How many Radford Elans did Jim Clark have?

[ardee_selby]

Wow, thanks Russ.

(Hmmmmm...wonder if Coupes could look as good in a similar colour scheme?)

Cheers - rd

[Tahoe]

Wow, thanks Russ.

(Hmmmmm...wonder if Coupes could look as good in a similar colour scheme?)

Cheers - rd

Red isn't my favorite color on an elan, but I have to say that everytime I look at those pictures with the silver hardtop I want my car to have that color scheme. In my opinion I haven't seen a more pleasing combo than that, but then again there are many other very nice color schemes out there.

[ardee_selby]

(Hmmmmm...wonder if Coupes could look as good in a similar colour scheme?) quote]

Red isn't my favorite color on an elan, but I have to say that everytime I look at those pictures with the silver hardtop I want my car to have that color scheme. In my opinion I haven't seen a more pleasing combo than that, but then again there are many other very nice color schemes out there.

Russ,

I think there's more at play here than the colo(u)rs, per se. If you "respray" the silver hardtop black it looks...different. OTOH, if you keep the silver hardtop and "respray" the body a.n.other colo(u)r it still looks good.
In Miles Wilkins' book "How to Restore Paintwork", he describes the effect on the eye after re-painting a Broadspeed Mini. In that case it was a silver roof over metallic red body.

Cheers - rd

[ivor badger]

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

997 NUR did have the std removeable hardtop. But the Radford Elan had the std hardtop bonded on permanently and this is what leads to the FHC, a fact noted in the original article on the car. The car was not the prototype FHC, but showed the potential of the car for daily use. It rains too much in Scotland and for that matter the UK to make an DHC a practical daily use car, though there are a whole lot of people on this forum going to tell me I'm wrong. They of course like squiting through perspex or whatever rear windows with the roof flapping around them and the drafts coming in. Me, I'll just sit in the dry with the heater running looking around through glass.

On the Lotus 48 bit. All the statements I have come across list the Hockenhiem car as having the seat belt mounts fitted in the car, but no belts. Nobody at that time wore belts in a single seater, not even JYS. as pointed out, it was Jochen Rindt who was killed by submarining under the belts after the front of the car was torn off by the barrier. He was then left in the car with it pirroetting around the back wheels with no way of him stopping himself sliding out the car. His feet are visible in the film of the accident.

In case you think these drivers were being foolish, it was the standards of the day. Denny Hulme burnt his hands at indy in 1970 during practice when the car caught fire and his normal leather driving gloves burnt away, an alcohol fire that he could not see.While that might seem stupid in today's climate, Nomex had been invented by Dupont for NASA within the previous 5 years and had only recently reached the commercial market.

[trw99]

"997 NUR did have the std removable hardtop"

Ivor

Did Jim's first Elan have the hardtop fitted from when he was handed the car by the factory though? Because the official hardtop came out in August 1963, around unit number 26/0039, whereas Jim's car 26/0001, must have been originally registered in January or February 1963. (As an aside, I looked up 997 NUR on the DVLA site and it says 1st registered 1 May 99 and engine capacity is listed as 1498cc!)

So if he did have a hardtop before the factory made them, was that made up at the factory or by an outside supplier, such as Harold Radford or even Williams & Pritchard, who were starting to use glass fibre at that time.

On the matter of the 1500 badging, I recall two black and white period photos of 997 NUR in, I believe, the Harvey book. One of them clearly shows the car with 1600 badges.

Tim

[Elanintheforest]

Here she is in 1964, I believe.

Mark

[elansprint71]

[quote="Elanintheforest"]Here she is in 1964, I believe.

Mark[/quote

... and with the flappy plastic top fitted too!

I'm led to believe that the first hardtop could possibly have been made of alluminium by a small company near Weybridge.

Anyone know the part number for the strip of black duct tape used for sealing the screen rail to roof.

[spanner]

997 NUR W/ hard-top, Clark W/ soft kilt. 1964-65?

Spanner-Jim

[clarko1230]

A nice pic from the Radford Elan CRO 291 B plus another one from the very first Jimmy?s Elan 766 BOO S1

[trw99]

clarko

There seems to be split opinion on whether 766 BOO was ever Jim Clark's first Elan, before 997 NUR. Some say that 766 BOO was Sir John Whitmore's wifes Elan.

Registration letters OO is Chelmsford (not too far from Cheshunt), whilst UR is Luton (miles from anywhere!)

Tim

[Steve G]

I stumbled across NUR 997 in the Goodwood Revival Car Park last year, I couldn't believe my eyes, I took far too many pictures of it and even had to touch it when nobody was looking.

[pharriso]

I stumbled across NUR 997 in the Goodwood Revival Car Park last year, I couldn't believe my eyes, I took far too many pictures of it and even had to touch it when nobody was looking.

Can you post some of them?

I was speaking to Peter Windsor in February & turns out he has the third (yellow) elan. He should have had his son or daughter by now & was planning on calling the child Clark.

[Elanintheforest]

There were a lot of BOO, FOO and UOO Lotus Cortinas registered in 1963, many of which went on to go racing or rallying, or appearing in brochures. Chelmsford was of course where Ford registered their company and press cars.
http://www.lotuscortinainfo.com/?page_id=420

Mark

[trw99]

Prompted by the Duckhams Elan thread I did some searching and came across this little snippet:

"Anita Taylor (Taylor-Matthews) - popular British racer in the 1960s. She usually drove saloon cars, including a Broadspeed Anglia and a series of Minis, but also did some sportscar events. She won a race outright at Charterhall in 1963, driving an ex-Jim Clark Lotus Elan. In 1966, she did some British touring car races for Broadspeed, finishing ninth at Silverstone and sixth at Crystal Palace. On the sportscar side, she was part of the Ring Free Oil racing team in 1967 and drove a Ford Mustang in the Daytona 24 Hours. Anita, Janet Guthrie and Smokey Drolet were 20th and fifth in class."

So which Elan did she drive? Was it an Ian Walker Elan? Anyone know?

Tim

[elansprint71]

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

From John Bolster's Elan book:
There is a photo of 766BOO, JCs first Elan. Also:
"This was Jim Clark's second Elan, which, like its predecessor, passed into the hands of his great friend Ian Scott Watson..." The photo shows 997NUR.
So it seems he had four Elans, unless, of course, you know different.