Please Introduce your self and welcome to LotusElan.net

[pharriso]

Hi, thought that I would introduce myself.

I'm Phil Harrison, born in Nottingham, went to Bath Uni 1977-80, worked for Ford Motor Co. in Dunton 1980-1985 & then emigrated to New York City. I now live on Long Island.

I am currently Lotusless, I had a +2S130/5 from 1983ish - 1986 which I flew & wrecked. Sold it after I emigrated to the US with a replacement Spyder chassis.

Currently driving a 2006 BMW M3 Cabrio & Porsche 968 Cabrio, looking to buy a Type 14 S2 Elite or a late Elan Sprint or +2S130(with Webers/Dellortos..)

Anyway, I'm enjoying the community.

You can contact me directly through pph(at)lionheartsolutions.com

[MickG]

Hi there,

I?ve been browsing this site for several months now and thought it time to register and introduce myself.
I live in Romford, Essex and reaching that time in life when time will be my own. People keep telling me that I wont know what to do with myself, well I go shooting (clay pigeons), fishing (anything that comes along) and play golf (reasonably) so thats three days out of the way what about the other four? While rummaging around in the loft a few months back I came across my old Lotus Workshop manuals Elan and Plus2. This brought back distant memories and got me thinking.
Back in the seventies I first owned a Elan Sprint cost me ?1400 (how times have changed). Looking back I can say that it was the most enjoyable car to drive that I have ever had. This was followed by a Plus 2S which caused me a lot of grief and almost killed me and the current girl friend at the time when while negotiating a series of bends the steering column broke at the impact clamp. Fortunately no damage was sustained be either the occupants or car, I was extremely lucky. Then came the usual distractions, Marriage, Mortgage and Children and a more practical (reliable) means of transport was needed.
Now all the mundane things in life are in the past and having just found the Lotus manuals the wish to go back to my younger days seems like a good idea. I found LotusElan.net by chance and began reading the many posts. I like the informative and friendly atmosphere so decided to register. All the problems that I encountered all those years ago still seem to plague Elan owners today, why shouldn?t they? it was like stepping back in time.
I hope to be getting an Elan sometime after March/April. I would like a Sprint similar to the one I owned all those years ago although I doubt for ?1400.
Should anybody be thinking of or know anybody that might be selling a Sprint Circa 71/72 I would appreciate it if the could contact me. I would prefer to buy from an enthusiast as opposed to a dealer as I feel dealers are exploiting the market. I have seen several cars on this site for sale, being sold and then offered by dealers at a price well over what the owner was originally asking.

Hope this has not been too long.

Regards MickG

[Old English White]

I found LotusElan.net by chance ...

You're lucky MickG ,
Welcome back to Wonderland !
Christian.

[RogerFrench]

I'm British, retired, living in Texas and possibly one of the world's oldest Lotus fans, though I've only been an owner for the last 6 years - the latter largely due to my having led a fairly nomadic life forthe last 30-odd years and never stayed anywhere long enough to buy a car I could really get enthusiastic about.
I first came across the Lotus name in 1951, when the Austin Lotus was cleaning up in the 750 formula. My father was for many years one of the leading lights of the 750 Motor Club, and actually raced against Colin Chapman back then; not, curiously enough, in a car of his own, but in one he'd built for his great friend Arthur Mallock. Anyway, the Lotus was a winner, and soon the Sixes, Nines and Elevens were cleaning up and I was hooked.

Nowadays I own a 2005 Elise, a 1972 Europa Twin Cam that is coming to the end of a 2-year body-off rebuild, and am impatiently awaiting delivery of an S3 Elan.

[Jens]

I found LotusElan.net by chance

Destiny is not by chance but by choice!

[Old English White]

I'm British, retired, living in Texas and possibly one of the world's oldest Lotus fans, though I've only been an owner for the last 6 years - the latter largely due to my having led a fairly nomadic life forthe last 30-odd years and never stayed anywhere long enough to buy a car I could really get enthusiastic about.
I first came across the Lotus name in 1951, when the Austin Lotus was cleaning up in the 750 formula. My father was for many years one of the leading lights of the 750 Motor Club, and actually raced against Colin Chapman back then; not, curiously enough, in a car of his own, but in one he'd built for his great friend Arthur Mallock. Anyway, the Lotus was a winner, and soon the Sixes, Nines and Elevens were cleaning up and I was hooked.

