Looking for a Lotus

[Andy8421]

I believe you Tim!! Still looks awful.

This Sprint is 'as it left the factory' and from 1 January 73 this positioning of the front number plate was mandatory. Being a purist I have kept it as it is. The same applies to my 74 plus two and 75 Europa. Jim

Jim,

I don't think the positioning was mandatory, but 1/Jan/73 was the date that reflective plates (white at the front, yellow at the rear) became mandatory. Given the 'breathable' design of the original Elan front number plate, putting a white plate across the grill would probably be the final nail in the coffin of the cooling system that was already marginal on the Sprint.

While I also agree the appearance jars, the Elan does generate lift at high speed, and flat out on the Lavant straight at Goodwood I have often wondered exactly how much weight was left on the front wheels as the steering would get worryingly light. There is every chance that your plate as currently fixed makes a significant difference to the airflow under the car, and could well reduce high speed lift. You could introduce an L shaped 'splitter' at the bottom of the plate and generate some downforce - as they say in architectural circles 'if you can't hide it, make a feature out of it'.

Andy.

[JimE]

What I had meant to say was it became mandatory to show the registration on a white and yellow background as you pointed out. One option was to fit reflective plates as positioned on mine (see also the Autosport Bolster Sprint 73 Road test car), which doesn't impede airflow, or place the registration number on the bonnet. Jim

[661]

The reduction in lift with the plate in that position is intreging.
A survey at the time on the merits of the aesthetics, when scored out of ten, showed that ,as near as dammit ,50% of people found it less than average.

[richardcox_lotus]

One thing to bear in mind is that the final choice of Number plate location would have been agreed with the dealer. The factory would probably have ensured the fixings were there though.

Well, hopefully.... money was tight in 73/74!

Regards
Richard

[hamm61]

All this talk of statistics , do we not now use an algorithm,if so the Lotus elans would get 11 out of 10.
Decmber madness

[alan.barker]

Well here is my Sprint in 1972 outside TollGate Engineering where it was built up from Kit.
This photo was found by Tim Wilkes our Sprint specialists while searching the Net. He asked the question if it still existed and where.
Cheers
Alan

[trw99]

Ah but, Alan. There is a difference between your car and Jim's.

At the time yours was built there was no Lotus factory provided front number plate securing tabs large enough for the UK plates. There were smaller tabs but they were for export markets. This resulted in your car having a 90 degree fully vertical plate, which actually reduced the top speed by 3.33%.

To rectify this clearly unacceptable state of affairs and to comply with the new for 1973 front number plate regulations, Lotus designed reworked securing tabs. Brilliantly these angled the front number plate forward to provide the anti-lift characteristics I described earlier. The plate should thus be angled 13.87 degrees from the vertical.

All darned clever stuff, what?

Tim