NEW MEMBER - OLD ELAN ;-)

[samplomp]

Hello Lotus Elan dot Net,

Short intro of a new member & his old Elan.

I am Dutch, but living in the South-East of Spain (El Albir), mainly because of the lousy weather in the Netherlands.

After a long search and investigation for buying a classic sportscar I finally decided for an Elan.

I found this Elan thru Mobile.de in Stuttgart/Germany.

This Elan was in a collection and wasn't used. I bought the car "in the blind", may sound tricky but I've bought more cars from eBay and other sites just out of the blind... Some you loose, some you gain !

I had the car transported from Germany to the Netherlands in order to get a Dutch license. When in the Netherlands, the engine ran lousy, I had the Webers cleaned and tuned by Van der Kooi Sportscars, the Dutch importer of Lotus. After having granted the Dutch license, without remarks, I then had it transported to Spain. Why not on a Spanish license: The waiting time for a Spanish historic license goes up to three (...) years. And furthermore: As the Elan is more than fifty years old it's in the Netherlands: a) Excempt for road tax (that's in fact after 40 years) and excempt for MOT (Dutch: APK). Only Dutch insurance is mandatory.

The Elan states, out of German papers: July 1, 1967 as the first registration in Germany, Series 3, FHC, chassis number: 36/7436. From new delivered to Germany (extra chassis plate in German...). Note: The chassis number registration from other sites reads a built date of 04-12-1967... typical Lotus ? .

In 2017 restored. Chassis, body, engine, etc. The engine got +.040" pistons from Burton Power, Essex, UK.
A performance diagram shows 115 bhp @ 6250 rpm and 132 Nm @ 5400 rpm.

I don't know the original color but the car has been re-sprayed in the darkest version of BRG.

The car is in good shape, but several things I wanted to change, read: improve, right away.
From SJSportscars I ordered

Lotus Elan, left front

: Lotus letters for tailgate, letter set for dash, some badges, three eared spinners, choke cable, heater control cable and front grille. These parts were vanished or not original.

I enclose a picture of the car as advertised.

Think I will change the color of the bumpers from "gold" to "silver", thus more in line with the other silver/chrome accents of the car.

That's it (for now ),

Sam.

[Lotusian]

Hello Sam
That’s excellent, but we need to see more photos please.
Also, when you are correctly painting the bumpers silver, you might also paint the wheels silver as original.
Ian

[samplomp]

Hi Ian,

Thanks !

Some more pics enclosed.

Wheels silver is a bright idea, didn't think about it !

Brgds, Sam.

[The Veg]

Welcome Sam!

[Mazzini]

Welcome. Nice looking car

[SENC]

Welcome! Looks great, though I agree with you with silver bumpers it will look even better!

[cliveyboy]

Welcome

[samplomp]

Thanks:

theVeg (cool licence plate ),

Mazzini,

SENC,

&

cliveyboy.

Regards,

Sam.

[phil1800]

Welcome Sam,

Nice Coupe! ‚German‘ Elan‘s are very rare as they were very expensive, compared to other countries. Do you know where your Elan was sold and do you have some history on it?

Philipp

[samplomp]

Welcome Sam,

Nice Coupe! ‚German‘ Elan‘s are very rare as they were very expensive, compared to other countries. Do you know where your Elan was sold and do you have some history on it?

Philipp

Hi Philipp,

Thank you !

The Elan was first registered in Germany on July 1, 1967.

Unfortunately the history which came with the car just goes back to 2002. At that time she was in Südergellersen, in 2012 in Rheinbach, in 2019 in Stuttgart. I imported her from Stuttgart into the Netherlands, after that transported to Spain where she is now.

I contacted Andy Graham of Lotus Archives wether he could find out more out of the ancient factory data. Well.... nothing ! In fact he could add to his files, that the car went to Germany immediately after production.

Strange thing is that it was not a factory export, but done by a private person.
So lots of unknown things, mysteries ! That's got charm too ...

Best regards,

Sam.

[ericbushby]

just a thought,
Back in the sixties, I seem to remember, British armed forces were billeted long term in Germany and would buy a car over here and export it saving a considerable amount on taxes. Maybe it was one of those.
It was considered a soft posting apparently.
Eric in Burnley
1967 S3SE DHC

[phil1800]

Eric,
That came to my mind as well. If it was a Brit, he was rather stationed in the northern part of Germany, but then wouldn‘t he have bought a RHD version? Also, the diplomatic and military sales program were also offered by the local dealerships, so why would somebody go this way, when he could have the tax benefits also thru a dealership sale.
It would be very interesting to find out more about the first owner. In the German registration documents you find the previous owners, so are there copies?

Philipp

[ericbushby]

Philipp,
Obviously I have no detail knowledge of the system but I seem to remember that it was organised for soldiers going abroad ( possibly by the NAAFI)
I can only assume that he would take a LHD car and sell it there before he returned. There was maybe some profit in it if the same car was so expensive in Germany.
I was deferred from National Service while doing Higher National exams after which `call up` was suspended so It is only a faint memory with no solid information.
Eric