Nowadays I own a 2005 Elise, a 1972 Europa Twin Cam that is coming to the end of a 2-year body-off rebuild, and am impatiently awaiting delivery of an S3 Elan.

Welcome Sir,
Just a question , how about move to Massachusetts !?!
With Gary (and Beau), you ll had never ending discussions on that have powered your lifes ...
Texas seems too straight in kind of roads but I may be wrong. Sure I am ...
Anyway , you are closer to my gods , that littl'band : ZZ Top!
Christian.

[mamuschi]

Hello!
First searching the internet for lotus i found your forum. I?ve been reading this forum for a while, learning as much as possible about Elan +2. I think now it?s necessary to introduce myself. I am born in 1960 and life in Austria. I always liked exotic cars started 1978 with Hillman Imp, then Triumph Herold, Mini Cooper, MG B, Vauxhall ?. In case this cars had all the time repairs my next cars came from Italy - not better and after I had finished my study I bought new cars. Now I will buy an Elan in UK. Paul Matty`s cheapest one was sold today (I checked many weeks where I can get all missing things). I guess it will take time to find the right one. Then you get a photo.

[GrUmPyBoDgEr]

123

[pauljones]

Perhaps its time I introduced myself too,

Not exactly a newbie as I have browsed this site for a while on and off,but here goes my bit.

My name is Paul,34 years old, and married with 3 kids, I have had my Lotus Elan Plus 2 (1970) since 2007. I got her with a years MOT and as I now see paid over the odd's, but thats life and learning. As my job takes me away from UK for years at a time I dont get time to use her either,but that will be changing soon as im coming back to England and "Sophie" is currently getting a major chassis re work including having a diff change to a 3.54, fuel tank change and solid driveshafts too. When ive recovered from that bill its time for the EFI and lastly a 5 speed box will be fitted. Meanwhile I have been collecting the parts required to do everything I want too using the knowledge off everyone on here who replies too my abundance of questions/quiries.(some of them probably a bit far fetched.) So thanks to everyone that has helped me so far.

My only problem is that a love of the marque can only go so far,with limited mechanical skills or machine shop experience, and a very busy job,any thing I want or have to do has to be paid for at the full whack.So things take their time.But at least im learning as I go along the journey.

Anyway, maybe this year ill be able to go to a few shows,and possibly some local meets, And get on with lotus life.

Take care all,

Paul

[UAB807F]

I'm another who's been lurking for a while now, so I think it's time I introduced myself as well.

My name is Brian Martley and years ago I was on the early yahoo groups list under that name as well, back in the days when we had email names using our given names. I'm a retired metallurgist having taken early retirement (read redundancy) from the chemical industry and we're now living in Lincolnshire having previously lived and worked in Cheshire and West Yorkshire until moving here 5yrs ago.

I've had the Elan since the mid 70s when I bought it as just another old sports car and values were rock bottom because Lotus were only interested in the Elite/Eclat/Esprit and moving up market. Probably like most other long term owners I know all the nuts and bolts on the car and can't ever see me selling it no matter what the values rise (or fall) to. I've also fallen for the Europa as well, having bought a one-owner TC in 1988 and then suddenly became all modern with an Elise in 1999. I do seem to have trouble selling Lotus cars, so it's fortunate I have a long suffering wife who just smiles and says "now where are we going to put that ?" when something else turns up.

I'll freely admit I don't drive the cars daily although when working they all played the roles of commuter cars. But I do like tinkering with them and have just fitted a new teak dash to the Elan, together with some of these new-fangled CV things, which is probably the first ever modification that the Elan has seen in over 30yrs of ownership.

