How many Radford Elans did Jim Clark have?

[ardee_selby]

Jimmy's Radford Elan gets a mention here: (elan-f14/roadster-coupe-t21719.html) but it looks like a normal hardtop in this article, so did Radford do more than one conversion for him? (A bit of trivia, I know, but thought someone might like to see this mag from Oct '64))

Cheers - rd

[twincamman]

Two and one Shapecraft?????? now---what do I win?????? e

[ardee_selby]

Ed.

Well done, but I'm afraid you'll have to supply your own scissors!

Cheers - rd

[elansprint71]

Quote from the picture caption, P39 in the Chris Harvey book "The interior of Jim Clark's personal Elan receiving a leather-covered dash-board at Harold Radford's London coachworks in March 1965. A number of these highly-personalised cars, with special electric windows and numerous luxury fittings were built around that time. They all bore the Radford badge in the centre of the steering wheel."
From the photo it is not possible to see if the roof has been fitted at the time of the photo.

In answer to your question- I don't know!

[Frank Howard]

rd,

Many thanks for posting the October 1964 magazine article. I found one of the most interesting statements that Clark made was with regard to seat belts. He said they were "essential equipment in passenger cars" but he "would never fit them in an an open sports-racing car".

At the time that he died in the Lotus 48, did he not refuse to buckle the crotch belt resulting in him submarining under the dash or is that just a rumor?

[twincamman]

well all the seat belts in the world wont help you when you T bone a tree at speed in a 1000 pound car -----I have had friends and fellow competitors killed with 6 and 5 point harnesses in big sedans and open wheel cars --its really a vast combination of events and variables that decide if you survive an incident ,most you don't have control over when things go bad part of the problem is called the second collision ---the car stops -your body stops --but your heart and brain and inner organs continue until the brain is pulled off the spine or your aorta ruptures and separates from the heart ect etc --to experience a small portion of what occurs find a fast down hill --[like corner 2 at Mosport ] you can feel your innards move to the right from the 3 g force ---multiply that by 100 times - the rest is just science --speed -weight -car crushability- track design - asphalt composition -temperatures --guard rail construction -tire heat and grip braking -area of impact on both surfaces ----just to mention a few e

[richardcox_lotus]

I know we're veering off topic a little but I believe there were no seatbelts in the Lotus 48, and that it was Jochen Rindt whose injuries were fatal when he submarined in the cockpit of the 72 at Monza (due to not wearing crotch straps).

Regards
Richard

[trw99]

And back on topic ... I knew I had some info and found it. As far as I can ascertain, Jim Clark had three Elans:

1 - 997 NUR 1963 S1 Unit no. 001 in Carmen Red and fitted with a silver metallic hardtop. The hardtop must have been a one off as the production version came in later, at unit no 039. Otherwise I believe it was a standard production car

2 - CRO 291B 1964 S1 Unit no. 3387 in Cirrus White with matching hardtop. This was the Radford conversion and included red upholstery, electric windows, padded dashboard with most switches repositioned onto the tunnel top and a large padded horn push. Some record has been made that this unit no. was the factory FHC development car and/or that it was a 26R, neither of which I believe to be the case, since Jimmy, as the number one team driver, was bound to be given a brand new car by the factory - wasn't he? Anyway, the car was stolen and then lost, so we shall probably never know.

3 - NLD 55E 1966 S3 SE FHC LHD Unit no. 6778 in Bahama Yellow. Again, I believe it was a standard production car and is the one Jimmy gave to Jabby Crombac, shortly before he died. He was due to be given a new +2 by the factory, though I am not sure if he ever took delivery of it

So the answer looks like one RD! Of course it is entirely possible that Jimmy's cars were breathed on by the factory or his mechanics, but it seems only the one was fitted out by Radford. Unless anyone else knows otherwise?

Tim

[elancoupe]

I have a magazine article on the Clark/Crombac FHC around here somewhere, IIRC it was bone stock.

[ardee_selby]

Tim,

Again, many thanks. Seems an urban myth has been dispelled.

However, earlier, in the same magazine - "Tarted up" ?

Cheers - rd

[Frank Howard]

I know we're veering off topic a little but I believe there were no seatbelts in the Lotus 48...

Richard,

I'm not sure where you are getting your information from, but it seems hard to believe that there were any F2 cars that were not equipped with belts in 1968. As illustrated in The Lotus Book, there is one picture of the 48 where you can see the shoulder belts. As there were only 4 made, I suppose it is possible that some were retrofitted. Can anyone else shed some light on this? Oh, and thank you Richard for the Jochen Rindt information.

[garyeanderson]

Clark Lance sent this to me back on the 2nd of January and I was going to post it but didn't know if I could post a nearly 2 meg .pdf file. Since Jeff did the upgrade and has allowed larger files I thought I would give it a try. Anyway this is a magazine article about one of his Radford S2's (I don't know if there were others).

Clark also Sent me some other .pdf's and I forwarded all of them to Jeff (twice) to put in the Library, I do not know if he received them as I didn't here back from him nor are they posted.

They are
Motor Sport November 1962.pdf
Autocar October 12, 1962..pdf
Motor October 10, 1962..pdf

They belong in the library so I am not going to post them as the total file size is 17 megabytes and I don't want to see the upload hang like this on did the first time. If Jeff gets around to reading any of this stuff maybe he will let me know sometime.

Please do enjoy the Radford Elan piece.
Gary

[ardee_selby]

Please do enjoy the Radford Elan piece. Gary

Thanks, Gary.

Yes, have just read it and much enjoyed it. Good to see it being written about from a different angle.

The opening sentence is great!

But when it says a "fixed hard top", could that mean it was, actually, bonded on? Hmmm...

Cheers - rd

[garyeanderson]

R D

Fixed is a British term to describe bolted into place. These hardtops are Bolted into place behind the doors or as you say "fixed". If it were bonded I think it would have stated "bonded".

OK, I just looked at the photos in the article again, Not Bonded, black gasket in the photo of the interior behind the doors is clearly visible. I think you read too much into what is written.

Gary

[ardee_selby]

I think you read too much into what is written.Gary

Gary,

I think we're at cross purposes.

Was just trying to nail the following statement, which appeared in the thread I referred to at the start of this.

"The person who first had the hardtop bonded on to create the first FHC was Jim Clark who got Radford to do it for his personalised Elan"

But I believe most Brits, me included, are more used to seeing/using the term "removeable hardtop".

Cheers - rd