Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Chris Brown, whom many of you will have conversed with over the last few years, has moved on at Lotus and is no longer responsible for the archives. I am sure we all owe him a vote of thanks for all the benefits we have had from his voluntary work.

Andy Graham has taken over running the factory archives and he can be reached at: [email protected]

In addition, some of you may already have had contact with John Hostler at the factory. He was there when Elans were built and has owned a number of Elans himself. He can be reached at: [email protected]

I believe we remain fortunate that Lotus still maintain their archives and allow us to access the information, however reliable that is!

Tim

Tim,
I believe John hostler used to splice an Elan chassis onto type 14 Elites before being recruited at Lotus.
He had to give that up as part of the deal!

I'm fascinated,

where can I find out more of his exploits with Elan chassied Elites.
My dream Lotus

John

Hi John,
I liked the idea too!
I did have some pics on my computer but can't find them!
I think it was a new body made up to fit the Elan chassis.
I remember it didn't quite look right as the kit has to comply with current regislation regarding bumper heights etc.
I'll have another hunt later.

robcall wrote:I liked the idea too!

Well that has touched a bit of a raw nerve! The sheet metal chassis of the Elan came along as a cost shaving design compromise. It proved very expensive to layup the Elite to handle all of the loads imposed on the shell. There, I'll go quietly now.

Howard Emes did a T140 kit not to long ago based on a stretched Spyder Elan/shortened Plus2 91 or so inch wheelbase. The top was detachable and it was powered by a Zetec 2.0 with 5 speed. I got photos of it at Donington in 2003/2004 some where but there prints. I talked to the fiberglass molder and it was a bit of work to get it all to fit right. I don't know how many they made.

Gary

Hi Russ,
this was a kitcar-not the real thing!
Sorry,didn't make that clear in my original post.
How is the spares situation for the Elite these days?

robcall wrote:How is the spares situation for the Elite these days?

Spares for the Elite are readily available for the most part. I've had problems with some small interior bits but that is the worst of it. Mind you nothing is cheap!

The Emes Zetec/Spyder Elite??? was discussed on another thread a long while ago. I had a sit in it, a look under the bonnet & a chat with its designer at Donington back then. There were lots of things to fault with it. The engine coult have been moved back several inches to remove that massive bulge in the bonnet, but that would have meant a new chassis instead of the cut & shut exercise done with the Elan chassis. Subjectively the car looked bigger & nowhere near as delicate as a Mk14. At the time the asking price would have bought a Mk14.
severla people have played with the Mk 14. David Lazenby then an employee got permission to put Twin Cams into a couple of surplus Boy units.
Dennis Orterer (name right?) has cut & chopped a couple of Elites & fitted the complete Elan running gear on stretched chassis.
just think of that such a lovely little car being provided with a twin cam, super gearbox & being isolated from all of that noise that came from the directly nounted suspension & power train.
Now that should start the & flying again!

Taxi please
John

D.J.Pelly wrote:The Emes Zetec/Spyder Elite??? was discussed on another thread a long while ago. I had a sit in it, a look under the bonnet & a chat with its designer at Donington back then. There were lots of things to fault with it. The engine coult have been moved back several inches to remove that massive bulge in the bonnet, but that would have meant a new chassis instead of the cut & shut exercise done with the Elan chassis. Subjectively the car looked bigger & nowhere near as delicate as a Mk14. At the time the asking price would have bought a Mk14.
severla people have played with the Mk 14. David Lazenby then an employee got permission to put Twin Cams into a couple of surplus Boy units.
Dennis Orterer (name right?) has cut & chopped a couple of Elites & fitted the complete Elan running gear on stretched chassis.
just think of that such a lovely little car being provided with a twin cam, super gearbox & being isolated from all of that noise that came from the directly nounted suspension & power train.
Now that should start the & flying again!

Taxi please
John

Like I said the Emes T140 had some issues but was a nice well done attempt to get the classis Elite lines on a updated kit. Without the removeable hood on it it looked like a different car, with it on it looked good too. It was just that the money was a bit dear. Dennis Ortenburger writes books and ownes an original Elite. Mike Ostrov has many Elites, two of which have the Elan chassis. One has a stromberg twin cam and a C4 automatice gearbox from a Ford Pinto (the Car). I have driven it and its something different indeed. The other has a Datsun 5 speed from a 240z an the original COventry Climax Engine. Mike is building a twin cam replica of the Lazenby Elite. There is no Elan Chassis in this engine swap, it has the original monocoque chassis and front Ski used to mount the Twin Cam. Here are a couple of photos I took last summer in August when I visited before the Monterey Historics, it was in the initial stages of its mock-up with lots of work left to do.











as far as the evil and twisted evil faces go, I don't see it that way at all. This is just ones personal right to express themselves.

What are in the archives on specific cars?
If I give them the details of my car will they know details like original colour, original dealer, owner ....?

I would like to find the history of my car - but I think it may be long and chequered!
Bruce

The factory have a potted history for each car as it left Hethel. Provided your car's details have not gone missing, they will be able to confirm your original VIN, engine no, colour code, dealer and date of release. If your really lucky they may have a works order too.

Tim

D.J.Pelly wrote:David Lazenby then an employee got permission to put Twin Cams into a couple of surplus Boy units. Dennis Orterer (name right?) has cut & chopped a couple of Elites & fitted the complete Elan running gear on stretched chassis.

David Lazenby did get permission to build one Twincam powered Elite. He built it with Chassis/Body Unit #2001, one of the last. This conversion did not involve an Elan chassis frame. Lazenby used it for his own transportation. CBU 2001 is now in Australia. I don't recall if Lazenby got permission to build more than one. There were some magazine articles suggesting the the Elite would continue with the Twincam. I think Lotus was eager to quash that idea as the Elan was in production and hopefully would have ended the negative cash flow caused by the Elite. Mike Ostrov, in California, has also built at least one Twincam powered Elite and incorporating an Elan chassis frame. Mike is no slave to convention and I think he used an automatic transmission from a Ford Pinto in this conversion. Dennis Ortenberger, also in California, is a bit more sensitive to convention and keeps his Elite in vintage racing specification.

trw99 wrote:The factory have a potted history for each car as it left Hethel. Provided your car's details have not gone missing, they will be able to confirm your original VIN, engine no, colour code, dealer and date of release. If your really lucky they may have a works order too.

Tim

Hi Tim

What do you think they have for the archives of Cheshunt? I'd be curious about a few of my early S2 Elans and the LoCort too.

Gary

Gary

Afraid I can not answer your question directly, I am more oriented towards the Sprint. I have no experience of dealing with Hethel with regards to earlier cars.

Try them. They may have as much or more than I indicated earlier.

Tim