Original colour ?

[Chris160382]

Ok so I bought my car just before Christmas, it had been restored and taken back to the gel coat and repainted around 2004, looking. A bit tired now so thought I'd do some body work on it, in some of the recesses I keep finding a very light blue, which o suspect to be wedge wood blue, if it is I will return it to original but being new to fibre glass cars thought could it possibly be the gel coat?
I'm also having trouble determining if it is a plus 2 or a plus 2s as the dash looks to be unoriginal, it has spot lamps in recesses but no bonnet bulge, and has webbers, headrests and rocker switches but appears to only have 4 small dials and I think some one has added a clock which is slightly bigger ! I'll try to add pics of the colour and the body

[Chris160382]

Front view of the car

[Chris160382]

Seat with headrest (terrible pic, I'll try to take a better one later)

[Chris160382]

Ok manageged to get a couple of better pics this morning

[Chris160382]

And the dashboard , which I think is a made up item, basically it's in my factory now, as I'm starting to take it apart for a bit of a spruce up, new paint rechrome, little bit of interior work etc, mechanically she's perfect having passed an mot about 7 weeks ago with no advisories, but I would like to take it back to original colour/ spec, not too sure if it's an s or non s as it seams to have a mix that contradicts what I read here and there!

[alan.barker]

I would say it is an export +2 lhd which has been converted to rhd.
For the driving/fog lamps there should be holes that were cut to fit them in the grp, then plastic mouldings behind them to fill the holes. If the places for the lamps are moulded in the grp then the car has had a replacement front grafted on.
What's the vin number to see if it was export or not
Alan

[Chris160382]

Off the top of my head it's either 50/1095 or 50/1097 would be nice to find some history on the car of things like that, I have history going back to the early 80s and I know it was red then

[Chris160382]

Ok I just checked is 50/1097

[Chris160382]

I did wonder if it might have been one of the kit cars they sold, the boot pull is on the drivers side door shut if that helps, I heRd people saying that around 68/69 lotus kind of had a change over of parts between the s/ non s cars, for meif I'm spending money doing it up I'd like it as original spec if I can determine what that is

[Spyder fan]

There is normally a paint code scratched/etched onto the VIN plate, it's possible that Andy Graham the Lotus archivist has some details on your car, although a lot of stuff was lost in a flood a few years back.

Your car is a puzzle

Your vin number is pretty certainly pointing towards a +2, the changeover is around 50/1600 from memory. Early +2 cars had a flat bonnet and there was no sill strip. That all checks in your photos.

Your seats are Federal specification with the built in head restraints, your dashboard looks like it has been "updated" with rocker switches and extra dials. The glove compartment with a handle rather than push to release catch is correct for a +2 (s onwards had push to release).

Given the clues such as remote boot release its possible your car has been rebodied with a later shell, in which case it doesn't matter what paint code is on the VIN plate. Where did those seats come from, they are not UK specification.

Please don't take any of the above comments as negative, you will have a lovely car no matter what it's past history really is.

[KevJ+2]

My car is 50/1153 built in November 1968.
It has 'crossover' features such as drivers door boot release, straight exhaust tailpipe/ muffler, separate door locks with later interior handles but silver steel wheels, older dash and no front fog lights.
It also had a bulge bonnet but with webers and sill strips but with Lotus, any configuration is possible
I consider my car a pre 'S' model. Your's could be federal model with a later registered date (but still a +2 not 'S').
HTH

[Chris160382]

Thanks for the replys, I am slightly torn myself when it comes to the dash, part of me wants to put it to original style were as the other part says, it was done by some one in the past and makes it unique and I quite like the slightly larger smiths clock in the middle, supposing I left it more as is than putting it to what would be more traditionally standard, does it effect the value much in the future ?

[Chris160382]

This is the only plate I can find on the car

[Chris160382]

And I found this code too stamped into the body

[KevJ+2]

The 1137 number is the body production number, so again, fairly early (and never expected to match the VIN number).
The Identity plate you also show has the 'chassis' number / unit number / VIN and for earlier cars, is scribed by hand by bent nail or whatever.
There doesn't seem to be a paint code on the bottom right corner, but neither does mine.