Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Hi

Does your body number (see pics) match your chassis number on your chassis plate?

My body number is 0971 but I believe the chassis number is 0951.

From subject '50/0478 or is it?'

Chassis No. 0478 is body 0468
Chassis No. 2192 is body 2182
Chassis No. 0734 is body 0784
Chassis No. 0951 is body 0971 (mine)

I believe most are not the same, it's easy to check and your results will be very interesting.

Thanks

Jason

Where is your chassis number?

John

Hi

It should be on your VIN plate something like the pic attached and on you V5 logbook (UK only)

Where mine is is a mystery Scooby-doo and the gang are looking into it.

Jason

Interesting that all the ones you have quoted (including mine) are all out by multiples of ten!

Why wouldn't differ by 7 or 33 or any other random number?

Interesting that all the ones you have quoted (including mine) are all out by multiples of ten!

Why wouldn't differ by 7 or 33 or any other random number?

Yes I thought that. Are there any out there that actually match?

I never knew where the number on the bulkhead was located until I read this post. I found mine and cleaned it up and found 2697. My car is 36-7297, and it was dispatched from the factory on 25/09/68. I bought the car in 1974. My car is a S3SE fhc.

John Larkin.

I have just checked a list of Elan unit numbers: unit number 48 was issued on the 8th of May 1963, and the next number issued was 3050 (start of a new series) on the 13th of May 1963, with 3049 being issued some months later. I cannot find any record of 49 to 3048 inclusively. Unit 2697 looks like a bit of a mystery, or does 2697 mean something else?

For the type 26 the numbers "magically" jumped from 48 to 3049 as a homologation fiddle; see Robinshaw and Ross for reference.

Paddy

Can anyone explain the "2697" number on my S3SE Elan (see photo in earlier post above)?

John Larkin.

On the early cars there were three different numbers:
- unit number (the "car" number or VIN);
- body number;
- chassis number.

The 3000 magic skip occurred in the unit number but not in the body number or chassis number.

The unit number or VIN numbers were issued in a single series for all types, so your car 36/7297 would notionally be the 4297th car produced.

The dymo 2697 number is a body number presumably - so did body numbers restart at 0 for FHC shells?

Paddy

My Plus 2 is chassis # 1111 but the body number is 1188. The body number, hand written with some sort of black marker, was found when I removed the headliner. I also found the same number marked in a similar way on I believe a door.

Ed Demas
+2 1111

Update

Chassis No. 0951 is body 0971 (mine)

I have just received copies of the previous V5 log books from the DVLA and the original chassis number was 50/0951 and colour is Wedgewood blue

Jason

Just been playing with the 'earlys', and there no more sense on the body numbers with these.

Chassis 0024, built 01/09/67 has body number 0030
Chassis 0032, built 16/11/67 has body number 0010.

Chassis number 32 does seem to have been built quite late on, and well out of 'sequence', but the body number is very early....maybe there was something wrong with it!? It's a superb shell, with hardly any gel-coat cracks, but then it was taken off the road in 1977.

Chassis number 24 was built alongside chassis number 4, and was the 9th Plus 2 built.....with body 30!

I give up!!

Mark