When is an Elan no longer an Elan

PostPost by: GrUmPyBoDgEr » Mon Feb 07, 2011 11:39 am

The Christopher Neil cars have been briefly discussed on here before.
Back then it was usual to get a doner Lotus +2 & then build the "Sprint"
Although this particular car doesn't seem to have many if any Lotus parts, I doubt if it could be registered as a Lotus?
Do you know what the registration document for that car calls it?
Errrrm, not that I'm particularly interested :roll:

Cheers
John
Beware of the Illuminati


Editor: On Sunday morning, February 8th 2015, Derek "John" Pelly AKA GrumpyBodger passed away genuinely peacefully at Weston Hospicecare, Weston Super Mare. He will be missed.
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PostPost by: cabc26b » Mon Feb 07, 2011 5:47 pm

To the question rd poses -
Is it? Or isn't it? If not, why not? Please list your anwers here :)


The short answer - "It is what it is" - :)

To the overarching topic - what constitutes and elan or when is and elan no longer an elan - I offer the following view point - there is an essence to these cars in their original form that goes away with modifications, the further you go from original the more removed you are from the original concept, design, execution , feel etc. The elan has plenty of soul in its unadulterated form.

There are many outside this forum that place our car in the ranks of the all time greats - in its original form, when compared to its contemporaries and during a period that many consider a golden age - which for me adds to the guilt trip when perusing the Bean, Burton or TTR catalogs.

I'm not opposed to modifying an elan and in fact have done my fare share of "upgrades" in order to race our cars in historic/vintage events. The elan was not designed for competition so you need to make some accommodations before heading out onto the track. At present i am 90 + % done with a narrow arch "event" car using a Blue 1964 S1 as the basis of the build , - its an attempt at having a dual purpose car -

However..... after riding around in a moth balled ( since 73) 63 elan this weekend , it makes we wonder if the blue car won't seem like folly a couple of years down the road. The red car performed brilliantly - this car is bone stock and almost completely original ( excepting donuts, fuel pump, battery, front seal, conversion to neg earth and some interior stuff that turned to dust- ) and a joy to tour around in.

In the end , if all you have left is the coachwork , then I would have to say that you have lost the vast majority of the Lotus and Elan soul - Lotus ,was after all, not a style house -

George
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PostPost by: billwill » Mon Feb 07, 2011 8:24 pm

In the Arts trade, I believe they call a painting based on the work of a famous artist, e.g piccasso an "after-Piccaso"

So I think you might call this an "after-lotus"
Bill Williams

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