New Car Ariving

[terryp]

Hello Everyone
I'm about to buy a LHD Federal Spec Silver Elan +2S UK reg number JRO477K. Thought to be imported from California in 2000 then garaged then sold to Paul Matty then sold again
Does anyone know the car? or any history at all about it?
Its done an original 51000miles and looks as if this is genuine
It has an original chassis that has been checked and waxoiled, is this something to worry about or would being in the sunny states keep it rust free?
Basically I'm buying this one as its LHD and we live in France and selling my one a RHD 130/5 1973

Thanks

Terry

[danielmo]

I don't know anything about the silver car, but your car looks great. The added bonuses for your car are the alloy wheels, sun roof and 5-speed. Are there other drawbacks besides the RHD? Good luck with your decision.

[terryp]

Hello danielmo
Yes you have made some very good points!!!!! My RHD is perfect except I'd really like a black interiorand also the paintwork on it has a fair amount of stress crazing in places. When I bought the car I didn't really know anything about what was available and bought it very quickly and then had to spend alot of money to get it running and sorted
Apart from the interior being the wrong colour and the paintwork its mechanically superior in every respect , new chassis , rebuild engine etc etc etc! Oh well its up for sale here on a couple of French websites for 16750? (+2s are very rare and worth more in France. The "expert" insurance valuation was 23000?) but I'd take ?14000 to sell quickly to a good home

Cheers
Terry

Ps My wife prefers the RHD as well !

[danielmo]

Oh yeah, one more thing. Does the silver car have a Stromberg or Weber head? The bonnet looks to be for a Stromberg engine.

[terryp]

danielmo
Its a stromberg head, are they that bad? Are the Weber/Dellorto heads that much better?

Regards
Terry

[danielmo]

In my opinion, the Weber head is much more desirable. They make more power and sound better too!

[denicholls2]

danielmo
Its a stromberg head, are they that bad? Are the Weber/Dellorto heads that much better?

Regards
Terry

Careful, or a firestorm will start here. Each variant has strong adherents, I'm afraid.

No, they are not that bad. Some think they are in fact superior for a street car. But their introduction is associated with meeting emissions regulations newly imposed in the U.S., and they were typically delivered in an impractical state of tune (way too lean) to gain the best emissions numbers. Further, at least the early carbs were constrained from being tuned for power (vs. for low emissions). All of this is addressable, however.

Absolute output is higher on a Weber head. And the Weber head has the technical advantage of having one carb throat per cylinder, resulting in the ability to deliver the correct mixture to each cylinder.

The Stromberg head can deliver very good output, however. And it is generally associated with easier tuning and better fuel economy.

Forgive that my Stromberg knowledge is associated with the Europa TwinCam, for which a Federal and European manifold is available. The European (high balance tube) version is considered superior. Don't know if the same holds for the Plus 2 but suspect it does. Your car almost certainly has the Federal version if it does hold true, and you might want to look into obtaining the European one.

On the other issue, you should thoroughly check the frame, but a prior life in California, if true, means the car lived in a desert environment and as a result is likely to have avoided the ravages of road salt. If it had lived in New England, where I'm located, and seen winter other than through garage windows, there would be little chance of the frame remaining intact for this long.

[CBUEB1771]

On the other issue, you should thoroughly check the frame, but a prior life in California, if true, means the car lived in a desert environment and as a result is likely to have avoided the ravages of road salt. If it had lived in New England, where I'm located, and seen winter other than through garage windows, there would be little chance of the frame remaining intact for this long.

The chassis and sill reinforcements should be checked regardless. Not all of California has a desert environment. High humidity and salty air in the coastal regions can cause aggressive corrosion. A friend of mine used to do QC and failure analysis for electronic systems. He has seen very badly corroded electronics housings reoved from helicopters used in the Los Angeles area.

[ppnelan]

Strombergs rule... especially in this age of high fuel prices

Matthew

[terryp]

Well after all that I've decided against it. Not because of the Strombergs because I think they are OK having had them on my Ginetta G15 a few years back. Apart from not being able to get the needle you want the're fine.
No the Silver car beatiful that it is needs a top end engine rebuild and at the moment I can't really have the car off the road with two young children saying ..."when can we go out in the Lotus?". So its back to right hand drive driving on left hand drive roads!!!!
Thanks to all for your replys

Terry