Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Was the 130/5 sold in the USA?

I saw a couple of 130/4s at Randall Fehr's but have not seen a 130/5 over here.. I might be interested if one came up for sale.

I have one, its a UK import thou. And it's not for sale

Doesn't really help you find out if they sold them in the USA thou. Have you tried the elan registry to see how many are across here, it might give you a clue.

Do you have a link to the registry? I did a search on the word here & followed 3 dead links!

http://elanregistry.org/

Simples . As you got my interest it shows 3 registered in the USA. So there at least 4 including my car!

(I haven't gotten to registering mine yet..)

http://www.elanregistry.org/ should get you there Phil.

I don't know the answer to your question. Having had a quick look I can find no North American road tests of 130/5s, only of the 130, in R&T and C&D of June 1972, which was before the 130/5 was launched. I did find a Chapman comment, in an interview for Autocar in October 1972, saying that America is not an important market for Lotus and that the EEC emissions regulations were what they were concentrating on meeting. At this time the Europa was the biggest seller in the US. Chapman's attention was very much focused on the then new 907 engine for the Elite.

I suspect the answer is that very few (if indeed, any) 130/5s were built for the Federal market.

Tim

Thanks for the info guys, I will continue to look!

Phil,
Being a Plus 2 fanatic I have yet to find a 5 speed over here in left hand configuration.

When I win a bunch o' money i'll spend some on R&D and make, from scratch, Dependable 5 speeds that bolt right in.
I'm getting tired of waiting, at this rate I'll be dead before they are manufactured.

mike