Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Serge
I've sent you a PM

Terry

Hi all,

In CLNW we reckon that out of 3,000 built, there probably remain about 1000 in one piece. Many have been scrapped, written off or broken as doner cars for fake Sprint kits. The recent developement in modernising the car around current Ford offerings has reduced the number even more. There are probably only about 200 original cars left actually running. Out of these probably half are run regularly. Of those left in mint condition is hard to tell. The demise of the +2 in preference to the two seater especially the Sprint has led to the small number of good cars to choose from. This will part explain the recent price hike in Elan +2's.

Many owners are reluctant to sell their cars which again explains the popularity of the model. Mine is not for sale. For practicality, convenience and overall good looks, the Lotus Elan +2 takes some beating and will always turn heads.

I have just completed the Morcambe to Scarborough LAC Coast to Coast rally yesterday which has yet added a few more enjoyable miles to the cars credit.

Gordon

Hasn't anyone a friend who works for the DVLA who can "press the button" and find out exactly?

Having just joined Club Lotus France (Hooray!) one of the members set up a post for all +2 owners to add two pictures of there cars a sort of informal register. They are now up to 18 I think.
On the register that was set up a few years ago by P O Hakansson, (sadly I don't beleive anyone kept a copy) I'm sure there were well over 200 cars many were not even in the UK.
There must be well over 1000 cars left!
Also of the 2005 registered users of Lotus Elan.net there must be at least 33% with a plus 2. (Can we find out?) Perhaps even more there are over 1500 topics listed in Plus 2 while just over 2000 for the Elan (It may mean +2 owners have more problems!)

Terry

gordonlund wrote:Hi all, In CLNW we reckon that out of 3,000 built, ...Gordon

What is CLNW?

c

Carlos A wrote:

gordonlund wrote:Hi all, In CLNW we reckon that out of 3,000 built, ...Gordon

What is CLNW?

c

Club Lotus North Wales ?

Terry,

If you know the web address of the currently unavailable site, you can probably find it at

http://www.archive.org

Mike Causer, who posted invaluable information about Lotus badges and whose web site is no longer available, can be found on archive.org.

David
1968 36/7988

David
Well what an interesting web site that is! Very very weird
But the good news is that I found it!!!!!!! (and converted it to Excel)
Basically 293 cars but only 30 from "England" 5 from "Scotland" 38 from the "UK" 1 from "Wales" Sean from Ireland and 1 from North Yorkshire(???) I know I've been in France for a while but I didn't think they were given independance? So a total of 76 cars , 218 from the rest of the world
So I think there are loads of cars out there!!!!
200 more like 4800!
I'd better get back to my wife now, (its our anniversary!)

Terry

(I've deleted the attachment as I've been spooked by the dreaded data protection act)

gordonlund wrote:Hi all,

The recent developement in modernising the car around current Ford offerings has reduced the number even more.



Gordon

Gordon,
Most +2 Spyder Zetecs are built from basket cases, this has actually increased the number of cars being used. In years to come, we may decide to convert back to original, its basically an engine and gearbox that needs to be swapped.

regards

I've just been sent a PM by a member wishing to be included on the register which I think demonstrates some interest

If I were to do this starting from the previous register left off with perhaps a bit more info , would anyone be interested or want to join?
We could do it on a info for info basis thus protecting the information, i.e. join the register and get the info all by email.
If we got enough members we could have a badge!

But I not sure though whether Microsoft Outlook can accommodate 4000 email addresses!

Terry

Terry

Careful what you wish for! I have taken it upon myself to put together a 'register' of all Sprints produced. It is on my web site here: http://www.lotuselansprint.com/index.asp?pageid=85044 with a link at the bottom of the page.

This is specifically a listing of all Sprints as they left the factory, since most of the original Lotus records were lost in a flood. I have had help from the factory in compiling the list, but as you can see there remain large holes. Many existing and past Sprint owners have been very helpful in giving me the VIN information from their own cars.

I believe you have to decide what you want the register to do. You can have a list of cars as they left the factory, a list of those currently on the road or in restoration and a listing of the car's current ownership and configuration (tuning, colour, upgrades etc), or indeed a combination of these.

