Chassis 33 - What colour should the engine bay be

[Luggage]

Hi,

I have spent the last few months stripping down the 2+ I purchased in need of some serious TLC. It looks like it was originally cirrus white with a rebuild in 1981 to brilliant/Diamond white.

The engine bay is currently black from about the depth of the bonnet down into the bay. Would this be original black or is this something done in the previous re build?

[elan_fan]

Yep thats exactly how it should be, it's a satin semi gloss black. The start from around the depth of the bonnet is correct.

regards
Mark

[Elanintheforest]

Hey Mr Luggage...do you really have chassis 33? I have 32, registration number OYY88F, originally Cirrus White and an ex factory demo car...have we got the twins??
Mark

[Luggage]

According to the chassis plate she is no.33. The car is currently in Guernsey, it lived in Jersey for a while and before that the UK. I will dig out the Guernsey log book and have a look for the other numbers.

It has definately had a new chassis at some point and the engine has been replaced unfortunately with a different number from the official records.

I was told the frst few months of manufacture were mainly burnt sand in colour unless made for a specific purpose or for a Lotus contact. I had wondered what the history was of my car, sounds like she could be the twin of 32.

Thanks for confirming the paint layout

[tawnyowl]

Indeed satin black is the correct colour for the engine bay and this was also used on the multiplicity of other steel parts in the car. One or two parts were crackle silver and I copied it all meticulously when I restored this car in 1981/82.

The original colour of the car was french blue. By the time I owned it in 1978 it had been oversprayed a dark metallic blue. This put me off blue so I painted it the white (a very light cream really) colour used on early +2s whatever that was. All of the paint was stripped off so there will be no trace of the blue. Now I'd say french blue would be a much better colour than white.

It already had the c 1972 engine in it when I got it. Only the bottom engine had been changed. It was in such good condition that all it needed was new bearings.

When I'd finally finished it I took it to the Club Lotus meet and entered the concours getting second prize after a good friend of mine who's car won. The non-original door trims may have gone against me. It was pretty nigh perfect.

I'm surprised it's now needing another rebuild but then it is 25 years on. I hardly used the car after it was rebuilt. The rebuild took so long I bought another a +2S-130/5 known as NBW192M. this was so much better, particularly for someone who did a lot of miles. I sold ALG200F for a pretty good price in 1984 with perhaps 1000 miles since the rebuild.

Somewhere I have photos of the car, indeed both cars.

Tawny

[dusty]

Wow, isn't it great to get history like that from a previous owner.

Maybe I'll stick up a post about mine. No 478

[tawnyowl]

One important thing I forgot to mention in my first post is that it was rebuilt on one of the very first zinc dip galvanised chassis. They clearly hadn't perfected the process at that time which was advantageous. The zinc was hugely generous and in places such as the troublesome front uprights was mm thick. I think I painted it over with a bitumen paint. It looked indestructible from the corrosion point of view. Interesting to see how it's stood the test of time.

Tawny

[tawnyowl]

Hey Mr Luggage...do you really have chassis 33? I have 32, registration number OYY88F, originally Cirrus White and an ex factory demo car...have we got the twins??
Mark

I think I read somewhere that it was the first 15 cars that were allocated to staff so 32 seems unlikely as one. Anyway there was some discussion in my local circles as to the existence of cars older than mine. A few turned up but very few. At one Lotus meet I went to a friend came up to me and said 'that car over there is number 32'. So I went along and had a quick chat with the owner but I don't remember much else really. At another meet I found that I had parked up a few vehicles away from NBW190M (by this time I'm using NBW192M). The owner of this one was a visiting american whose only interest seemed to be trying to destroy it by thrashing it wildly around the circuit.

Both of these cars still exist according to the DVLA.

Tawny

[Elanintheforest]

I bought chassis 32 and an S2 Elan from a chap in Ipswich in April this year. Both cars had been completely stripped down in 1977 / 78. Number 32 shell was taken to Mick Miller in the 1990s, where it sat for quite a while, and upon his death it retuned to Ipswich.

The shell is in remarkable condition, with just one or two small gel coat cracks. The engine is also very good, with the head looking kike it's only a few years old. As it was taken off the road when only 9 or so years old, it has been very well preserved.

I understand that there were quite a lot of demonstrators at the beginning of Plus 2 production...if the person liked the colour, he had the car, and the next one that came down the line was pressed into being a demonstrator. The archivist in Lotus also pointed out that a few Elans that went through Cheshunt sales ended up with the OYY registration...mine is OYY88F.

So, nothing conclusive, and makes no difference either way. But I would love to really know the early history of the car!

Mark