Brian

[twincamman]

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[John Larkin]

I have been a daily visitor and occasional contributor to this forum since 2003. It is without doubt the best site about keeping a Lotus Elan motoring.

I and my best pal Tony together bought a 1967 Series 3 Elan SE FHC on UK plates from a English guy in Dublin in 1974 for ?750. (I think that he owned or managed Nose's Wine bar on the King's Road in London.) The car became mine in 1979 when I bought out my friend's share. I drove it as a daily driver for two years and 60,000 miles before my wandering eye was drawn to other cars. I eventually sold it to Tony in 1984 when I needed some money, and subsequently bought it back. I reckon that the car has done at least 200,000 miles.

I crashed the car heavily on one occasion, necessitating a replacement chassis/subframe. I learnt what I know about car maintenance from working on that car myself. I have made more friends and met more interesting people because of that car than for any other reason.

I am an engineer (building services) and I live in Dublin, Ireland. I am married to a very tolerant wife, and we have one daughter who will inherit the Elan when I kick the bucket. I am actively involved with the old car scene in Ireland. I also have a Rover P6 3500 which has nearly 240,000 miles up (177,000 of them by me). It has been a bit neglected, poor old thing, since a head-on collision with a Renault Clio in 2005. The Rover lives on but the Renault went to the crusher. The Rover will get my full attention over the next year or two.

Tony and I drove the Elan from Dublin to the Stelvio Pass in Italy and back again in one week in September 2008. I started a re-wire in January 2009 and it has turned into a major rebuild --- suspension, differential, water leaks, instruments, and so on. The car has a few modifications --- Voigt five speed box, electric water pump, fuel cell, and Sue Miller driveshafts. The engine, suspension, brakes and steering are standard. The car will be back on the road within the next few weeks. I'm just rebuilding the electric window mechanisms now.

Buying that car was the best thing we ever did.

I congratulate Jeff Cocking for starting this site and keeping it going. I admire Gary Anderson's steadfast support for this site --- he has never failed to find me an answer when I needed it.

John Larkin

[Mazzini]

Hello! I've been around Elans on and off for nearly thirty years. I just bought MVX 919C, a S2 bought by Roy Bacon in 1965. Roy was a yacht designer from Brightlinsea, he was part of the design team for Hellcats in the early 60's. In the early 70's he went to the US to head up Chrysler Marine and then a few years later he was at General Dynamics Land Systems working on Abrams tanks - a fascinating and gifted engineer. The Elan has done 44k miles from new - I have heaps of photos and documents, but would love to hear from anybody that remembers the Roy or the car.

[lotocone]

Congrats on being an Elan owner. Hope you enjoy it.

I didn't know Roy well, but I met him back in the 80s probably at a meeting of the Great Lakes Lotus Club in the Detroit area. He was a very nice guy. Once I went to his place that was in Keego Harbor, Michigan I think. He had his car in the house to do some work. Seems to me there was a large entrance at grade level that he used to enter the house. I was so envious. I would love to put my car in a warm house to work on it during the winter.

Isn't the car a basically stock one that is BRG that is right hand drive? Being an engineer, he probably maintained the mechanicals pretty well. I remember him say that he wasn't interested in a beautiful paint job because he would worry about it too much. So did he ever get it painted, or is it original?

Bob Fry

[Mazzini]

Hi Bob,

Thanks for your warm welcome.

I never met Roy personally, sadly he passed away last summer, he seems to have been a really nice fellow.

The car is stock; Roy did some work on it in the mid 1980's - he took the body off and epoxy painted the chassis, rebuilt the suspension and yes, he painted the car...badly:) It's not so bad from a distance, half a mile or so, but time has not been kind to it. At some point I will repaint it, but I want to use the car this coming summer and have some fun with it.

In 1999 Roy spent $4900 on having the engine rebuilt by Auto Europe, but their is no description of what was done. The car has done 4,000 miles since then. Have you ever dealt with them?

The car is RHD, I live in the UK so it's a positive advantage!

Later today I'll post some pictures of the car. By the way have you posted any photos of your S4? I'd love to see it.

Thanks and best regards,

Louis