S1 Dash Board

[greg40green]

Can I ask a favour please .
Could someone post a photograph / photographs of an original 1963/64 Lotus Elan S1 , oiled , teak dash board fitted in the car .
Two reasons for this .
1) The one I was sent at Christmas only had one fixing hole in between the speedo and rev counter where the cast aluminium bracket is attached behind which holds the steering column in place.
If / when I attached the cast aluminium bracket to the back of the dashboard there wasn't enough wood at the bottom of the dashboard to drill the 2 missing holes ie the dashboard wasn't deep enough in the first place hence the missing holes.
I believe that the cast aluminium bracket was fitted to the S1 - S4 and Sprint models. Was there a different bracket on the early S1 cars hence the 2 missing holes in the early dashboards. Personally I'm not of this opinion.

2) The hole cut for the speedo was 3 mm / one eighth of an inch from breaking through the wood at the top of the dash board which meant that the speedo rim overhung the dashboard and touched the underside of the crash pad.

I also need to see a picture / pictures of the correct clocks as there are quite a few different images on the internet , which are the correct clocks?
Much appreciated
Greg.

[redcarandco]

Dear Greg
this can perhaps help but I do not remenber photo provenance but seems to be S1
Roger

[greg40green]

Thanks Roger
MPH and rev counter seem to have chrome rims ?
I can see the top screw between the MPH and rev counter but not the 2 screws I presume are out of shot ?
Do you still own the car?
Much appreciated
Greg.

[Bill]

Greg - I have 26/0538, an Elan 1600 built winter 63 - 64, LHD and shipped factory to me direct. The oiled teak dash is the same as the photo of the S2 dash from Rodger - BUT your earlier cars instrument bezels should be mat black not chrome as the S2. There is 3/8 in (+ or -) above the top of the instrument cut out and the upper edge of the dash.

I re veneered mine 20 years ago and finished it with danish furniture oil - still looking good.

The steering column bracket has 2 bolt holes horizontal on the center line of the column - lots of wood on mine where the bolts are.

Methinks your whole dash was made undersized. I would send it back and let the group know who the vendor was so that others can avoid them.

Sorry - I haven't figured photos yet.

Bill

[PFV6]

Here's a dead stock left hand drive S1 dash. Sorry for the doggy.

[PFV6]

Here's another view:

[redcarandco]

Dear Greg here is a scan view of my workshop manual for S1 a very first example from 1963 (If my remenbers are correct ) and you will see two bolts holes .....best regards
Roger

[greg40green]

Morning Roger
Much appreciated for the information. The dash is on its way back as of this morning , I have advised the manufacturer but they inform me that the dashboards are correct (?).

[knockoffnut]

My S1 has its original teak dash I believe, so if you still need additional pictures please let me know. I believe that some S1 cars (the later ones..?), had chrome bezels, rather than the black bezels of the early cars. My car's chassis number is in the high 400's, built around January 1964 and its bezels are black. Greg what is your car's chassis number?

[greg40green]

Hello Knockoffnut
I would appreciate photo's of your dashboard thank you plus if you can confirm the distance above the MPH gauge and the underside of your crash pad.
My chassis number is his three hundreds , registered April 1964
Thanks , Greg.

[lotuseuropabrit]

Does anybody know when (chassis # or body #) the S1 split dash was changed to a one piece dash. Did it occur exactly at the S1 to S2 transition or was it earlier or later? Any info much appreciated. Trying to find which dash my S1 should have to keep it as original as possible? Mine is one of the last 20 S1's built.
Regards,
Ray

[paddy]

According to http://www.type26register.com/spec_changes.html, the full-width dash coincided with the S2 designation at unit 3901.

Paddy

[knockoffnut]

There were a handful of "transition" cars, retrospectively referred to as S1 1/2 cars, which had some features of S1 and some features of S2 cars. I would not be at all surprised to see an S1 car at the very end of the series with an S2 dash. Lotus was famous for using up whatever parts were on the shelf, and closest to hand. Today we call those "running changes" but Lotus didn't have an assembly line back then, just frugal management and a bunch of lads walking around the shop, picking up pieces and building a car with what they had in hand. If your car is a very late S1 and it has an S2 dash, it may have left the factory that way. Not too many dashboards were changed by owners early in a car's life, IMNSHO

[knockoffnut]

I have been hunting out info on early Elan variations and I would like to create an area where we can contribute, and build up a list of variations with descriptions, in order to correct the record which today only exists in a few places like the type26register and is significantly over-generalized. For example, I do not believe that all S1 cars had Bourne bodies (as is stated on type26register). The group of Bourne bodies is smaller than the total S1 production qty. The shape is slightly different and can be seen in period pictures. Also I believe that there was an overlap in Bourne body production, and newer body production with both being built simultaneously, for a little while. I know that frames were stacked in one area and bodies in another and cars were built with what was closest, and met the (body colour) requirements of the order. There were so many running changes, and variations too (some S1 cars had leather steering wheels, I believe as special orders, as Lotus was putting leather wheels in its race cars, for example) Lamps varied, trim patterns and colours varied, etc. Some cars left the factory with black covered dashboards, similar to Sevens which were being built with Red covered dashboards. I would like to lobby the moderators here to set up a permanently accessible "tech" section on this site, where we can build a database of info, specifically to include series variations, rather than always trying to search in old posts for comments on build details.

[gjz30075]

I support this ^^^ Thanks!