new member

[spridget]

Hi all

I?m new here, I just have bought an early 1968 +2. I?m French so please don?t be frightened by my poor English !
I will probably need your knowledge soon. For the moment the car is parked in my brother barn but as soon as I find a space for my frogeye Sprite, the Elan will come home.
This car was first reg on 1968 february 22 and I was born on 24 !
The car is running but I think I just need to inspect all the car before MOT (or the same in France)
A lot of great and valuable information, I have to discover on this fantastic web site
I read a few threads about badges and curiously mine is ?black badged?. I also need to find the LOTUS letters for the boot, only the ?L? is remaining !
What do you think about this ebay advert ?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=350377864998&ssPageName=ADME:X:RTQ:GB:1123#ht_1168wt_911


a picture :

Franck

[terryp]

Hello and Welcome Franck
Car looks great!
In conjunction with Club Lotus France we have a French register for Plus 2 cars which I can send you to join if you PM me your email address.

All the best

Terry
Charente Maritime

PS As for the letters try Susan Miller.

[spridget]

thanks Terry for your fast reply. So you are living in Charente Maritime, I used to live in La Rochelle when I was young : great place to be, I'm now in Orleans 80 miles south of Paris
I have a catalogue from Susan Miller and I also found one from Paul Matty and SJS website was adviced by fellow guys at Le Mans Classic, last month
I send you a PM

All the Best

Franck

[Jason1]

Or you can buy them new:

http://www.sjsportscars.co.uk/index.php?mod=10

Jason

[spridget]

OK Jason
Thanks for your help
It appears prices and parts are quite the same at the same prices between SJS/ Sue Miller / P Matty, or is there a best address ?
Franck

[Jason1]

Hi

I like all 3 of those. It is very much a personal choice but I prefer:

1st = Sue Miller
2nd = SJ Sportscars
3rd = Paul Matty

But they are all very good and there is not much that you cannot get from these 3.

Jason

[terryp]

1st = Sue Miller
2nd = SJ Sportscars
3rd = Paul Matty

Me too exactly the same order, its also the order of reasonable shipping charges to France (IMHO)

Terry

[Tintin]

I read a few threads about badges and curiously mine is ?black badged?.
Franck

Hm, AFAIK the usual Lotus folklore states that they were black after Jim Clark's death - but then a reg date weeks before he actually died would be a bit scary combine with a black badge (if it was on from the beginning)....

http://www.lotusespritworld.com/EHistor ... badge.html

Has a few words from an "insider" and it mentions that black badges existed before Clark died but were used then for a month. One of my two +2 wrecks is from May 1969 and has a black badge.


Tim

[GrUmPyBoDgEr]

I read a few threads about badges and curiously mine is ?black badged?.
Franck

Hm, AFAIK the usual Lotus folklore states that they were black after Jim Clark's death - but then a reg date weeks before he actually died would be a bit scary combine with a black badge (if it was on from the beginning)....

http://www.lotusespritworld.com/EHistor ... badge.html

Has a few words from an "insider" and it mentions that black badges existed before Clark died but were used then for a month. One of my two +2 wrecks is from May 1969 and has a black badge.


Tim

That link contains a lot of "Bollox"; yes much of it true but the Black Badge was introduced as a sign of respect after the death of Jim Clark at Hockenheim.
Today & in the past (since its introduction) anyone can /could buy a Black Badge & put it on any Car they wanted to.
e.g. I put reflective Number Plates on my 1959 Elite; they didn't even do Year numbering back then!
Oh & yes I put a Black Badge on it because it suited the Colour Scheme
There's a Story that the round Black Badge was re-introduced on the later Wedge shaped Lotus Cars, due to Crash Test failures because the Green/ Yellow Badges caused dangerously sharp Enamel splinters, whereas the Black ones were less affected; which may also be a load of Cobblers.
Who thinks we need a new 26R/Shapecraft Thread to liven things up here
Long live Lotus Folk Lore

Cheers
John

[spridget]

Jason, Terry, I presume a small dealer as S Miller is probably more competitive, I used to do with frogeyespares also managed by a woman for Sprite?s parts

Tim, the black badge story seems to be complicated! I think we can also imagine it had been changed for a while by a previous owner who preferred it in black.

John, I was writing at the same time, so we do have the same opinion!

We rare old kids, so sure we like this kind of folklore!

Franck

[dusty]

I think I prefer the story that the Black badges were cheaper to make as they had less colours, fits better with my idea of what Lotus was about. Light and cheap to make but expensive to buy = Profitable

[Tintin]

Who thinks we need a new 26R/Shapecraft Thread to liven things up here

Which reminds me of a story in a German car mag about the 26R. One pic had the following text underneath (in German....): "26R are very rare, of the 97 specimen only ever produced only slightly more than a few hundred survived".

SCNR,


Tim

[spridget]

Nice Tim
In the same way, we saw a message from John Sprinzel himself about an advert sheet for a Sebring Sprite (about 6 original cars made) saying this kind of flyer is rarer than the cars !

Franck