Lotus Price List - Aug 69

[SF69Elan]

Price list showing available options for each 1969 model.

[Paul Chapman]

Do you have a similar price list for the year 1968 per chance ???

[trw99]

I have 1964, 1965, 1967, 1970, 1971, 1972 & 1973 price lists.

Also 1967,1968,1969, 1970 & 1971 colour charts.

Most of them have been posted on here before.

Tim

[SF69Elan]

Hi, I'm afraid I only have the 1969 price list.

[Paul Chapman]

Thanks you two for looking. I guess that there must have been a price list for 1968, however I have never come across one despite looking for a few years now.

I am just trying to collect copies of Elan related publications for that year as its relevant to my car.

[ivor badger]

I find it interesting that low profile tyres are an option for the Elan, obviously 70% at that time. I have a friend who phoned Lotus around 1990 to ask their tyre recommendation for his Elan and was told not to fit low profiles as they would ruin the handling.

[The Veg]

I find it interesting that low profile tyres are an option for the Elan, obviously 70% at that time. I have a friend who phoned Lotus around 1990 to ask their tyre recommendation for his Elan and was told not to fit low profiles as they would ruin the handling.

Define 'ruin,' please?

While there is no doubt that having smaller sidewalls will affect certain aspects of handling, which ones will it affect and are those effects definitely detrimental or more a matter of taste?

[ivor badger]

I was not actually the one who phoned and only what i was told. I always assumed it was flatter tread tyre on a car with quite a lot of camber change in the suspenion. There's a difference between handling and grip.

[The Veg]

I was not actually the one who phoned and only what i was told. I always assumed it was flatter tread tyre on a car with quite a lot of camber change in the suspenion. There's a difference between handling and grip.

Thanks, that makes sense.

[1owner69Elan]

I attach my original invoice from 1969 for my US spec car that I picked up at the Lotus factory on July 9, 1969 and shipped back to the States August 29, 1969.

The option for low profile tires was not available when I purchased my car. There was an option to upgrade to Dunlop SP Sport tires for 9 pounds as shown on the invoice - I don't remember what the default non-upgrade tire was.

But, the August 1969 price list posted in this thread also begs the question: What size were these optional low profile tires? I have never heard anyone talk about having these low profile tires. And presumably they were on the stock 13" wheels. Anyone with experience or knowledge of these factory supplied tires ? I know later many of us departed from the stock S4 155r13 to low profile tires like 175/70 and other sizes but these tires were not from the factory.

Another mystery shown on my invoice that I never really thought about too much before is the designation of my 69 S4 as a "super safety". I suspect this was someone at the factory inaccurately using the SS term for what was a US spec S4 Federal car. The Super Safety as I understand it was an earlier model for the US/North America market. My car is badged as a S4 SE and has all the various elements of a Federal 69 S4 SE. Car is unaltered from new as I am the original owner.

[tcsoar]

Interesting that you can have a tinted windscreen only fitted, specially as I replaced my plain screen with a tinted one during my rebuild

Chris.