Is the honeymoon over?

[ardee_selby]

At my last count there were at least 6 who went on their honeymoon in their Elan.

I was one of them. Photo taken 20 minutes before we left for what has now been 35 years of wedded ermmmm bliss!

So who else honeymooned in an Elan? Is it over, or is the spark still there?

Richard

[trw99]

No honeymoon but I did propose to Mrs W number one in a Sprint. Honeymooned in an Alfa 'fraid! The sparked fizzed out but Mrs W number two re-ignited it for me!

Tim

[UAB807F]

Does this count ? We drove from the reception in the Elan to catch a train to London (very swish on those days for us Northerners). The memories came back last year my brother-in-law found some vintage 8mm movie of Helen getting in and us tearing out of the car park and transferred it to dvd for us. I was clearly a hooligan in those days...... oh how times change !



And yes, both missus and car are still here....

[twincamman]

[69S4]

Had I suggested we use the Elan for the honeymoon I don't think she'd have turned up at the church!

The very first time we went out in the Elan after we met it broke down in the middle of Uxbridge and we spent a happy two hours directing traffic around it while waiting for the AA. Up to that point her experience of cars had been that you were forced to use unreliable old bangers out of necessity as a student but with more money came newer, more state of the art, transport. The concept of aspiring to something that would leave you stuck at the side of the road was completely alien to her.

As we got married in January and were going skiing in Austria for our honeymoon the prospect of grinding to a halt with carb icing or something was just too high. Discretion was definitely the better part of valour at that point.


Looking at UAB's picture of his new wife getting into the Elan reminded me of a wedding I was the photographer at some years ago. The groom had hired a Ferrari as a surprise to transport them both away from the reception and it all went down well until the bride tried to get into the car. Because of the volume of the wedding dress she had to "reverse" into the seat but misjudged the height. As her err... posterior went down onto the (very low) seat her legs were flipped up on the high door sills, giving us all a ... well let's just say that it fulfilled the "something blue" requirement of wedding days . To add to the poor lady's embarrassment about 20 cameras went off in a fraction of a second!
When she'd recovered we had to somehow get the rest of the meringue style dress into the car. It filled up the whole of her side of the car up to the roof lining and as far forward as the windscreen. When they drove off you couldn't see her at all, it was just a wall of material. Moral of the story - keep men away from wedding arrangements . No wonder there's a TV series looking at the comical side of men trying to arrange the big day around at the moment.

[Mazzini]

At the end of last summer I was driving along the Marylebone Road and outside the rather grand Westminster Council building was a red S1 E-type convertible with a white ribbon across the bonnet, a young couple were coming down the steps, passing through friends and family... I checked the date on my phone to make sure I was still in 2011 and not 1965.

And now I think of it, I did drive my wife to our reception in my old Elan.

[AussieJohn]

I went in my S2 in 1971, drove to jenolan caves; no headlights [or headlight pods]. Now have new wife and a +2, some things don't change.

[pereirac]

After 21 years of marriage I am still getting wedding confetti out of the air vents when I switch the fan on full!! Should have cleaned the heater matrix when I had the chance..

Carl

[DaveAlmey]

Well maybe not the honeymoon, more like the wedding.

Back in 69 I saw an Elan (S4) I think accident damaged on Raf Swanton Morley. I was struck with its beauty and saddened at its fate.

Years later I bought an Plus 2 but my heart (and wife) was not in it and was sold before it was roadworthy.

Now as life moves on I re-married a few years ago, I had expressed an interest in Elans to my bride to be who was overbaord with enthusiasm. We puchased a smashed S4 on ebay, the bids closed 20 minutes after the wedding vows and our "baby" (WMT154G) came home a few weeks later from South Wales.

We have spent the last 4 years in its total restoration and we are painting it in the company low bake oven this Christmas holiday trying for the 50th aniversarry.

Our S4 along with our other babies, A Europa Special, 3 horses and four English Mastiffs makes life just one long honeymoon.

Dave & Jaks Almey

[oillite]

I sold one of my +two's to get married!
Now thats what I call commitment, well thats what I keep telling 'O' She who must be obeyed and worshipped.

[Lamour]

At my last count there were at least 6 who went on their honeymoon in their Elan.

I was one of them. Photo taken 20 minutes before we left for what has now been 35 years of wedded ermmmm bliss!

READY FOR HONEYMOON.jpg

So who else honeymooned in an Elan? Is it over, or is the spark still there?

Richard

[Lamour]

No sorry not on a honeymoon but I did attend my sisters wedding in my elan. I was stopped on the way home by the police for speeding. Did'nt get a ticket.

[Lamour]

That spark went out years ago. But I finaly got my elan together again and hope to get it painted in January. Its been sitting 20 years in my garage.

[JJDraper]

I drove the bride and prospective in-laws to the wedding venue in my trusty Reliant Robin ( ) but the Honeymoon in the Lotus took 30years to arrange....

Jeremy

[twincamman]

Not only is there no spark there's no heater ,brake lights or turn signal ed