Bumpy - The BDA Engined Plus 2 Zetec Eater

[Elanintheforest]

I bought this car last month from the original owner...1968 - 2006, a grand 38 years!

It was originally registered as VLX2G, then 1ELU, then the age related plate put on. I'm trying to get the original plate back for the car. The car came with the original Lotus factory order form, invoice and 'test certificate', showing that it had passed the Lotus test after the owner had assembled the car (which took 9 hours apparently...not much of a kit!)

The car was owned by the manager of David Smith Engineering in Ilford, North London, who specialised in building Twincam and BDA engines for race & rally applications. Bumpy had the BDA installed in 1971, partly to represent what the business could do, but mainly because the owner wanted a bit more fun.

The manifold is a one-off made up by 'Mike the Pipe' (you oldies will remember that name, as do I!), and after many failures, the rotoflexes were replaced by custom made drive shafts...this is 1971 remember.

The car featured in Motoring News in 1972, which apparently upset Lotus as it upstaged their new 130S. It was used daily throughout the 70s in this form, coping with London traffic with ease, but needing the occasional Italian Tune-Up along the M1 to keep it all running sweetly. A blast down to Southern Spain saw 140mph on the clock at 8000 rpm with his wife asleep in the passenger seat .

The car wasn't used much in the 1980s, but was rebuilt in the late 1990s. The engine was rebuilt as a 1700, developing 172 bhp at 7200 rpm. It revs happily to 8000 and more. At the same time, the bodywork was restored as was the interior. The paintwork remains in perfect condition.

The original chassis is now past it's best, and I have a new Lotus unit to replace it. I intend to tidy up the engine bay a little, and probably install an aluminium radiator and expansion tank and some K&N filters. But that's about it. After someone has cherished this car for 38 years, I feel a strong obligation to get it back to as good a condition as I can, and most importantly use it. There are very few BDA engines left that have only been used in road cars, and the Escort brigade would love to get hold of this to turn their Mexicos into RS1600s...but not in my time!

Mark