'69 Lotus Elan Parts supplier

[jspreston]

I am restoring a 1969 Lotus Elan Plus 2, and I'm looking for a parts supplier in the Toronto area. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Best regards,

Jeff Preston

[pharriso]

Not sue if there are any Lotus parts suppliers specifically in the Toronto area, but in the North-East USA we have RD Enterprises, look at rdent.com. The Owner Ray is a very helpful guy.

[mbell]

The also Dave bean and jae on the west cost (LA area I believe) and sports car world in Dallas.

I always find its worth doing around a little shopping around as prices do vary significantly between vendors. If it's a larger order maybe with checking UK suppliers as sometimes it cheaper to pay for parts shopping from UK than to buy them in the na.

[stugilmour]

Welcome to the forum Jeff. Greetings from Calgary.

There are not really any Canadian vintage Lotus specific stocking parts specialists, although I have got some stuff from my local Moss Motors supplier if i can find a common Triumph part number to call up.

http://www.mossmotors.com/

Both Ray at RD and Dave Bean are very good at shipping to Canada. Have them put "Parts for antique vehicle - Over 25 years old" on the packing slip and there will be no duty charged, which seems to be hit and miss from US suppliers. For Dave Bean, the first order can be for their excellent catalog and to get your account set up with shipping preferences, etc. Ray at RD has an excellent on-line parts catalog (upper left on home page) and email system. Both suppliers work very well over the phone to nail down details.

http://www.davebean.com/

http://www.rdent.com/

Jeff at JAE has an arrangement with Richard at Richmond Auto Clinic in the Greater Vancouver area. Richard stocks quite a few common new parts, and handles the border brokerage, etc. on orders from Jeff. I find his handy for small parts orders to keep the cars running, particularly for the Esprit. Richard has played around with Lotus for years and a great guy.

http://www.richmondautoclinic.com/

http://www.jaeparts.com/

I haven't been their for years, but Ken Mason in the Orangeville area had some used parts available.

http://www.kmrestorations.com/index.html

In the past some guys have mentioned getting Elan seals and stuff from MacGregor's in Dundas, but I see on their web site there are no specific call ups for the Plus 2. They may be a source for carpet and sound proofing material though.

http://www.macgregorukcarparts.com/

You might want to get in touch with the Lotus club for better specific leads in the Toronto area.

http://lotusclubcanada.ca/Public/Welcome.html

All the best with the restoration. They are great vintage cars.

Stu

[Lotus 50]

If you have the parts shipped by mail, you won't get hit with brokerage fees.

I've had my Plus 2 for 30 years, I hope you enjoy yours

[jspreston]

Thank you all for the replies and helpful tips.

Last weekend, we started going over the car from head to toe. The body and chassis is in *excellent* condition - clearly has never seen winter and a lot of TLC involved. A rear-suspension "problem" took the car off the road 27 years ago. I suspect this is a failed bushing, bearing or something has come loose.

The engine is not seized, but I suspect it's going to need some work. Any recommendations for a machine shop/builder in the GTA or KW area?

BTW, it's chassis 888 if anyone is interested (or has info), a "LP" (Lotus Power) series engine.

[Rogue66]

I am racing a 68 Elan and I am restoring an Elan +2. The shop I use is JD Auto. Give Joe a call
416-746-1048. He just finished building an Elan motor and is working on several Esprit's