Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

I have a 1967 Super Safety and the tool kit is missing as well as the mallet/tool for removal. Does anyone have a picture of the original, better yet a part #? The SS has the turned/bent in tabs, did it use a different tool?

My 67 S3 coupe, has a hammer with copper on one side and nylon on the other side (I think).
Whole thing weighs about 3 to 4 pounds.

Sorry, not sure what brand it is and not sure if any brand name is still readable.

Probably looked a bit like this internet picture when it was new.

Mine is a simple wood handle with a solid lead head. I am not sure it is original. The hide faced ones were not hard enough to tighten the K/O.

Bill
Not sure if they were original Lotus supply but
your picture is of a "Thor" copper/hide mallet.
One face is copper the other Animal hide.
They should still be available. I have used them all my working life but not bought one for a while.
You can also buy just the replacement faces rather than a complete new mallet if you have an old one.
Clive

cliveyboy wrote:Bill
Not sure if they were original Lotus supply but
your picture is of a "Thor" copper/hide mallet.
One face is copper the other Animal hide.
They should still be available. I have used them all my working life but not bought one for a while.
You can also buy just the replacement faces rather than a complete new mallet if you have an old one.
Clive

I just checked, mine is definitely copper & nylon not leather-hide.

>You can also buy just the replacement faces rather than a complete new mallet if you have an old one.
Heh heh, that assumes you can get the old one out. Not much chance on mine now, too battered.
I'll post a photo when I've prepped it.



I'm pretty sure mine is original as the car was only about a year old when I bought it.

StressCraxx wrote:Mine is a simple wood handle with a solid lead head. I am not sure it is original. The hide faced ones were not hard enough to tighten the K/O.

I'm pretty sure that the one you have described is the correct one although my memory is of a solid metal head, brighter in colour than lead & a properly profiled hammer handle.
Damned if I know how to find it but one was pictured in a recent post on here.

In any case the Thor hammers regardless of what faces they had on them were not original equipment, they have an Iron body which can cause considerable damage to anything they may hit!

Cheers
John

GrUmPyBoDgEr wrote:

StressCraxx wrote:Mine is a simple wood handle with a solid lead head. I am not sure it is original. The hide faced ones were not hard enough to tighten the K/O.

I'm pretty sure that the one you have described is the correct one although my memory is of a solid metal head, brighter in colour than lead & a properly profiled hammer handle.
Damned if I know how to find it but one was pictured in a recent post on here.

In any case the Thor hammers regardless of what faces they had on them were not original equipment, they have an Iron body which can cause considerable damage to anything they may hit!

Cheers
John

Was this the post John ?.......post180041.html#p180041

The original lead mallets are still available from Thor in various weights described as "BARREL SHAPE SOLID LEAD MALLETS
Solid cast antimonial Lead heads."

Thanks Roger,

yes that was the post I was thinking of & the hammer pictured looks just like the one I had with my Mk14 Elite; so I feel pretty certain that Lotus would have supplied something identical or very similar.
It has the weight & fairly soft material for the head, not that it wouldn't damage the body if you had a poor aim or trying to change a wheel at night in a dark country lane.

So do you also think that this would be original equipment?

Cheers
John

GrUmPyBoDgEr wrote:Thanks Roger,

yes that was the post I was thinking of & the hammer pictured looks just like the one I had with my Mk14 Elite; so I feel pretty certain that Lotus would have supplied something identical or very similar.
It has the weight & fairly soft material for the head, not that it wouldn't damage the body if you had a poor aim or trying to change a wheel at night in a dark country lane.

So do you also think that this would be original equipment?

Cheers
John

Yes I think it is. Certainly that's what came with my car and I've always assumed it to be original although I cannot be 100% certain as the car was already a couple of years old when I bought it. Of course this does not answer the OP question as to what came with the SS cars but I suspect it would have been the same tool.

My parts book shows a hammer on the last page of the book. No manufacturers name is given. Thor are a long established manufacturer of soft faced hammers, probably the market leader. My car came to me without a hammer, but looking at the parts list and the Thor hammer shown I think they are the same thing.

Lead hammers can be deceptive in as much as use changes the shape of the head. When I started work (heavy engineering) in the 1960's we used lead hammers extensively. One day the apprentice instructor collected all our hammers, which were all sorts of shapes, and replaced with new, and they looked just like the Thor lead hammer shown earlier in this post.

Richard Hawkins

The Thor lead hammers come in several different weights, can someone weigh there's & let us know which size was used?

pharriso wrote:The Thor lead hammers come in several different weights, can someone weigh there's & let us know which size was used?

The attachment ThorLeadHammers.JPG is no longer available

Bear in mind that mine is pretty beat up after 40 odd years and I cannot be 100% sure that it is original but it weighs in at 800g including the handle and is around 280mm overall length. Looks like the smallest modern equivalent is a bit heavier although the dimensions are pretty similar.

12 Posts on the subject & not one reply from our own famous Hammer collector; I wonder where he's hiding

Both my first (1974) an more recent 1969 S4dhc's had Thor Copper/Hide combination hammers.
James

holywood3645 wrote:Both my first (1974) an more recent 1969 S4dhc's had Thor Copper/Hide combination hammers.
James

Hi James,
Were they both as originally supplied ?
Seems likely that both types were used - possibly according to availability at the time. Paul Matty in the UK lists what they refer to as the "original" hammer and it looks like the lead one, however SJ Sportscars - also in the UK - show a copper/hide type in their parts list, although they do not call it "original", so who knows. Since Thor would have been the most likely supplier of both types maybe someone could ask them what they supplied.....no I am not volunteering !