One thing I have found is that some owners are reluctant to give this information. There is of course a Data Protection issue (in the UK at least as well, I suspect as in the EU and US) and some people are wary of their information being used to 'ring' their car, though I personally do not see this as being a big issue for our 'rare' collectors cars (unless you want a 'new' 26R of course!). Either way, if you decide to do this, good luck!

Tim

Tim
I think that your reservations are bang on. And I do feel that to get half a list is pointless. I would have liked to get 1000 cars!
I'm beginning to feel that all this may be the reason the old register stopped.
Perhaps its not such a good idea after all.................
We will have to return to the mystery of whether there are 200 cars left or 4800 cars left?
Thanks for the message

Terry

[quote="terryp"]Hasn't anyone a friend who works for the DVLA who can "press the button" and find out exactly?


A major problem this would entail is the assumption all Elan +2's are clearly registered under the model type on the V5 as 'ELAN +2' or 'PLUS 2' or something similar.

A very common problem with cars first registered before the new type registration docs replaced the old log books (circa 1975 I think) is that many thousands of vehicles from all manufacturers were not recorded on the new documents as the exact model.

I know of several older Lotus (and other classics) simply registered for example as

LOTUS 2 DOOR FIXED HEAD SALOON, or similar.

Any DVLA search for a Lotus designated 'Elan +2' would almost certainly miss a lot of cars registered as above or simply as Elans, or 130S, or whatever the DVLA or PO decided back in 1975 or thereabouts.

I know a hell of a lot of 60's Mini Coopers and Cooper S, now very valuable cars, were simply re-registered as Austin Mini, or Morris 2 door saloon, etc. I had a 63 Cooper myself back in the mid 80's and it was a pain to get it corrected.

The only way to search with accuracy would be on chassis numbers, but I can imagine something very similar would occur, and cars would be missed.

I know one of the classic car monthly mags occasionaly features an 'only 12 Lada Rivas left' or 'only 3 Talbot Horizons still on Uk roads' type feature, so there will be a way somehow.

I tend to agree with Gordon and CLNW on just a few hundred of the original 3300 built still around.

Mark S.

...

Perhaps the classic car suppliers/dealers would be a better source?
I'm amazed there are so many out there supplying so few cars.

M.J.S wrote:

terryp wrote:Hasn't anyone a friend who works for the DVLA who can "press the button" and find out exactly?


A major problem this would entail is the assumption all Elan +2's are clearly registered under the model type on the V5 as 'ELAN +2' or 'PLUS 2' or something similar.

A very common problem with cars first registered before the new type registration docs replaced the old log books (circa 1975 I think) is that many thousands of vehicles from all manufacturers were not recorded on the new documents as the exact model.

I know of several older Lotus (and other classics) simply registered for example as

LOTUS 2 DOOR FIXED HEAD SALOON, or similar.

Any DVLA search for a Lotus designated 'Elan +2' would almost certainly miss a lot of cars registered as above or simply as Elans, or 130S, or whatever the DVLA or PO decided back in 1975 or thereabouts.

I know a hell of a lot of 60's Mini Coopers and Cooper S, now very valuable cars, were simply re-registered as Austin Mini, or Morris 2 door saloon, etc. I had a 63 Cooper myself back in the mid 80's and it was a pain to get it corrected.

The only way to search with accuracy would be on chassis numbers, but I can imagine something very similar would occur, and cars would be missed.

I know one of the classic car monthly mags occasionaly features an 'only 12 Lada Rivas left' or 'only 3 Talbot Horizons still on Uk roads' type feature, so there will be a way somehow.

I tend to agree with Gordon and CLNW on just a few hundred of the original 3300 built still around.

Mark S.

...

Mine is registered as an Elan, no mention of +2 or S, I am the 2nd owner, but the new document was issued years before me, so I think you are right about the DVLA being a fruitless searcch unless they can scour their database for VIN numbers as well as Lotus and Elan. anything that came up prefixed 50 is one of ours.

Mark
I think you may be right about the DVLA , mine was registered as just Lotus Elan. So no button push......
I can't beleive there are only a few hundred, The previous register of 2002 had 293 cars of which only 1 was in France. We know we have around 25 cars here. Our French register is gaining momentum!
Furthermore there were around 75 cars listed as being in the UK. Now I beleive that the majority of cars would be in the UK, so I'm coming round to beleive that the Wikipedia No of 1200 is probably a fair assumption. But how did they know?

Terry