marque, the best handling and who cares about the rest.

Eric

Hi John,

a PM sent. I wish you a speedy recovery as well.

Interesting but not surprising that the steering wheel may have been wooden originally. It must have been changed at some time then, with a rarer leather slotted wheel My luck I suppose.

Hi guys, Thank you all for your best wishes, much appreciated. I will send Skelteanema the photo`s that I have together with the originals, he may be able to get better enhancement from the negatives than I managed to get from the professionals.

Thank you all once again, John. (awaiting M.O.T. on the body)

Interesting article on the origins of Springall steering wheels and the years that particular types of wheels were made...

http://mk1-performance-conversions.co.u ... for_25.jpg

Gary
'71 Sprint FHC
Miami, Florida

Just out of interest were there ever any wood rim, Chapman signed wheels?

What vehicles "should" have left the factory with a Chapman signed wheel?

I think that mine is an original Springalex one but its either not signed or I am looking in the wrong place, in fact should there be a Springalex mark or logo somewhere?

elansprint71 wrote:My 68 S4SE had the horrid plastic wheel but ACDC must not have been in that week because it was not signed,

I never knew Lotus had rock bands sign the steering wheels!!

What colours were available for the leather on the SE steering wheels? Any colour as long as it was black, or was there a range of colours? My seems to be mostly black but has a brownish tinge: I am not sure whether the black is original and the brownish tinge is the patina, or vice versa.

skelteanema wrote:What colours were available for the leather on the SE steering wheels? Any colour as long as it was black, or was there a range of colours? My seems to be mostly black but has a brownish tinge: I am not sure whether the black is original and the brownish tinge is the patina, or vice versa.

Black originally, fading to brown over time.