Elan to Alfa?s rescue

[h20hamelan]

I operate a Towing and Recovery service on Hwy 3A, 31 and 31A
Edge of the Canadian Rockies, Beside the Bugaboo?s nestled in the Selkirk and Purcell mountains.
Although I have some fun motorbikes to preform service (Honda TLR250R and Aprilia 550) our family typically rides trials bikes in the high country.
For roadside service I normally have my Elan. In this case, an Alfa required a wheel change.
Thought y?all might get a kick out of it...

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uuuw5AM30RI

[h20hamelan]

You can see more of the 100 mile long Kootenay Lake, and snow capped mountains (Mt Loki)

[1owner69Elan]

Great roads and scenery!

Quite ironic to see a Lotus being used as the road assistance vehicle. Not the other way around.

Got to be a first.

[CBUEB1771]

Yes, great views and story. Many years ago I had to rebuilt the gearbox of my Honda Civic. The Honda dealer was not amused when I arrived in my +2 to pick up gearbox parts for a Civic.

[The Veg]

My former Esprit got me to work, and to the VW dealer for parts, on several occasions when my Mk IV GTI couldn't be bothered to stay reliable.

[rgh0]

I must forward this to people I know in the local alfa club !! They are always putting down Lotus reliability

cheers
Rohan

[Esprit2]

Lotus unreliability is one of those bigger-than-life running jokes, like Lucas electrics and all Britcars leak oil. Slightly exaggerated.

I'm on this forum as an Elan 'fan', but I'm not an owner. However, I've had four Europas, an Esprit S2, and two Eclats, and I've used them all as daily drivers and cross-country road cars. I've got more than 350,000 miles in three of the Europas alone.

Okay, Europa rear wheel bearings don't last long, and require routine replacement. But I stay ahead of the curve on that, and out of my seven Lotus, I've had an accessory V-belt break, a coolant hose blow, a fuel filter clog, three motor mounts fail (two autocrossing the Esprit), and an alternator die... over a span of 43 years. Not bad.

My current daily driver is a 1970 Europa S2. Besides running around the metro, I recently took it on a 6 hour round trip to Lake Superior (not a rare event) without a care about whether or not I'd make it home... I just hopped in it and went. And besides domestic duty, one Europa S2, the Esprit and both Eclats have performed as autocrossers. The Europa & Esprit were frequent class winners/ season champions at a local level (I never attended SCCA nationals). Oh, okay, add one sheared rear stub axle on the Esprit... competition damage.

The only thing that makes the Elan/ Europa a poor rescue car is a lack of space for the big repair parts required by 'normal' cars. But the Elan +2, or better yet, the Eclat, would cover that.

Regards,
Tim Engel

[StressCraxx]

Lotus unreliability is one of those bigger-than-life running jokes, like Lucas electrics and all Britcars leaking oil. Slightly exaggerated.

I'm on this forum as an Elan 'fan', but I'm not an owner. However, I've had four Europas, an Esprit S2, and two Eclats, and I've used them all as daily drivers and cross-country road cars. I've got more than 350,000 miles in three of the Europas alone.

Okay, Europa rear wheel bearings don't last long, and require routine replacement. But I stay ahead of the curve on that, and out of my seven Lotus, I've had an accessory V-belt break, a coolant hose blow, a fuel filter clog, three motor mounts fail (two autocrossing the Esprit), and an alternator die... over a span of 43 years. Not bad.

My current daily driver is a 1970 Europa S2. Besides running around the metro, I recently took it on a 6 hour round trip to Lake Superior (not a rare event) without a care about whether or not I'd make it home... I just hopped in it and went. And besides domestic duty, one Europa S2, the Esprit and both Eclats have performed as autocrossers. The Europa & Esprit were frequent class winners/ season champions at a local level (I never attended SCCA nationals). Oh, okay, add one sheared rear stub axle on the Esprit... competition damage.

The only thing that makes the Elan/ Europa a poor rescue car is a lack of space for the big repair parts required by 'normal' cars. But the Elan +2, or better yet, the Eclat, would cover that.

Regards,
Tim Engel

I think Lotuses live much longer when they?re driven frequently.

[Esprit2]

Absolutely. Driven often, and REGULARLY MAINTAINED. It's the Garage Queens that suffer reliability problems.

Regards,
Tim Engel

[stugilmour]

Great to see the Plus 2 out in the wild. Still have a Kootenay tour pencilled in for next year. Absolutely great two lanes with fantastic alpine vistas.

Stu

[clivetonge]

Here's my reliability tale with a happy ending which is a reflection of how good the Lotus community is:

Back in the eighties as a young man running my S3 DHC on an absolute shoestring the rotor arm disintegrated while in the fast(!) lane of the M6 just shy of spaghetti junction in the morning rush hour. After a kamikhazi dive across two lanes of traffic I had my head under the bonnet. In one of those weird earth shifting moments I looked up to see a virtually identical red S3 DHC parked behind me. It was seriously surreal.

The guy went way out of his way to drop me in central Birmingham to collect a trailer. I hope I managed to express my appreciation properly during that stressful time but if you're out there, thanks again. I owe you several pints!

[h20hamelan]

Great to see the Plus 2 out in the wild. Still have a Kootenay tour pencilled in for next year. Absolutely great two lanes with fantastic alpine vistas.

Stu

Looking forward to it @Stu
Maybe when the LCCBC is here, or you have some time, still have a tool to return. My brothers +2 Spyder chassis is arriving soon I hope!

[stugilmour]

Great to see the Plus 2 out in the wild. Still have a Kootenay tour pencilled in for next year. Absolutely great two lanes with fantastic alpine vistas.

Stu

Looking forward to it @Stu
Maybe when the LCCBC is here, or you have some time, still have a tool to return. My brothers +2 Spyder chassis is arriving soon I hope!

Wow, has it been that long since I posted that! What the heck happened over the last few years!

Yes, would be great to get down your way this summer. I just “ran the gauntlet” thru the Rockies to the VanDusen ABFM, returning via Crowsnest Pass. Unfortunately the Plus 2 wasn’t ready, so I took the Miata.

Will let you know if we are head down again.

Stu