Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

David, I bed Guildford has changed a bit since then, still a lovely town, I live just on the edge of the town centre.

An Elan must feel pretty dwarfed? when next to some of the US Pick-ups! We obviously still have Lorries to contend with tho!

I have kept a copy of this photo on file, first posted on here years ago, as it rather demonstrates the point in the US!

Tim

It goes without saying that some original parts have to be brought upto date if you expect to actually use the car (Drive shafts are a prime example) but how much can you change before it isn't a Lotus Elan anymore? uprated chassis? Different suspension? Modern Engine? EFI?


I get you find the numbers matching thing is a bit of a Folly (i felt like that too once) but i work for a Classic car restoration outfit and have seen how the market has changed. I fully understand Lotus Owners just like to use their cars and things like Chassis are disposable items but that isn't the case for the rest of the Classic car world...... In fact the more money a car is worth the more the numbers must match, that may well be a reason the Elan's have dropped into the MG and Triumph price brackets. Even now it's very rare to see an Elan that is as it left the factory and the rarer those cars become the more their value will rise.

Sad but when a guy pays ?400,000 for a S1 E-type with 8000 miles on it that has never been apart or painted it just shows how rare survivor cars command a premium, same car restored to a good standard is worth half that but there are ten for sale right now i know of. A car can only be original once.

Davidb wrote:I am so impressed that some of you guys use Elans and Plus 2s as everyday drivers! Perhaps it is because you don't have to deal with the number and size of the pick-up trucks that we contend with in n.america. Most seem to serve as penis extenders and weapons. It was so pleasant driving all over the UK a couple of years ago and not seeing these damn things!

Ps, I grew up around Guildford in the fifties and sixties.

I used to work for a Body shop that recovered cars for the Police, a number of years ago we got called out to an accident where a School mini bus had pulled out on a +2 and the car had ploughed into the van at around 50mph (wasn't even the Lotus owners fault)...... As my boss said at the time it might as well have been made from Digestive biscuit, thats why i stopped using my +2 every day (was a real eye opener) Now picture like that above makes me cringe.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/1583369.stm

Following on from Grizzly's post above, my nightmare is "submarining" underneath a vehicle that pulls out in front of me. When I look at all the vehicles alongside me on the road I realise that my front bumper will not connect with anything so the limited crumple protection afforded by the fibreglass body will count for nothing. I was hit from behind in the +2 quite a few years ago, an incident that wrote off the car behind but allowed me to drive away, still very scary and pleased that it wasn't an Elan with the petrol tank exposed to impact on the boot floor.

Sandy,
When I wrote in Club Lotus magazine a few years ago about my S4 special, I stated that in the UK it was possible to build your own car from scratch, something that's not really possible in most of Europe and that this freedom spawned and made possible a whole post WW2 industry that took advantage of tax rules that made component or "kit cars" look like discount bargains to enthusiastic motorists. Lotus took advantage of this and so did a host of other small producers. Unlike most of Europe where there are type approval and originality rules, there are very few constraints over what you can do with an existing vehicle providing modifications are safe and you are adequately covered by insurance. There are registration rules to observe in order to retain a vehicles original identity and a very flexible points system applies, my cars are well within the guidelines and because the bodies are unaltered it's a straightforward exercise to put them back to factory(+2) or component kit (S4) form. My next project if I ever get allowed my cheque book back from Mrs T will involve using one of the new head castings from SAS or similar along with a BDG block and Jenvey heritage fuel injection so that under the bonnet it looks more in period with the age of the car, I may even do this to my +2 at some stage as a sort of continuous development to follow current trends and fashion, but most of all because I want to